We caught a couple of trains down to the central area of town and a little off-shoot through to the south west, and area we don't often visit, much less frequent. In fact, we figured it was some years since our last visit. We shouldn't wait so long, as it is a pulsing metropolitan hub rich in culture and intense in vibe. The whole area screams energy and it's almost impossible not to be swept up in the feeling.
We'd planned a trip down to visit a production make-up shop to source some unique items for the upcoming middle school production. The Wizard of Oz is on the agenda again this year so the Tin Man's metallic face paint needed to be found. Cass was flabbergasted by the thought that a musical has actually repeated during her tenure here: does this mean we've been here too long?! She also needed a few other bits and pieces that wouldn't be available easily at the chemists and makeup shops around our place so she was hoping that we could find this spot and source the precious supplies.
We needed to thread our way through a few different streets and blocks, so were able once again to wonder at the edgy vibe going down. There were streets full of shops selling trinkets for teenage girls while we also passed more serious stores selling strange looking connected leather straps that could be worn as a garment for men along with all sorts of other impressive looking underwear! Then, of course, there was everything in between!
After getting slightly tangled up with Taipei's warped street numbering system and getting directions from a sleepy looking building guard, we eventually stumbled on the tiny shopfront of Ben Nye products. Cass was able to hum and hah over all sorts of powders and potions, eventually emerging with a large bottle of silver paint and some orange makeup along with some foundations and pencils.
Mission accomplished we wandered back straight through the entertainment and shopping hub of Ximen on our way to the station. On pedestrian mall corners and scattered through the streets were spruikers and entertainers, puffed up pieces of fruit on legs with their handlers alongside high school groups singing and playing guitar. It was a great atmosphere! There was a plethora of food choices, but we decided to head upstairs to a Japanese restaurant which looked promising, especially as they were advertising my much loved yakitori sticks. We both ordered what looked great on the menu but turned out to be rather disappointing in reality, as both my yakitori and Cassy's tempura vegetables were laden with oil making them quite uncomfortable to eat. Mark this down as an extreme rarity: a food fail in Taipei!
Undeterred from our upbeat mood, we strolled gaily on, quite appropriately to the area around the Red Theater, well known as a gay enclave and site for some trendy markets and bars. We wandered the eclectic mix of stalls which were mainly full of bespoke leather wallets and curios. Cass bought a Shakespeare stamp which she'll use on the kid's yearbooks at the end of the year....forward planning!
There was so much stuff that we thought we needed....we could have bought heaps of junk! Luckily sanity took hold and we realized that it was cool in the stall, but what on earth would we do with most of that stuff? "Dust Gatherers" Cassy calls them! We negotiated a few different MRT stations and lines to get home before settling in for the night.
On Sunday, we whizzed over to the Wovie Cinema to see the allegorical satire "High Rise". A British production, it smacked of a few different movies, but the one thing we were both disappointed in was the lack of creativity in theme and message. The overriding idea of modern society descending into tribal chaos as it breaks down has been down over and over again, differently but most notably recently by the latest in the Mad Max franchise. Still, it had some merit in that we were still discussing it this morning. Cassy has revised her grade from a B+ to an A-, while I'll reserve judgement. Let's put it this way: don't go along to get a dose of easy escapism...it's far from that!
Thai Town in the twin tower opposite beckoned us for an early dinner, and satiated with their authentic and tasty, fresh fare, we were content to scooter home to bunker in for the remainder of the weekend.
Photos: a Youbike Rorschach test and Ximen sights.