2016 Four Continents Blog #4 by Min & Gamelin
Hey again! Welcome back to our last Four Continents blog!
Alex got over his stomach bug enough to have some fun around Taipei for our last couple days. On Sunday, after a quiet morning, we went over to the arena to watch the men’s free skating event. Everyone skated really well, but the last group blew us away. Boyang Jin and Patrick Chan were especially incredible.
After that, we went downtown to see Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, we got in the Guinness world record-holding fastest elevators in the world. They reach a top speed of 1010 meters per minute, and got us up to the 89th-floor observation deck in what we guess was under ten seconds. The view from there was unbelievable, and we could even take the stairs two more floors up to the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor.
Sunday night was the closing banquet. There was good food, live diabolo and laser light dance performances, and good company. Team Korea even took home a couple raffle prizes! Jinseo Kim won an Asus tablet, and Yura won a pair of Beats headphones, which she was very excited about. It was really great after a week of competition to have a chance to get together and relax.
Our flight back home on Monday wasn’t until later, so we took the metro with fellow Korean ice dancer Ricky Kam to Longshan Temple, a famous site in Taipei. Although it was very busy, the burning incense and quiet prayers of the patrons gave the temple a very serene atmosphere.
We had a pretty uneventful trip home, but on a long layover in Seoul, we were able to visit the Korean cultural experience center and learn about the life of the historical royal families. After that we had a relatively quick flight, a short layover in Seattle, and one more quick flight where we each had a whole row to ourselves so we could sleep. Our biggest fan was there again to pick us up at the airport and now we’re on our way home.
It’s been so great blogging for ice-dance.com. Thank you everyone for reading and sharing in our journeys with us. See you next time!
~ Yura & Alex
