WOW FANTASTIC BABY

Hello guys!
Last night we went toooooo....

The YG Family was touring and their last stop was Taiwan!

                       <-On our way!

We got to the concert venue about 4 hours before the show and it was packed. Vendors were selling merchandise all along the perimeter, Bigbang shirts and tons of Winner stuff everywhere. I thought night markets were crowded but the concert people were packed in tight the only difference was that this was pretty much all our age group and their was no stinky tofu smell. Girls wearing jerseys and bandanas lined the walkways and finally some unique fashions emerged, although all generally brought to mind Korean street wear. 

After pushing our way through the sea of people and grabbing a few souvenirs we struggled into the nearby 7-Eleven and ate what we could find (the shelves had been nearly cleared by the mass of concert goers). Time went too quickly and soon we had to rush back to the concert hall. We wanted to use the toilets before we went in but the lines for the port-a-potty's were atrocious. We ended up missing the start of the concert because we were waiting in line for the disgusting squat toilets that for some reason locked you inside and only opened from the outside.

<---This is the "line" for the toilets (>▂<)

    We heard the hoards of screaming fans and raced out of toilet area and into the stadium to find our seats. 2ne1 was the first group up and we could see them on the screens as we entered. We were not too far from the stage but it was still difficult to see through the crowd, especially when there were taller guys wearing hats a few rows ahead. The artists looked so small compared to the stage, this was one of the biggest venues I'd been in and it dwarfed them! The big screens on either side zoomed in on them though. 

Yue was waving her Big Bang glowing rod around and we were bouncing in place to the songs. 2ne1's performance lead into the newest addition to YG, Winner. Even though they are a recent addition, they have a huge fan base and many of the people their screamed even louder than for 2ne1!

Epik High performed after and pumped up the crowd but I felt that they didn't have near the response as the 2 groups before, possibly because they aren't as popular here? They didn't get much stage time compared to the other groups either, but they had a collab with Dara for "Love love love" which I loved haha♥

   Of course the headlining group that everyone knows and loves made a huge appearance. Big Bang entered dramatically with an older song, Haru Haru and then they did some more collabs between groups and even switched out songs. Daesung and one of the guys from Winner I think, sang 2ne1's song "ugly" and later Big Bang came out together and and did a parody of "I love you" which was definitely a highlight of the show.

 (This is not my video as I did not have a camera, credit goes to the sneaky girl filming here lol)

    

   The concert wasn't over yet though, the biggest entrance of all came when PSY made his appearance. Thankfully he did not perform "Gangnam Style" until the end of his segment. At the end they brought all of the artist out and they danced and sang together for the last few songs before closing the show. The groups really did have a family vibe between them and it was great seeing them interact with each other. I don't feel that the Taiwanese fans had nearly the energy that you would see at a US concert but there was some serious fan girls mixed in who tried to bring the crowd up.  

  I didn't think we were allowed to bring cameras so I tried taking pics on my phone but they all came out pretty awful as did the videos but I'll share them anyway.

Lookit all those people! 

With our Big Bang light up stuff

   

       

Minzy shakin it

       

What can be better than Tablo and Dara on stage at the same time ohoh

This concert was truly amazing, they did a great job with the sets and timing and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I am not a huge fan girl when it comes to most things but seeing these artists in the flesh was pretty epic (and I never use that word). T.O.P. is just as handsome in real life and Taeyang has a super funny voice while GD has a surprisingly normal one? All the ladies of 2ne1 were hella sexy and PSY brought the energy. Tablo is freakin adorable and I wish he would rap in english more often! And well, I don't know Winner too well but they will probably be as big as Big Bang in the near future. 

The only problem now is how will anything else in my life ever be that awesome again?

~Savi

Bloop

Hello, today is just a chill out day so I figured I'd make another post about some more random stuff.
Firstly I wanted to mention a few other cafes/restaurants that we went to that I never talked about. We had heard that there was a small "anime" scene here and we had already been to the underground mall with the anime merchandise, but I was curious if there was any maid cafes like what I saw in Japan. After looking online it definitely seemed like there was, or at least used to be some in the Ximending area so we set off for Ximen. The experience was almost as awkward as the cafes in Japan. The one that we found (and I think the only one around) was on the 5th or 6th floor of this building near where you can see the huge street crossing. The sign was not super visible but it had an anime maid on it so we knew it was the right place. The restaurant looked like it served light snacks as well as meals possibly in the evening. There was no entrance fee but there was a minimum purchase charge of about 100NT which a little less than $4. We ordered the tea and cake combo which came with a pot of tea and a slice of taro cake. We were the only customers in the place aside from one sleeping guy and  mother with her child. Honestly this place was disappointing, much cheaper than a Japanese maid cafe, but probably because it was so shabby and the food was just okay. The maids were cute at least but their uniforms were kinda dirty which I thought was a bit unprofessional. They did draw cute pictures on the plates at least.

     Another food related place we visited that is worth mentioning is the Dayan Cafe, well it's called a cafe but it's really more of a restaurant like many of the "cafes" here. The theme of the cafe is the Japanese Wachifield character Dayan. There's a giant statue of him outside the restaurant and a gift shop selling merchandise on the bottom level of the cafe. The exterior is very cute and resembles something you could see in Europe with it's small court yard and green door. The food was much more pricey at this cafe to our dismay, but the presentation was adorable. As usual We ordered drinks and dessert. My tea was brought out in a lovely tea set with a small side of cream and Yue's coffee had one of the character's faces on it as did our Tiramisu (which tasted perfect by the way). This place was definitely unique and there were tables with reservations on them so I suppose it must be popular as well. 

     Secondly, I wanted to mention the strange parking habits of the Taiwanese. I don't know if there is a law or something or it is just common knowledge to do so, but everyone parks in reverse here. No matter how small the parking spot or whether it be a parking deck or a parking lot, every car is facing forward. I've seen maybe 2 or 3 cars parked the opposite but that's it. It's not like everyone are great drivers here but it would seem they all know how to reverse park. Why this is I couldn't say. 

    Lastly, the employees must not get very long breaks here or something because we keep seeing workers taking naps at work. Unlike at home when we don't have any customers and are forced to try and keep busy, it seems workers here just sit down and get on their phones or they take a nap. We kept noticing people with pillow just sacked out at restaurants and we thought dang they must be tired after they eat but then they got up and put on their uniform and back to work they went! How weird haha! It makes sense I suppose since when people have breaks at home they may go out to their car and nap. Here they can't really do that so the only option is to nap at work. 

                                  Well that's all my blurps for today, 

                                                                                    ~byee

It feels like in the movies..

Hello my peeps,
    Today was another exceptionally hot day but we got the chance to cool off in the sky for a bit. We headed back towards the Zoo area and road on the Maokong Gondolas that start at the Taipei Zoo station and go all the way up to the top of Maokong, which is an area famous for it's tea production.
The gondola station was so cute and decorated with Hello Kitty everywhere including on the gondolas themselves. The HK look was introduced recently to celebrate her 40th anniversary and now she is featured as the mascot.

The ride up was a little under a dollar and it took a very long scenic route over the forests and parts of the zoo. The city was visible over the expanse of trees as well as the mountains in the distance. We road in the Crystal cabin on the way up which has a glass floor so we could see through the bottom. When I looked down, it brought to mind certain movies where they do a long pan over a forest or an ocean like in Jurassic park or something. It would be the perfect romantic spot in the evening because you can see the sun set on the horizon and behind the mountains. For us though, we were put inside with 2 other guys and it was pretty hot and stuffy in there because the lack of airflow. That along with the constant swaying didn't settle too well with my motion sickness.

    We didn't do much at the top, just walked around a little and ate this fried egg thing as a snack. We would've liked to try some of the tea since that is what the area is known for but we didn't get to this time around. The ride back down cost the same as the way up although we took just a regular cabin instead of the see through one. I was a little more nauseous for this trip so I kept my eyes closed for a good part of it, I opened my eyes to watch the sun slowly go down though but we disappeared behind the trees before seeing it fully set.
 

Sometimes it's worth it to do more tourist-like things for a change

Savi

ANIMUULS

Hello Guys! Today we finally got to go to the Taipei Zoo! One of the train lines goes directly there so we didn't have to worry about walking really far or driving, and the entrance fee was only $2 (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ
The zoo was very large, much larger than any I have been to elsewhere, we didn't even get to see all of the exhibits before they closed at 5pm. We did get to see many of the animals we wanted to see though, but it was a hot day so lots of the animals were napping and hiding in the shade which made them harder to find at times. We didn't even see any of the deer until later when they came out to get food. The zoo animals were organized by region including African, Australian, and Rain Forest animals. We also visited the bug area where they had a couple large buildings dedicated to insect displays and a butterfly house. They had quite a collection of stick bugs and a large assortment of butterflies that were fluttering around everywhere.

They were cute until they opened their eyes（ΦωΦ）

Bear hug lol

   We were able to see the pandas as well and thankfully there wasn't a line, but there was still a lot of people considering it is a weekday.  The pandas had their own building as well but there was only 3 of them that were out and they were all eating. It was pretty funny watching them tumble around and gnaw on the leaves.

   We visited the African animals and saw the giraffas and the lions and I can't believe how big the lions are! It's not like I haven't seen lions at a zoo before but these were some really big cats. They only had the females out today so we didn't get to see the size difference between the two but it was awesome getting to see them as close as we did. The one lion actually stalked right up to the divider a few times before settling back down in the grass.

    The zoo was so big that they had a train shuttle at the far end that carries people back to the front. We didn't get to see the reptiles, birds, or arctic animals sadly, but it's good to know they have so much space for these animals. The zoo is celebrating it's 100th Anniversary so it looks like they were fixing things up and expanding some areas. It was a good visit I'd say although it's back to a stifling 90 degrees outside so we were dying by the time evening came around. Before going home, we stopped by our latest haunt, Ximending, and we tried these famous noodles that were on the news or something. They were so spicy I didn't really even taste the flavor but it would be a great food for cooler weather that I hope comes around soon, although it seems like everyone back home is already experiencing much colder temperatures.
Nomnom(っ˘ڡ˘ς)
Stay Warm!

~Savi

Hair and Dogs

   Hey there, so I just wanted to talk a little bit about some things I've experienced here. Recently both my gf and I got our hair cut at a salon here. Not on the same day but at the same salon. Now I'm not sure if all salons here are this way but we did check out a few others before settling on this one and I saw a big difference in how American salons and Taiwanese salons are run. As I believed I mentioned before, all the stylists appear to dress however they please whether that be in high heels and a dress or sneakers and a baseball cap, and you don't pay based on the haircut, you pay based on the stylist doing your hair. Some cost more than others but I don't know whether that means your gonna get a terrible haircut or not if you pick one of the cheapest people. I'm thinking it must be based on how long they've been in the business or something. My stylist was about average price I think, I got my hair cut and styled for about $13. That's basically the price I pay back home at Great Clips just to get my hair trimmed up some without and sort of styling at all. They aren't even allowed to blow dry my hair without having the boss lady say something, but with the Taiwanese salon this is not the case at all, my hair was cut and styled-dry without any additional charges. However, the attitude at the salon seemed very lax, my stylist actually got on her phone and walked away leaving me sitting there waiting with partially cut hair. It was super awkward and it seemed really rude to me but maybe that's just how people are here? Unless it's cause I'm a foreigner and they don't care or something I dunno.. Either way I was satisfied with my cut and I didn't pay an unreasonable amount for the service so I was content.
     Now, something else that I noticed that leads into my next topic is that they had a dog running around in the salon. It was not the first time I had seen an animal hanging out at a business nor was it the last, in fact I have seen dogs just about everywhere here. People treat the dogs like babies and roll them around in strollers or carry them in their arms. Many places such as the cat cafe I mentioned or the Risotto restaurant I may have talked about, all let their animals freely roam the shops. Dogs wander the streets at all times of the day, some with collars some without and they do as they please. Some have formed little packs and roam the streets scavenging while others are spoiled little hairballs that lay in beds lined with fleece with little water bottles nearby in case they get thirsty. The most popular breeds of dog are the little dogs particularly the short ones like corgis or dachshunds, but by far the dog that I see most are these curly-haired, light-footed brown dogs that I think are called Cockapoos or something. They definitely aren't poodles but whatever the hell they are everyone has one of these. Taiwan has truly astounded me with their treatment of these animals, they are obviously a country of dog-lovers and I am always pleased to see a carrying bag holding a cat instead of one of those barking little afros. Don't get me wrong I love dogs too, I just need a little more variety of breeds every once in a while 

~Savi

Coasting in Tamsui

Hello! Yesterday we took the train North to Tamsui which is on the coast and basically just spent the day wandering around and taking in the sites. The streets were full of people mostly because it's the weekend and EVERYBODY comes out, but also because there always seems to be people out all the time anyway. I'm assuming this area must be a great couple retreat because I saw quite a lot of young couples as well as groups of couples and families. After working our way through the busy streets we found ourselves by the seaside where boats were pulled up along the side and taking people around to visit other parts of the area. We boarded one of these boats and cruised along the water feeling the breeze blow by and occasionally being splashed by the water. It was a little bumpy for me but I made it to land without getting nauseous thankfully.  The boat fare was a little over $2 I think and it took us to what looked like a seaside resort area. There was a Giant hotel cleverly designed in a ship-like manner and many people out singing and selling food. I'm not sure what's up with all the musicians here and why so many people sing on the streets or play weird harmonica music..but I like it. It brings a really fun atmosphere and the children were skipping around dancing while the families walked their midget dogs. We walked up onto a very long pier, that greatly resembled that one scene from Sweeny Todd, and we sat and watched the ocean for a while. It was rather windy so my eyes were drying out as usual but it felt very relaxing when my eyes were closed.
Attached to the Giant hotel we found a chocolate wonderland that sadly was not free to enter so we walked around the gift shop looking at all the chocolate products and then took pictures of all the funny chocolate characters outside.
   After our chocolate disappointment we made our way back towards the boat area and stopped by a food vendor to try their chicken. They sell these HUGE pieces of chicken that they give you in a little wrapper and you just eat it like that. The boat ride back was less pleasant and more cold, and it was dark by the time we got back to the otherside.  We walked through an array of lights and street performers back to the train station and our current residence. The trip was short but we saw a lot and it was simple enough to get there, no long bus rides or confusing train transfers. It was also very inexpensive which is great in case we wanted to make a trip back down there by ourselves (we had a guide for this trip).

Night~

Jiuofan and The cat village

  Hey guys! Today we got up much earlier than usual so we could take a trip to Jioufan, whose market place was used as the model in the film Spirited Away.  We traveled by train and then were transported through green mountainsides to the entrance to this intriguing place. The pathway leading into the markets truly looked like a tunnel leading into another world. The market itself was full of a plethora of food and souvenir shops but most of the nick-nacks were priced higher since it's a huge tourist area. The streets were pretty small and cramped full of people and the occasional motorbike that plowed through. The mountains peeked through at us between the shops and some of the restaurant's balconies even reached off the edge facing the ocean. It was a magnificent view once we emerged from all the shops. The sky was so clear today and it wasn't unbearably hot, in fact it's cooled down quite a bit compared to the last few weeks. We enjoyed the scenery then walked back through and grabbed a bite to eat before working our way back to the train station. We visited this place during the day but I believe that it's true colors don't show until the sun sets. It would be great to come back and see the market place again at night.

                                     

                           

                           

                           

                               ^^this place is known for it's mochi as well!

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   Our day wasn't over yet, we hopped on another train and one stop later arrived in Houtong. We were there not because of the coal factory that I think they wish people would come to see, but for the cat village! That's right there is a whole town full of cats! I wouldn't have believed it but sure enough as soon as we walked into the train station there was cat images everywhere. The real cats began appearing as soon as we turned the corner and continued on from there. These cats just roam free getting pet and fed from tourist. They seem to be living the life, although you can tell some of them have been in fights with the other cats. We actually heard a cat showdown at one point but missed out on the action. There were many dogs wandering around as well but sadly no one payed them much attention, There was a whole dog family actually which was adorable. The littlest one was so cute but very skittish. The town was rather quite and not completely overrun with tourist, so it felt very peaceful walking through and petting a cat along the way. Something about cats and their happy faces makes me happy(=ↀωↀ=). I was finally amongst my feline friends and was so sad to leave, but I made sure to pet as many as I could and say hi to all the rest! 

                                               
                                               

^Yes, that cat is inside the display lol!

 

                                   
                                      

~Savi*:･ﾟ✧