Taipei 101 is a 508 m (1,667 ft), 101-story skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. …

It was officially classified as the world’s tallest building from its opening on 31 December 2004, until it was dethroned by the Burj Khalifa.

Now the 11th tallest building in the world, I wasn’t all that keen to pay the ticket price — but I’m glad I did.

The elevator is the world’s fastest: 5th to 89th floor in 37 seconds up to 60.6 km/h (37.7 mph).

That was cool.

The vistas are positively scary. It feels you are above the clouds and totally removed from the earth. I went at sunset — as did all these folks.

Apparently it’s built to survive the Pacific Ring of Fire‘s earthquakes and the region’s tropical storms.

This tuned mass damper is designed to  reduce mechanical vibrations,

I only paid for a ticket to the indoor observation deck on 88th and 89th floors. You can pay extra to go higher, if you wish.

Here’s the view from nearby Elephant mountain.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.