LESSON PLANS, LINEN AND LANTERNS: I'M A BIG GIRL NOW (PART 1)
- higgsfiona
- Mar 4, 2015
- 4 min read
Okay, this is the first blog entry for a while; I have been swept off my feet a little over the last three or so weeks. While I have much to cover regarding my antics over this period I will address each adventure individually in a 'little but often' approach! I will start with two blog posts covering my recent visit to Taipei, which included a forage into the textile market on Dihua Street - known as Yongle Market, as well as marvelling at some incredible lanterns at the Taipei Expo Park.
This week marks the week when the gas was turned on my new apartment! It's been a big week for me, as this is the first time I have lived in my own place without having to share bills, furniture and facilities (orclothes against my will in one case). I got the keys a week or two ago, but as the gas didn't work, and I don't read Chinese, I had to wait for help to get it switched on. And now the fridge/freezer is humming with joy (rather than a stale smell it was breathing into the kitchen when I first met it). In the meantime I have found time between my trip to Tokyo and Taipei, and keeping my visiting fella busy with adventures to the local sights to pick out the usual household fare (kitchen utensils, door mats, CLEANING PRODUCTS!!! Good grief, the place needed a clean!).
On one of my missions I set out to Taipei, a good hour long trip by scooter and train. I found it pretty easy to reach Yingge by scooter for a second time, and fortunately the train station is signposted in English. It is also so convenient to find parking for a scooter in Yingge, and there are two cool little paid parking shacks (literally) right outside the entrance to the station building. For just over 6 hours of parking I paid 30 NT - which is less than 65p. That's just over 10p and hour! WOW!!
I managed to communicate enough with the non-English-speaking ticket office to get my return train tickets to Taipei station. I say 'tickets', because I got two tickets, even though I was the only person standing in front of them... AND STILL, this cost me less than 120 NT (or £2.35)... whaaaaa? One thirty minute ride later (for those who know my hometown of Stourbridge, this is like Stourbridge to Brum Snow Hill) and I was in Taipei!
First task - get some curtains. I had read online about a market that Phill and I had somehow managed to miss out on our visit to historic Dihua Street in the Datong District of Taipei a couple of weeks beforehand. The street is the oldest in Taipei and is renouned for it's commercial trade, especially sundries around Chinese New Year (which we witnessed when we visited!), and we had taken in the holiday atmosphere, not realising that we were in the vicinity of what can only be described as a fabric market of epic reputation and proportions. We even looked at the building and remarked how cool it would be to visit the adjoining puppet theatre. After reading online about the marvels and merits of shopping for soft furnishings in this prime destination I knew I was in for a treat. But, oh my gosh, I got lost within 10 minutes. In a panic, I felt that the best way to blend in was to make a purchase. I saw a fabric I liked, and went against all the advice that I have read about buying from market traders (i.e.: bargin and barter, make sure you look around first, etc) and bought a really quite pricey (but cool!) fabric. I just thank my lucky stars I had the right measurements for my windows, otherwise I don't think this story would be quite so rosy! After I explained that I had no real sewing skills (in a pantominesque style, of course) the kind shop owner led me to the next floor up in the building and straight to a professional seamstress who sent me off for an hour to continue my browsing, all the while making me my curtain (and a sash to hold it). Not to fixate on value here too much, once again I couldn't believe how little this cost (150 NT - or around £3). I also found another material during my perusing in this hour, so I returned (it was nothing short of a miracle that I found the stall again!) and asked for another curtain. She bashed the second curtain out in under 20 minutes... here she is at work...
The curtains are now hangiing in my new apartment. I'm so pleased. Her sewing skills are quite imaculate, and it really makes me want to learn to use a sewing machine!
And then I had a great chicken bagel burger at this little place called Frog Cafe:Kitchen I had stumbled across with Phill on our previous venture along Dihua Street before moving on to the legendary Lantern Festival at Taipei Expo Park (on it's first night, no less!). Part II coming up...
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