Saturday, September 15, 2007

Breezing through

The Breeze Center in Taipei:
It's a department store with high end stores that I certainly didn't enter. It was like walking into through a Vogue magazine. I saw several stores that I'd heard about, but never before seen, such as DSQUARED and rebecca taylor.

I visited the Dean and Deluca on the lowest level. The fifth floor has a really cool book store. It's cool because it has a lot of books in English. There was a great selection of travel books, and I had to pry myself away because I knew I'd be able to spend a lot of time flipping through the guides. One book on Taiwan was translated into French, so I read a bit about Taiwan in French.

The English literature section was also noteworthy. I'd like to read some classic Chinese novels - translated in English of course!

The mall has a HeySong Pavilion, and I so went there. It's like a mini-museum devoted to HeySong - the Coca Cola of Taiwan. According to wikipedia, it's root beer though. When HeySong was first available, it was the only beverage company in Taiwan. The monopoly could only last so long...
The Pavilion, along with signs detailing HeySong's history, includes displays of casual scenes from life in Taiwan in years past. Someone be jammin'.
Then, a walk about the city. Due to the Car Free Festival (not free car festival), a section of the street was barricaded and Taiwanese traffic shut out. People roamed the streets, mostly without the fear of being run down by the bold drivers here.
You can see Taipei 101 in the upper left hand corner of the photo. This picture is about kites though.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Book stores are dangerous enough when you can read in one language, never mind two! Great idea to read classic Chinese novels.

While not as exciting as a Free Car Festival, the Car Free Festival sounds very liberating for a day. Is it about being "green" I wonder?

Do you plan to go to the observatory at 101? For the indoor one on 89th floor it's 350 TWD (or 300 TWD if you book 19 friends in advance to go with you) and another 100 TWD for the outdoor observatory on the 91st floor.

Maybe just be in the vicinity for New Year's? It would be very crowded then, but maybe worth it for the spectacle of the event. Have you at least seen it lit up at night?

I would love to go while it is still officially the tallest building before Burj Dubai is completed. (It is already taller but by definition not yet a building.)

If you go to the observatory, just remember: no slippers or improper attire, no betel nuts or chewing gum, and no pets.

Anonymous said...

http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/en/OB/about/info.asp

Elizabeth said...

I don't know when I'll end up going. But I'll go.

Anonymous said...

I'm only so obnoxious about it because I wish I could go! :-P