The Portuguese named Taiwan Ilha Formosa in 1542 and the name persisted until the early 20th century when the occupying Chinese renamed it Taiwan. Ilha Formosa is Portuguese for “beautiful island”. The modern history of this island nation begins in 1949 when General Chiang Kai Shek, having lost the civil war on mainland China to Mao Tse Tung, brings the remnants of his army and followers here to self imposed exile. He led the country as dictator president until his death in 1975 aged 89 years. The country is now one of the wealthiest and technologically advanced nations in Asia.
Taipei, its capitol, sprawls in a basin ringed with mountains. Its population of 2.8 million prominently live in high rises as far as the eye can see. It makes for a pleasant place to spend a day. Once again my companion wilts in the face of what is the hottest day so far, 32C and high humidity. We planned to get on the hop on hop off bus to get our bearings and see the sights but as we get there we find that the next bus is 2 hours away! I pivot and take control and quickly work out a schedule of sights that we want to see and hail a cab. Mission accomplished. The cabs were plentiful and reasonably priced and traffic was light as today is a public holiday known as Dragon Boat Day.
The crowning achievement was our visit to Taipei 101. Completed in 2003 at 101 stories high it was at the time the world’s tallest building. It was overtake in 2010 by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Standard admission takes the visitor to the 91st floor. I had pre-booked one of twice daily tours to the 101st floor. The experience is an exclusive adventure. The elevator takes up to 89th floor in 37 seconds and then a couple of shorter elevators takes us to the top. Lined up on the floor are harnesses and the penny drops for Suzanne, we are going to be roped up on the outside of the building. Panic sets in! Those who read the Komodo blog can imagine the scenario. “No I want to go back, I will just stay here, I will go down now” were amongst the many entreaties. I just adopted the well worn path of playing deaf and the guide reassures her that all will be alright. She dons the harness and out we go. Wow, what an experience, what a view. In less than 5 minutes she warms to the experience and later proclaims it to be a superb experience! Oh the joys of wedded bliss!
