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After spending 2 full days in Taipei, our real tour of the country began.
We booked a "5-Day/4-night Around Taiwan Island Tour" through Edison Travel a few weeks before we left home.
Our 5 day covered approximately 1350 km (838 miles) as drawn on this map of the island by our tour guide.
The small circles drawn were our sightseeing and overnight stops.
Our first major destination was Ita Thao Village by the scenic Sun Moon Lake. The area was severely damaged during a 1999 earthquake, but has been restored to attract tourists and maintain the Thao tribe's livelihood and culture. The Thao people are one of the many aboriginal tribes in Taiwan.
This is the village's main commercial thoroughfare and most visited by tourists.
As narrow and crowded as the street is, cars still drive by every so often so one has to be watchful.
Another view of the main thoroughfare from a different angle.
The building on the left is a hotel/restaurant with big windows for a beautiful view of the lake.
Right outside of the hotel/restaurant is the pier that leads to Sun Moon Lake.
Why Sun Moon Lake? The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, but in my opinion, I think you have to use your imagination to really see it.
At the end of the pier is this pavilion with the Sun Moon Lake name on the center post. Lots of tourists like to take their photos here with the lake in the background.
Opened in 2009, this ropeway consisting of 86 cars taking tourists up the mountain for a panoramic view of Sun Moon Lake and to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village at the other end. The cultural park features amusement rides, museums, and dance shows of various aboriginal tribes to serve both as entertainment and educational.
Various food booths on the main thoroughfare.
This vendor was very popular and always drew a crowd when I was there.
I believe she is mixing all the vegetarian ingredients that will be wrapped in dough and then deep fried.
I did try food from this vendor. The steamed white buns with spicy vegetables centered in the middle were delicious for this hungry tourist.
A mural depicts the Thao people at the entrance to the main street. As you can see, the lake and the owl are important to them.
Why an owl? Here is the story I found on a tourist information page... "According to Thao's legend, the owl is the incarnation of a Thao's girl, who was pregnant without being married. All Thao people, including her parents, could not forgive her. In a stormy night, she escaped into the mountain. After several days, a Thao's hunter found her dead body under a tree and an owl staying on the top of the tree. They believed the owl was her incarnation. Afterwards, an owl would fly over the house where a pregnant woman is living. The owl seems to tell Thao people that they have to take good care of the pregnant women. 
I did not know this until I returned home to do some research of this store. Lin Yi-bei has a degree in interior design and worked in a design firm in Taipei. After getting tired of the fast-paced city, she wanted to slow down. One day she drove by Sun Moon Lake and saw a Formosan mountain scops owl and it was love. Gave up her job, studied about owls, opened this store and the rest is history.
You can read more about Lin Yi-bel here.
There's even an owl cafe, but it wasn't open when I was there.- Karen
Visit other Wordless Wednesday participants here.- Karen
It's Wordless Wednesday! Visit other participants here.- Karen
After getting off the elevator at the 89th floor, visitors are greeted by the Damper Baby mascot.
What is a Damper Baby? You will soon see...
Everyone wanted a picture by this mascot. I had to wait for awhile before I could get him/her alone for a photograph.
One can get a 360 degree view of the city by walking all around the observation deck. Binoculars are stationed at various locations, but most people just looked out or took photos through the UV-protected windows.
Here are two panoramic views from the 89th floor. Being over 1,200 ft. above ground, I did not really know what I was looking at especially if I am not familiar with the city. So, visitors are offered recorded audio guides that come in 8 different languages to lead them through the area.
Being such a tall building in an area known for earthquakes, typhoons, and strong winds, a damper is housed within the structure to act like a pendulum to counteract the building's movements. At 730 tons, it is the world's largest and heaviest damper and I read it can move 5 feet in any direction.
Visitors can see the damper on the 88th and 89th floors. If there had been any movement to the building, one can see that thing rock. I am glad I did not get to see such action.
I found this picture on Wikipedia of the damper's placement within the building.
You can now see why it is a unique aspect to the building and thus the "Damper Baby" is its mascot.
There is a display touting the building has the fastest elevator in the world rising at 1010 meters/minute (3300 ft/minute). In 2014, the Shanghai Tower, currently being built in China, is scheduled to eclipse its record as being the fastest at 1066 meter/minute (3500 ft/minute).
If visitors are tired of the views, they can sit at the Bigtom cafe to have a drink or dessert. This must be Big Tom.
This is a view of the interior observation deck (89th floor). It is quite spacious with chairs and gift shops.
Many visitors packed the photo area to view or purchase their souvenir photograph taken of them with the building.- Karen
The entrance to the Taipei 101 mall is packed with foodies, shoppers, and tourists throughout the day.
Foodies head to the basement level's Grand Market to satisfy their appetite in a 1,200-seat food court.
There's even a eatery named after me!
Dozens of food vendors stacked next to each other ready to sell you noodles, rice dishes, fruit drinks, desserts, and everything in-between.
We had to walk around several times to decide what we wanted. And once we decided on a vendor, we had to decide on the food.
Talk about choices!
No, I did not eat at the restaurant named after me. By the time I was hungry, the place was packed.
I instead ate this combo plate consisting of noodles, vegetables, and a soup.
All for the unbelievable price of $110 NT (approximately $3.64 USD). The food court's napkins and soup spoons bear the famous building's namesake.
Serious foodies who have more expensive taste can head to the 35th, 85th, or 86th floor for more refined dining.
Shoppers head to the upper levels to buy the latest designer fashions at high-end brand name stores.
Tourists make their way to the 5th floor to purchase tickets to the building's 89th floor indoor observatory. The tickets are $400 NT per adult and $370 NT per child ($13.24 USD and $12.25 USD, respectively).
Unfortunately, the 91st floor outdoor observatory was closed due to strong winds on the day of our visit.
Here is a long line of tourists waiting for the elevators to go northbound to the 89th floor. The line moved fairly quickly because the elevator operator really jammed as many people in there as possible. I do not know the elevator's maximum capacity, but I sure felt like a sardine during the journey. Luckily, it is the world's fastest elevator reaching the 89th floor in 37 seconds as seen in this video taken by another tourist.- Karen
Walking through a busy Taipei street, we came across this interesting Love sign. Quite a few people were posing in front of it and I usually don't pass on anything that calls for a photograph.
Aside from the Love sign were a number of displays like this one.
I believe all were sponsored by the Chinatrust Bank because of its "We are family" slogan.
The exhibits were all along this one sidewalk.
Outside the Taipei 101 building is the famed Robert Indiana "Love" sculpture. I had no idea one would be here.
There are quite a few of these situated throughout the world such as New York, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Istanbul, ...etc. as listed on Wikipedia.
Have you come across one yourself?- Karen
First Wordless Wednesday of the year.
Visit other participants here. - Karen
We arrived into Taipei, Taiwan late into the evening and it was close to midnight after the 40 minute ride from the airport and checking into the hotel. I guess that's what you get for trying to look for "bargain" airfare at the last minute.
We were unfamiliar with the area around the hotel, but we found a 7-Eleven nearby that was open. 7-Elevens are everywhere in Taiwan!
But, before going in, I spotted this poster outside. Yes, I am an Angry Bird fan.
Since I do not read Chinese, I could not decipher what it said, but could guess. I sent this picture to a friend and she had it translated it for me. :)
Not much of a dinner, but we did buy some snacks to bring back to the hotel room.
All the Taiwan hotels we stayed in had an amenity of complimentary personal hygiene products for their guests. I didn't really had to unpack since we were just staying at this hotel for one night.
After only a few hours of sleep, we got up early and went to eat our complimentary breakfast that came with the hotel room stay.
We brought our luggage to our next hotel for storage, figured out the subway system, and headed over to the Taipei 101 building.
I had wanted to come here for years after seeing it on television. Back then, it was the tallest building in the world. Now it is only the 2nd tallest building in the world at 1,670 ft. (509 m) after the Burj Khalifa skyscraper.- Karen
