I decided to reward myself for having cleaned house and having made it through a particularly tough week. I haven’t found a library yet but I did pay a visit to the 24-hr bookstore off of Renai circle: Eslite (otherwise known as tons of shopping fun!). 5 floors of all sorts of made (or designed)-in-Taiwan items – oh and they sell books too.
I thought I’d try my luck to see if I could find anything (clothing-wise) that would actually fit me. It gets old walking into a shop where no one speaks much English, filled with cute clothing designed for what I like to call “tiny people”, and having the sales person (usually one of the aforementioned tiny people) answer “sorry no” when I ask in English whether they have anything that will fit me. (Guess they understood my question.) I find if I start browsing the inventory and hold something up, asking, “Do you have this in my size?” I have a better chance of actually finding something. The first store I walked into had a saleslady that spoke English! She very sweetly walked around with me translating when needed.
On the book floor, I found a very detailed city map – let’s see if I’m better able to navigate the streets of Taipei with it! I browsed the magazines because certain issues (mostly the British and Chinese versions) have “free” items shrink-wrapped-ly (is that a word?) attached to them: tote bags in all shapes and sizes, cosmetics, and other items in colorful boxes (no clue on the ones with no pics since it’s all in Chinese).
Asia's best kept secret... 