We're incredulous that after all this time, Taipei can still guarantee to serve up sweet surprises, on this occasion in the form of yet another twist on the giant, gleaming new mega-mall complex. In the shadows of the Taipei Contemporary Art Museum (or more literally, the MOCA Taipei is in its shadow!) lies the very impressive "Q-Square" designed as a hub and offshoot for the Taipei Bus Station from where sleek juggernauts launch themselves to all parts of the island.
Long, narrow, sleek and shining (much like the buses nestled in its bowels), Q-square is six floors of interesting fashion shops and cafes and restaurants. The ubiquitous labels that can be found in any big city are there, but there are a few Japanese upstarts and more than a few interesting little storefronts like O-bags and Godiva to rival the twin floor monster of Zara et al... Jeffrey Campbell shoes were wild!
We wandered past an unbelievably long line waiting to get into a new Chinese/Japanese buffet restaurant which seems to be, literally, flavour of the month. (The Taiwanese have a strangely Japanesesque fetish for the trendy and new: I read recently that you can expect a seven hour wait to get into the newest fad in town, the Korean BBQ joint, "Honey Pig"!). On our way we passed a stall selling what appeared to be the world's greatest ever range of flavours of mini jelly beans as well as outlets for pizza, Chinese, Taiwanese hotpot, Shabu-shabu, Thai, Japanese cooked and uncooked, and Irish potatoes. We settled on "Le Ble Dor", whom despite their Gallic name, had donned the wait staff in quite unbecoming lederhosen for the upcoming Oktoberfest! Ignoring the fashion faux pas, we were seated in a very generous booth encased in a huge replica of a beer barrel (sounds weird, but it actually worked pretty well: you had to be there!) with other rustic examples of barrels lining the walls. The lights were dim, the atmosphere bawdy and the fare hearty! We each chose a pizza in the end after trawling through their amazingly comprehensive menu. In the end we wandered back through the mall, dived into the bus station and explored the Taipei underground mall complex all the way through to Taipei Main Sation and the MRT home to Mingde.
Prior to our Q-Square experience, we'd visited the latest exhibition at the MOCA Taipei, which is almost universally excellent each time we go. Housed in a Japanese era impressive structure, the exhibition was a visiting Hong Kong one, and many of the works and installations were specifically planned for the Taipei visit. The cities have much in common, and the artists drew attention to some of the lesser known commonalities that the two super cities share, such as housing (non) affordability, the poor getting poorer, workers health and safety and, generally, a heady mix of cultures and languages and ideologies all coalescing in a frantic urban melting pot. On the way to the MOCA Taipei, we wandered through a station forecourt that was littered with fascinating mosaics and mosaic coated creatures...it quite whet our appetite for more quirky art, which we certainly received when we arrived!
Sharp eyed readers might be wondering what happened to our forcefully stated desire to take the car out to the countryside this weekend. The fact of the matter is that despite knowing it was coming up, I think last weekend we were both in denial that the dreaded middle school camp was looming large for this week. Cassy wasn't keen to do anything too enervating, and we decided that some slick, sanitized big city living on the weekend might be a mild antidote to the privations expected at Fulong for the Grade 8 camp! Cass garnered her essential salads from the 7/11 on Sunday night to supplement the yucky parts of the food served during the week. All packed up, we managed to once again squeeze and massage the mid-sized suitcase onto the scooter to get her up to school and on the bus on Monday morning....not a happy camper!
Photos: a quirky but soothing oasis on the way home from work each day, the air-conditioning repairman sent the girls "undercover" mid-week, Cass looked pretty before enduring the parent outreach night last week, and various photos from MOCA Taipei and Q-Square. (including various versions of pepper spray legally available!)