Taipei 101's baby brother is attached at the hip to his big sister, yet rises just a measly 5 storeys compared to the lofty heights of 101 floors. You can see the little attachment in the photos of the colossus above: it's the annoying little add-on in the mid to lower left of the day and night shots! Despite it's tiny comparative size it pulls immense financial weight and houses branches of most of the ubiquitous luxury brands to be found anywhere in the world.
This rarefied atmosphere is one which we occasionally pass, sniff the breeze, then vacate quickly as if the lack of oxygen might swallow us into a vortex. If we do stop and sticky-beak, it's always to wonder at the type of person who shops in these glittering palaces. Their liveried and impossibly beautiful attendants, looking so snooty and entitled, wander the deep pile carpeted stores re-arranging the already perfect, flicking imaginary specks of dust with gloved hands. The impressively muscled "guards" squeezed into designer suits, possibly wondering what all their iron pumping had been for, as they courteously open and close whispering glass panes for the curious to come in and gaze in awe.
Well, I'm horrified to report that we've now experienced all the fawning, posturing and preening which we'd previously wondered about, as Cass bit the bullet and acted on her months of research with her very first purchase of a top designer level handbag. Cass had decided to pool various funds from Christmas and birthday this time into something other than jewellery, which was my first surprise! She vacillated about her purchase, not sure she was doing the right thing, although she did do mountains of electronic research along with real, hands on looking and touching of various alternatives. She settled on this bag when she spied it with Valerie on their visit here in April and has only this weekend set her plan in motion!
We began our quest with a 40 minute subway ride down to the glitzy eastern reaches of the city. There are two Dior shops of note in Taipei, but the sparkling palace is located at 101. In contrarian fashion, we decided to predicate this grand purchase on a meal of opposite worth in the food court on the B1 level of the building! Despite the paucity of seating available in the early evening crush, we went ahead and ordered our Japanese curry set (for me) and Indian vegetarian (for Cass) before meeting back to search for a seat. We finally spied a tight spot and oddly sat opposite another couple at a very narrow table: when you lent over your meal we were uncomfortably close! To continue the metaphor, we then traveled from the bowels of the building, up sets of escalators, the designer goods becoming more luxurious as the floors went higher till finally, we were wafted onto the marble forecourt of the top floor and the dazzling wall of light that was Dior, beckoned.
As it happened, our worst fears were not realized and the delightful girl who served us was very understanding as Cass looked at a number of possibilities before deciding on her favourite. The girl was, however, adorned with pristine white gloves! That part of the stereotype aside, she helped us through the process of a drawn out purchase, packing and explanation of the tax rules as well as letting us spend some time swanning around the store as she "attended to business". I'm sure the relaxed pace is all part of the experience! Taking the obligatory commemorative photos with our attendant and then outside, we made our way back through the multilayered marble maze to slip quietly on to the MRT and home. Cass was so so consumed by "bag fever" that she had trouble sleeping on Saturday night! She now has to keep it packaged till presenting at the airport for a tax inspection till she can finally unsheathe it in all its glory. She's looking forward to it!
Photos: all of "bag fever"! Inside the Duomo in Milan up top for now or here later