It was time for me to visit another new place – the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan. Shane lived and worked in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) for four months during 2006, so this was his first visit in five years!
The busy city of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Taipei 101 is at the back of the picture
Shane told me that Taiwan used to be called “Formosa” (meaning “Beautiful Island), a name given by the Portuguese. Shane said that there are some beautiful places to visit, but we only had time to stay in Taipei. Shane showed me around the places he lived, shopped and even the office building he worked in.
Shane’s former work colleagues took him us to lunch to eat some tasty Szechuan or Sichuan food, that comes from south-west mainland China. It is spicy food as they use lots of chillies! People who live in Taiwan say that their country has the best Chinese food in the world – and I agree!
Polly cannot decide which spicy Szechuan/Sichuan Chinese meal to eat!
Taiwan makes a lot of computers – both Asus and Acer come from Taiwan and they are both in the world’s top five for the most computers sold. The computers looks different because all the keys also have Chinese characters!
Polly looks at the different keys on an Asus computer in Taipei
We visited an important religious site in Taipei, the LongShan Temple. Near sunset, many people come to worship, light incense and to give offerings of food and flowers.
Food and flower offerings at LongShan Temple
I also visited Taipei 101, it is one of the tallest buildings in the world. Shane told me that it is 101 stories high, is 508 metres (1,667 feet) tall, and has been built to stand against typhoons and earthquakes that often happen here. It was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 2004, until the Burj Khalifa was finished in Dubai, which I visited in 2010!
The design of the building looks like eight clumps of bamboo on top of each other, with the number eight being lucky in Chinese because it sounds like the Chinese word for “prosperity”. Shane told me that this is why the Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was held on 8 August 2008 (08.08.08).
"I love visiting tall buildings!" Polly and Taipei 101
It was time to leave Taipei, so we went to the main station to take a train to the airport and then to board a flight to travel to new places!
At the Taipei Main Train Station
I am a lucky frog because I visit many interesting cities and countries such as Taipei in Taiwan!
Tags: Polly 7
June 27th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
The pictures in this post are amazing!
June 28th, 2012 at 10:27 pm
I love #7’s posts! The food pictures always make my mouth water. Taipei 101 is amazing. Thanks for sharing another great post!