Taiwan: Day 2

Day 2 took Josh and I on our first lone trip on the subway and into the heart of Taipei to Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground (after which in part it takes its name) and 5 floors underground. It is 508 meters tall and has the fastest ascending elevator speed: designed to be 1010 meters per minute, which is 60.6 km/h (and it hardly felt like it was moving).

 View from the 89th floor of Taipei 101.

Following our tour of Taipei 101 we made our way to Longshan Temple, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Taiwan, constructed using traditional Chinese temple architecture.  Historically (and still today) it has drawn the poor.  I find it somewhat interesting that it is to the religious establishment (if it can be called that) that people tend to turn to be cared for.  In the west it historically was to the Catholic church and the kindness of the monks, sisters, and beneficent funds, and in the East (at least in Taiwan) to the Temples, and the Buddhist monks and sisters there.

 The first courtyard where many candles were lit and incense was being burned.

 The outer wall of the Temple area. 

After returning to Beitou from the heart of Taipei, Josh and I tried to find a hiking trail that Shannon had told us about; however we didn't find it.  We did get to appreciate the view of the greater Taipei area (you can see Taipei 101 sticking up in the top right corner of the picture below).