When I was riding the elevator, I couldn’t really feel how fast it is. It accelerates and slows its acceleration on the way up and on the way down (maybe to prevent people from jumping in the elevators and hitting the ceiling). But, after you step out of the elevator to a view of the city half a minute after entering the elevator, you realize how fast it was.

The video above is the dampening system in Taipei 101. It’s the largest of it’s kind. It’s some sort of suspension for the top portion of the building to prevent damage from strong winds. The system reduces swaying of the building by 40%, as mentioned in the video. There’s two more of these devices above the observation decks.

Gorgeous beach in Taiwan, about 5 kilometers east of Kenting.

Kenting was definately my favorite city visited in Taiwan. The easy-going vibe everywhere, clear waters, big waves, and friendly natives, matched with lots of surfers in the area draws the obvious comparison to Hawaii. There was actually a big surf competition wile we stayed there (Pro Australian surfers and photographers with huge telephoto lenses).

Kenting is located in the southern coast of Taiwan. If you fly into Taipei, it takes about 3 and a half hours to get down to Kenting. Hour and a half by bullet train (about $40 each way) to Kaohsiung, and a 2 hour taxi ride to Kenting (about $20 per person if you share the taxi with 2 or 3 other passengers).

It is regarded as the Hawaii of China and Taiwan. In fact, we even stayed at a hotel called “Hawaii.” Everything at the hotel was Hawaii-themed with a Haiwaiian shop in the lobby of the hotel. The owner of the hotel’s name is Duggar. He was very helpful and basically gave us a whole tour of Kenting. He’s from Hawaii but has lived in Kenting for 17 years now. He’s got 4 hotels operating in Taiwan along with a few shops, all “Hawaii” branded.

The cost of our stay in the hotel was only 1,200 NT, which is about $40 USD. Cheap. Well appointed hotel room on the second floor with a balcony facing the ocean. Definately give it a look if you plan on staying in Kenting.

I was cruising by on the electric scooter when this car caught my eye. Penghu must be the name of the beach of something.

My ride in Kenting. It was twice as expensive as renting a gas-powered scooter, but it was our only option. I didn’t realize you needed what’s officially called an “international driver’s permit,” not “international driver’s license” which many mistakenly say.

So, we were limited to an electric scooter that barely got us 60 kilometers with a max speed of 30 km/hour. That’s under 15 mph. If you want to go anywhere, you need to calculate the distance to make sure you have enough juice to get back to the rental place to swap out the battery pack. We negotiated the rental fee from 500 NT (New Taiwan Dollar) for 3 hours to 500 NT for 5 hours.

To tell you the truth, it was actually quite nice. The electric motor was virtually silent and since it wasn’t gas powered (or maybe because it was just too slow), we weren’t required to wear a helmet. This was nice since it was sunny and 90 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. If you get pulled over for not wearing a helmet, you’ll get a ticket for over $100 USD.

Cute guest houses/ hotels in front of the beach. Eunmi saw an ad for a room at the yellow house pictured, but it wasn’t within walking distance of Kenting, and there weren’t any units available with views of the ocean.

Beautiful beach in Kenting.

Lush greenery on a breezy, beautiful day in Kenting, Taiwan.

Me and Eunmi getting tanned at the beach in Kenting.

Close to sunset.

Just about sunset. Eunmi’s camera does something with the lighting to create the weird effect you see in the photo above. Notice the waves aren’t just little bumps. As the winds picked up, and with the news of the THREE typhoons coming, it was an unsettling feeling hanging out in the water.

Cute Mini copy-cat you can spot all over Taiwan. Must be a domestic car. I’ve never seen these before.

Creative second-life of a compact-car. The owner of the hotel we stayed at told us this guy with the food stand above gets lots of business every night.

Nasty. Smelled really bad too. But, had to take the picture. I was wondering why all the foods are fried. Someone told me it’s because with the hot and humid weather, the food spoils quickly.

Winds were picking up when I took this photo. The typhoons (three typhoons were suppose to merge in Taiwan) were expected to arrive during our visit, but arrived after our stay.

Scooters are driven all over Taiwan, night and day, rain or shine. You’ll see rows of sometimes 50 scooters perfectly parked along the streets. Totally forgot to take pictures of those.

Somebody taking a picture of me taking a picture of somebody – using Josh’s huge, badass camera.

Wasn’t completely sure what these were when these first caught my eye – Taiwanese mail-boxes.

That’s me and Beth waiting to order western food at a cute restaurant called “Grandma Nitti’s.” For some reason, the whole place had a Greek look to it even though they served just about every foreign food you could think of.

I have wanted to visit Taiwan for a few months now, but the deciding factor in visiting Taiwan last week was to see my friend Beth. She came to Taiwan to visit her friends Josh and Tessa, and to see her newborn niece in Tokyo, Japan. Beth and I have had a special friendship for almost 10 years now. She and I met in Minneapolis when she was attending the Aveda Institute and I was attending the University of Minnesota.

Day’s end at a reggae-themed bar near Taipei 101. Eunmi, me, Beth, Tessa, and Josh. Everything was reggae-themed, but they had a solo act, a single guy singing the blues with his guitar, harmonica, and some sort of a drum machine he operated with his foot. Pretty good, but pricey drinks.

Eunmi waiting in line for her drink at a club in Taipei. Popular in Taiwan, clubs charge a cover (usually around $20 USD) with free drinks. Very different atmosphere in the bar since everyone is on a level playing field. This is not where the “ballers” hang out. As you can see in the picture, everyone has to wait in line for their drink – it doesn’t matter who you are.Everyone was well-behaved. No idiot alcoholics causing problems or issues with bar tabs. It was actually a little boring because that whole glitz and glamour of a nightclub just wasn’t there.

Do not ever use the credit card operated international pay phones. They are a complete rip-off. I used my card at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport only because I didn’t have enough Malaysian currency.I figured at most, it’d cost a few dollars. Boy was I wrong.

I was in a time crunch and had to use a phone immediately. I was hesitant to using it because there were no rates posted on or near the phone. The first call lasted about 2 minutes. I was instructed on the phone to dial a toll free number first and wait to be connected. I spoke to someone who spoke English perfectly and I asked him what the rates were for phone calls. He replied, “I have no idea, I’m connecting your call now.”

Then, I got disconnected. I called again using the credit card pay phone. I was connected to another person, who also spoke English perfectly. This time my phone call actually got connected, but with no answer, just automated voice prompts.

I didn’t think anything of this until last night when I was going through my bank account. This phone company charged my credit card $30 USD for the first disconnected call. Then they charged $40 USD for the second call that connected. I was charged $70 USD for less than 5 minutes of phone service to Hong Kong.  Complete scam.

I immediately called my bank and disputed the charges.  I explained to them that there were no prices posted on the phone, and the person connecting my call had no idea what their calling rates were.  If this happens to you, call your bank immediately. Your bank will most likely award you a charge-back.

Just the same as Shanghai, Swine Flu screening was in full effect at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The line here was long… probably took about 45 minutes.

Lots of people waiting to pass through the health screening for Influenza A (H1N1). There are currently a total of 51 Swine Flu related deaths in Malaysia.

Immense lines. You can tell the building is pretty bare bones. No fancy architecture anywhere.

This is their Swine Flu health screening system – a $500 desktop computer with a camcorder.

This is their examination room and their service desk with no attendant. Not exactly the type of facilities we are used to.

Close to the finish line.

Popular fast food chain in Malaysia called Marrybrown you’re likely to run into at this airport. Basically a McDonald’s with more fried chicken.

Around the corner, you’ll see a couple of innocent looking pay phones. DO NOT EVER use the rip-off credit card operated pay phones.

Bouncer at a night club in Singapore zapping Eunmi with a Swine Flu temperature reading gun. Pump was the name of this bar. They had a pretty good cover band playing.

I was the next victim of the Swine Flu Gun.

Singapore is known for having some of the best chili crab in Singapore.  Jumbo was strongly recommended and revered as one of the better seafood restaurants in Singapore. This restaurant is known for having some of the best chili crab town.  Eunmi had been talking about chili crab in Singapore for a month, so this portion of the trip was unavoidable.

Eunmi has finally reached the promiseland. She was concentrating on the menue as if she had to make a mid-crisis decision. I was not allowed to talk during this time.

Snapshot of the pot of gold. We ate way too much.

Eunmi in bliss.  The little brown things on the white plate were fried baby squid. I thought I ordered calamari. They tasted more like fried grasshoppers.

View of a harbor in Singapore at night.

The crane-looking structures on the right are part of one of those bunjee-launch things that you find at fairs and carnivals.

With a name like that, how can you resist?

Two “screaming multiple orgasms.”

Alcohol is really expensive in Singapore. Almost outrageous. These two drinks were $20 USD each. And that was a weekday night in a bar, not a night club.

You’ve never been to Singapore but you think its clean because you heard about the kid getting caned for spitting out a piece of gum on the ground? You’re absolutely right. I don’t know if there’s no garbage because everyone is so civilized in Singapore, or if everybody is just scared of getting caned. Whatever the case, their policies are effective. There isn’t a single piece of garbage on the ground.

Singapore is a gorgeous city. Everything in the city seems well designed. We spent most of the day just walking from place to place with an occasional train ride. Singapore isn’t geographically a huge city, but it is populous with 5 million people. It’s a city/country kind of like what Hong Kong was before it rejoined China. The entire country is tiny – only 275 square miles (that’s basically a 16 mile by 16 mile square). It ranks 3rd in the world for population density. However, the city didn’t feel overcrowded at any point during my visit.

Lots of construction.

Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, the British stateman known as the “Father of Singapore.” He is credited for vastly expanding the British Empire, and founding Singapore (the “lion city”) in a strategically advantageous location for trade. Today, Singapore is the 2nd busiest port in the world.

The famous and historical Raffles Hotel. Widely regarded as the most luxurious hotel in Singapore. The entire street level of the hotel is full of luxury shops. If you love expensive purses, this is definately the spot. If you have a girlfriend who loves expensive purses, stayaway from here.

Another nice hotel with sports cars being tropy parked. I think this one may have been the Four Seasons.

Interior of a Ferrari F430 with the steering wheel on the right side.  You drive on the left side of the road in Singapore. Probably since it was colonized by Britain, similar to Hong Kong.

While eating at an Indian restaurant in Little India, I took this photo since it was a pretty good sample of diversity in Singapore. Lots of Indians, Eastern Asians (particularly of Chinese descent), Malaysians, and Westerners.

Indian woman in traditional robe.

Street view during a weekday in Little India.

Kerbau Road in Little India, Singapore.

Indian woman shopping in a market for vegetables.

Indian shop owner selling decorations of some sort.

“Civil Defence” truck. Looks like a fire truck os some sort given the pipes and valves in the back of the truck. Can’t hold much water, so lets hope the fire is within proximity of a fire hydrant.

For some reason, “Kee” is everywhere in branding of restaurants and food in Singapore and Malaysia. Here’s a good one.

That’s the Merlion in Merlion Park, Singapore. A Singaporean icon, the Merlion is an imaginary creature that is half fish, half lion (not as cool as the Liger). This is the original Merlion, one of only 5 Merlions in Singapore. Two are located in Merlion Park. This is the biggest of them all, weighing 40 tons.

An eager bystander waiting to see what happens next.

He is rewarded with my huge head filling the hole in the Merlion.

A close-up of my humongous head peeking through the Merlion. I was hoping for a better photo – you can’t really see my face. However, by the size of my head, you can clearly tell it’s me.

You had to be there to understand why I really enjoy this photo. The Merlion is huge, and its sort of the centerpiece of the area. Everybody there is looking at the Merlion. Everybody knows you can’t break rules in Singapore, there are signs everywhere. Everybody knows about caning in Singapore.

Eunmi told me she didn’t want to involve herself in any illegal activity like taking a picture of me with my head peeking through the statue. I finally convinced her that I’m going to jump up on the statue and if I get arrested and sentenced to getting caned, she can continue on the trip without me. She finally unwillingly agreed.

People love getting their picture taken with the Merlion. I like the woman posing on the far right side of the photo above.

That’s the little sibling of the big Merlion, here at Merlion Park.

Eunmi looking glamorous in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore.

Singapore is really expensive. At the same time, its also really nice. So, we decided that Singapore was the one place where we would splurge on our trip. We looked at a few nice hotels, but in the end, we decided to stay at the Intercontinental Hotel due to its proximity to everywhere we wanted to be. Really can’t complain about any part of our stay at the hotel. Definately would stay there again.

That’s me looking really lazy. It had been a while since laying on a nice bed. Pretty sure I passed out within a few seconds of my my head touching the bed.

Bathroom was nice. It had a nice jacuzzi tub, but we both opted for the shower on the other side of the bathroom.

The pool felt especially nice since it was so dang hot in Singapore. Probably about 85 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. Actually felt more like 95 degrees.  Mostly business folks staying at the hotel, so we had the pool area pretty much to ourselves.

I can’t remember if this photo was taken from the pool or our hotel room, but you can see how commercialized Singapore is, but how nice it looks at the same time. Lots of trees on the hotel grounds as well as the public streets. No evidence of garbage or filth anywhere.

Bar lounge area at the hotel. Nice and quiet with lots of light.