Earlier this week I acted courier for my company and went to Taiwan and back in a few days. I got about 24 hours to spend in Taipei. I just love these crazy trips! Why do someone really want to go on a trip where you spend more time in the air plane than at the location? I realize I have difficulties finding a good explanation so I won’t even try. Part of the time I spent working, mainly visiting a semiconductor trade show. But I did have some time to look around.
First thing I had to do was to go up Taipei 101 which I think still is officially the highest building in the world. In 37 second, with a max speed of about 60 km/h (!), the elevator took us up to the 89th floor. The building has totally 101 floors, hence the name…
As always I am fascinated by the view and since I went there just before the sun went down I got to see the view both in daylight and by night. The view was of course fabulous but as in many cities on this side of the globe the haze is making it difficult to see too far.
In the evening a dear colleague and his taiwanese girlfriend met me for dinner and showed me around some nice places. For example, we went to a night market which is a popular thing in Taipei. 
At this market there was loads of cheap stores but also lots of food stalls. Here you could find many delicacies like octupus lips and duck tongue, yummy…
Next to the Night Market there was a rather large and brightly coloured buddhist temple. I don’t think I have ever visited such a commercial temple. It is not uncommon that you buy, for a small amount of money, wooden pieces och pieces of paper where you can write your prayers and leave at some suitable place within the temple. Much like in our churches where you can buy candles. Here they had taken it a bit further. There where several counters where people queued to buy a “subscription” on prayers. This means that you go there and pay a certain amount of money and someone will make prayers for you during a certain time, eg a year. It sounds awkward to me to buy that kind of service.