Go ahead, push the buttons for every floor

To go up two floors from the parking garage to my desk at work, I have to take one elevator, walk across the lobby, and then take another elevator. It probably takes a little over a minute, or, as I learned on Gizmodo, nearly twice as long as it takes the elevators at Taipei 101 to go from the fifth floor to the 89th.

I was in the Taipei 101 building in January, but after the observation deck had closed. So we wandered around the shopping mall at the base of the tower -- which is pretty darn impressive in itself, with various levels dedicated to Asian luxury shops, European luxury shops and U.S. luxury shops. (I had the most fun, though, checking out a supermarket obviously aimed at U.S. and Canadian customers, with various goodies from home.)

There also was the requisite food court and a section of upscale dining, where we had, a bit surprisingly, somewhat mediocre Chinese food (Shanghai cuisine, I believe.) Moral of the story: Fine dining and shopping malls don't mix anywhere in the world.