Zhongxiao Dunhua

It was still very early in the day after coming back from Hsinchu (I spent the night over). I decided to walk around and check out the clothing shops in the alleyways behind 忠孝敦化 (Zhongxiao Dunhua) MRT stop. Lots of boutiques; it’s probably Taipei’s version of Soho. There’s a wide variety of shops so there should be something for everyone. I’m not big into fashion but, at least until Uniqlo opens up October 7 (!), I’ll probably have to get used to shopping here.

Enjoy:

Nike Store

Royal Elastics. Weird sneakers.

Rows of Hyperfuses. Pretty cool.

This sums me up pretty well, methinks.

Backroom of Lomography Gallery Store

Ceiling of back room

If murses are your thing…

People lining up for the coffee shop.

Roxy. Not the club.

Fix

The Converse Store

The dude on that poster must be Jay…

Forgot the store name. But hypebeasts lining up for something.

They love Manhattan Portage here. “A bag for everyone”, or so they claim.

Puff Nation. Snoop Dogg? Ok. Lil Jon? No thanks.

Invincible store. Lots of Original Fakes.

Ashin co-designed

Jay Chou’s store

Clot, and other expensive shit here

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回了新竹

上禮拜六小雞的朋友請我來新竹玩一玩, 吃烤肉. 好久沒去新竹- 我懷念的地方.

BBQ at Hsinchu. Woo-hoo!

We lucked out and got one of the newer trains. Off to Hsinchu!

Always gotta look out for spies/paparazzi

Started with one grill

So hungry we needed a second grill

The grill master gets first dibs

Everyone's tuned in to the game show

Passed out at a National Tsing-Hua University dorm

Thanks to Tigan, Esther, and Chicken’s friends for all showing me a good time. 有機會再去!

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Chillin with the Classmates – part II

After enough eating and wandering around the ShiDa nightmarket, my classmates decided to call it a night. For me however, it was just about time to head out to the Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT station to meet up with another set of classmates. Mike, the birthday boy, wanted to smoke some hookah, so we were supposed to hit up a lounge nearby.

The place was called The Bed. I don’t remember ever going in, but I’ve heard of it before. Nice place. Good lighting. Has a live DJ. But I’m guessing this was the bigger attraction:

Oh hey..

We were all having a good time until I remembered I had to wake up early tomorrow. Alas, not every city can be like NYC and have subways running throughout the clock. The MRT stops sometime after 12 midnight, so I had to get going while the night was still young. I love having my own place but it’s way too far away from nightlife. Something must be done. This Cinderalla shit just ain’t cuttin’ it.

One option would be to save my nights out for those times where everyone just goes nuts and parties till the sun rises…and the MRT starts to operate again. Hey, KTV is open all night. Yes. A storm is brewing.

One more for good measure

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Chillin with the Classmates

Friday was my first foray into nightlife…sort of.

It happened to be a classmate’s birthday that day so a couple of us made plans to go drinking with him that night. After class, I didn’t feel like going all the way back to Tu-cheng so I had to figure out a way to kill some time. After some deliberating I wound up spending the most of the afternoon around the school area.

First, I had lunch with some classmates in a random bento-box place around ShiDa road. Very filling, and only about $2 bucks. Later, some of us wanted to check out Shi Da nightmarket, since we haven’t done that yet. However, obviously it wasn’t opening until nighttime. Sigh, I decided to be a good student and sit in the library for a while. At least it gave me time to plan out how I was going to tackle my writing assignment- a letter to my parents. After my brain decided it had enough, we finally went out to the nightmarket.

There was a small section for self-employed artists/designers called the Incubation Center or something like that:

Cool pottery

Mr. and Micestress

Must cop before I leave TW

Various stickers. I like the "Superman Can't Fly" one

As soon as we left the designer area, one of my classmates had to go tutor her student. But she was quickly replaced by another classmate who had just finished her lab work. She didn’t have lunch yet so we went food hunting. This chicken stand seemed promising:

Yet another yummy chicken stand

I didn’t order one this time, but it sure looked tempting. As tempting as it is to post up a picture of it. But alas, I will show restraint this time.

We also shared some shaved ice but the toppings we chose, despite the deliciousness, made it look kind of gross. Ah, hell, might as well show you:

Pupu platter shaved ice?

What happens next? Does Greg get to go drinking or what? Part 2 to come!

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Non-food Post

My friend called me out on my blog recently. It’s been very food-centric, despite my original intention of not having that kind of blog. I can’t really help it though; Taiwan is all about food. It lets my friends know what they’re missing out on by not coming over. Oh well.

Here’s that Chinese baby-zombie shirt I got at Ximending:

殭屍 (Jiang1shi1) - Zombie

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Around 公館 (Gongguan)

Going back a couple of days ago. A Taiwanese friend I met in NY was in town; we met up with some of her ex-classmates and walked around the Gongguan area checking out the 小吃, street snacks:

Green tea drink with ice cream at Dante’s

This place sold that triangle cake.

Some tasty triangular cake

豬血糕 Fried pig’s blood cake. Every bit as good as it sounds.

Fried chicken leg pieces and salad with a sweet Viet sauce

Bubble Tea. Classic.

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Mid-Autumn Festival

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! or Moon Festival!

中秋節快樂!

This is the first time I celebrated this holiday out here, and it’s obviously way more festive. I brought my stuff over to stay at my aunt’s place for the holiday (no class) but my dumb-ass forgot to bring my camera. But no doubt I was munching all day on mooncakes, mooncakes, pomelos, and more mooncakes.

Did I mention mooncakes?

After a huge feast tonight with relatives, we all went out for a walk along the riverside. There were lots of fireworks in the distance, and at many points there were crowds of people outside just barbecuing and having a good time. Barbecuing is a relatively newer way to celebrate; it wasn’t a tradition when my parents were kids. I’m pretty sure drinking Kavalan whiskey (Taiwan’s famous brand) isn’t a custom either, but I had a shot anyway.

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西門町 continued

As promised…

After Steve bounced to get dinner with fam, my friend and I looked around some food ourselves. We found this spot with good oyster vermicelli.
More pics:

Rap-star wannabe left his street cred at home

香腸 - Taiwanese Sausage

Sticky Rice

Ximending on a rainy night. I'll be back, green goblin

One of these days I’m going to explore this area for the higher-end clothing boutiques. But I’ll let the rain win this time. This time.

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Hardcore Recycling

Recycling is taken very seriously here in Taiwan.

What is this madness!?

It’s not just bottles and papers here. Styrofoam, cartons, juice boxes, plastic bottles…

You thought it was just those 4 containers? Simpleton.

There’s even a container for leftovers to use as pig feed. So either I figure out how to sort this stuff out or just limit my eating and buying habits. Either way I’m producing less waste right?

Or I can be a dick and bring it to the school to dump out. Hmm….nah, not cool.

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Typhoons and Tornadoes

As I was bracing up for some shitty weather over the weekend, the last thing I expected was to hear about even shittier weather back at home. Hard to believe that NYC actually got hit with a tornado. Wtf? This ain’t Kansas! I called home last Friday to make sure everything was ok. Apparently trees are down everywhere. I found out my block lost electricity for some time. Thankfully everyone is safe and sound, as far as I know at least.

Taiwan had its own storm to deal with over the weekend: Typhoon Fanapi. Many homes in the mountainous areas had to be evacuated, fearing landslides. Luckily Taipei avoided the worst of it. We just had to deal with some rain- although it did trap me indoors this past Sunday, which is punishment enough.

All was not lost, however, as I got to spend some quality time with good peeps. I stayed over at a family friend’s house and got to hang out with one of my college friends from New York.

The first time I made a trip out to Taiwan, I stayed with my dad’s longtime friend’s family in 竹圍 (Zhu2wei2), which is only 2 stops away from Danshui. At the time I was a total noob and quite useless but they took great care of me and made feel very welcome.

I like to think of them as extended family, and it certainly felt that way again as I stayed over for the weekend. The kids are around my age so I’m able to practice my budding Mandarin skills as well as learn some swears, slangs, and dirty words (isn’t that the whole point?). The favor was returned as I explained some of the finer points of American English such as: What is a pimple? What is a pimp? Why is the show called “Pimp My Ride”?

Rain put a damper on plans for Saturday but I was still able to meet up with Steve, my friend from college. We were in the same Chinese class for two years but lack of use has made him forget a lot of it. S’all good, though. He hasn’t been back to TW in 13 years so it was good to see him enjoying the place. I went to 西門町 (Ximen-ding) with one of the family friends to meet up with him. Our first stop was the Red House Theater. It was built in 1908, but wasn’t used as a theater until later on. There are still live performances going on during the day, which Steve and I didn’t know about at the time. So when he saw somebody dressed as a geisha come right out of the bathroom, we were quite confused (my other friend cleared it up for us).

There’s a section in the first floor for independent designers. I got a T-shirt for my friend last time I was here, so I was hoping they would have new stuff.

The Red House Theater

Outside the Betelnut Store

He just mad cuz I'm stylin' on him

The guy behind us is a total square

Afterwards we strolled around Ximending for some snacks. I saw a place selling mango shaved ice + ice cream…

...had to do it.

Part II to come! I have a test later!

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