A tale of two Taipei buildings (Photo-essay)

Some 12 hours from now, it'll be time to get back to work. Thus will end a much needed 12 day vacation that I have to admit to wishing could go on for a little while longer. At the same time, I'm not going to deny that I managed to fit in quite a bit of fun, activity and travel into these holidays; with the tail-end of it seeing me back in Penang to say goodbye to 2007 and bid welcome to 2008, and a quintet of earlier days, including December 25 (which, incidentally, is not a public holiday in that land), having been spent in Taipei, Taiwan.

Despite a good friend (and fellow Asian film fanatic) having wondered otherwise, I did not go to Taipei in search of Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia; and this not least since Taiwan may be where she was born and rose to fame but it being the case that she currently resides in Hong Kong and has done so for some years now. Rather, by far the main attraction for me in that East Asian territory -- which I had hitherto never visited -- was the National Palace Museum.

Unfortunately but, also, expectedly, photography is barred while inside of that museological institution. So I have no pictures to show of it and/or to provide proof of my visit there. On the other hand, many other sections of Taiwan's capital city, be they new or old, were freely photographable. Consequently, I was able to click away and thus provide you with the following sample views of two of Taipei's more remarkable buildings:-

Taipei 101 currently is the world's tallest building
-- but, rather than show you the skyscraper per se,
here's first offering up a view
from its 89th floor Observation Deck...

...and another from a different, more acute angle
that can be vertigo-inducing, and perhaps especially so
when you're behind the camera taking such a photo! ;S

The upper portion of Taipei 101, as viewed from
the hilly as well as southern suburbs of Maokong

If only the top of it were as visible from up close!
But on a cloudy day, like the day my mother and I visited,
this actually is far from the case!! ;(

And the weather conditions also were far from optimal
when we paid a visit to the second building in focus --
the Lungshan (Dragon Mountain) Temple
that's Taipei's oldest and most popular...

But, as it so happened though, the day of our visit
turned out to also have been a major festive day

Thus the temple was specially decorated
with such as flowers galore, filled with devout worshippers,
and the overall mood there that day felt really special

Additionally, let's face it:
a little -- or even a lot... -- of rain
really wasn't going to deter me from appreciating
ornamental architectural touches like these... :b

So, want to see more of my Taipei photos? Hope so, as I'm already planning to put up a second Taiwan photo-essay on this blog before too long! :)