Ringing in the New Year at Taipei 101

Saw King Kong at Warner Village Theaters in Taipei a few weeks ago.  Took this picture of nearby Taipei 101, decorated with lights in a Christmas tree motif:

Would have liked a few more, but they turned most of the lights off at 10 pm.  After seeing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a few days ago, the same building looked like this with New Years lights:

A couple of longer shots:

A close-up of the tower:

While taking these, an elderly Taiwanese gentleman asked me what "Bravia" meant.  It looked a little like "bravo", so I said that maybe it was Italian and meant "to cheer".  Later that evening I read in the Taipei Times that Bravia is simply a brand name for a new LCD TV by Sony.

Oops.

Anyways, there's a couple more pictures of Taipei 101 here.

UPDATE (Jan 04/06):  A famous Taiwanese songstress by the name of A-Mei was late for her appearance at Taipei 101, so she apparently took an ambulance 30 km to reach the New Year's Eve celebrations.  Now I'm not arguing that it was right, but you do have to admit that it IS kinda punk rock.  I mean, just picture it.  It's New Year's Eve.  There's 400,000 people outside in the cold waiting for the countdown.  The streets are clogged with cars; there's no place to park.  Up pulls an ambulance.  Bystanders turn their heads.  But instead of white-clad EMV workers emerging, they see a hot, pixie-sized Taiwanese super-star step out and race to the stage in her black mini-skirt and heels.

(The ambulance company was later fined about $6000 US, and A-Mei was given a warning.)

(Sorry, no link available to the story in The China Post.)

UPDATE (Jan 06/06):  For the sake of completeness, here's the Taipei Times' treatment of the  story.

Comments

[kat-missouri]

Awesome photos and story about the songstress. Good way to start out the new year.

[The Foreigner]

Thanks. I added a bit to the description in the Jan 4th update last night.