Taipei 101

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:55:51 +0000

This is Taipei 101, officially the tallest building in the world at 508 meters tall (plus other world records like largest clock and the fastest elevator in the world), or 1,667 ft. The Burj Dubai, in Dubai still cannot officially claim itself as the tallest building in the world until it is complete. A structure is not considered a building until it can be fully occupied. You can read about lots of interesting facts about Taipei 101 including symbolism all over the building in it’s Wikipedia entry.

The photo above is of the “dampening system” that’s exposed on the 89th floor.

Night view from the 89th floor observatory of Taipei 101.

Dali-esque trippy painting. On the 89th floor, they showcase different artists’ works. They also have a huge collection of natural crystals, fancy globes of the world (they had one for sale for $30K USD), and coral.

Eunmi pointed out the “Sea of Japan” on some of the globes for sale in the Taipei 101 observatory. This is somewhat of a controversy in Korea, because Koreans believe it should be called simply, “The East Sea” to be fair to both countries. If I was a betting man, I’d bet that every globe or map you’ll find within Korea’s borders will surely label the sea as “The East Sea,” or maybe even “The Sea of Korea.”

Structural support for Taipei 101 viewed from the 5th floor. Pretty neat how they designed what would normally be ugly, with aesthetics in mind.

Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:00:58 +0000

This is my favorite photo in Shanghai, China. My palms sweat when I look at this picture. I am sitting 270 meters above the ground on the glass floor of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The tower stands 468 meters (1536 feet) tall, and is the third tallest TV and radio tower in the world. Often called the Oriental Pearl Tower, it was the tallest structure in China from 1994 until 2007 when it was overtaken by the Shanghai World Financial Center. It remains a functional TV and radio tower.

View of the Oriental Pearl Tower from the ground before entering. Cost of admission to the highest observation deck at 340 meters was 150 Yuan ($30), a bit pricey, but still worth it.

Pretty cool picture of the cityscape from 270 meters above ground at the Oriental TV Tower. Notice the Shanghai World Financial Center in blue. It is the highest roof in the world at 487.4 meters above the 101st floor, not counting the spire.

Cityscape from 340 meters above ground at the Shanghai Oriental TV Tower. This is considerably higher than from where I took the previous picture. Notice the support beam in the upper right corner of this photo. I believe the buildings on the left side were part of the climax of Mission Impossible 3 when Tom Cruise swings from building to building.

My friend Eun Mi staying close the walls on this floor, which is 270 meters above the ground. This floor was really scary since it wasn’t fully enclosed (howling winds) and has a glass floor around the perimeter.

That’s me being a wuss. I finally mustered enough confidence to somehow get my body to the edge of for the photo opp. I couldn’t just walk to the edge. I had to crawl since it was terrifying with the glass floor and the winds.

I took this picture of the Shanghai World Financial Center with my 4 year old pocket Canon from the ground. Not bad. This structure is so incredible that this photo kinda looks fake.

From the base floor of the Oriental Pearl Tower… I had to prove to the wold that I am 179 cm tall without shoes, and weighing in at 72 kg. The thing above my head goes up and down 3 times to mash down any extra hair you’re using to cheat an extra cm or two. I first tried it first with my shoes, where I registered at 181 cm. I guess after being at the top of the tower, lots of people want to prove how tall they are.

Kimchi Soup » Tallest Building in the World

Taipei 101

Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai