Another Day, Another Shopping Experience...

Now before you all think that the reason I have come to Taiwan is to just shop, I just haven't found the other attractions yet; or the weather has allowed me to visit them.

To tell you the truth, while I am still adjusting to the heat that is Kaohsiung, I do seek to find places that are air conditioned, have a bakery so I buy Taiwanese bread, have a resting place for me to give my tired feet a break and is close by the train station. It just so happens that the shopping malls and/or department stores are very close to the train stations.

I also have another confession, I meant to post this yesterday but got caught up in computer virus issues with Vista (I really don't like Vista)...

Anyway on with yesterday's point. On the train line that is close to me, there is one stop called SanDuo Shopping District. San means "three" and Duo means "many". I presume that the San refers to the three big department stores that are virtually side-by-side. They are Sogo, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi and Mega. In addition to these three department stores, there are many shops on the street around the area (but the weather is too hot to go exploring around them yet). This is were Dream Mall has its advantage.

Now after going through the three department stores, I can honestly say that they are all alike. The brands are all the same, the prices are pretty similar, all are air conditioned and you should see how neatly they fold the clothes. One advantage that Mega has, is that it has an entrance/exit of the train station is actually within its building. The other two department stores requires a brief walk in the open air along with the joy of the heat. But for my money, Dream Mall has won me over.

But that was yesterday, today I decided to make a conscious decision to visit a place other than a department store or shopping mall. When I went to pay my school fees earlier this week, there was a Culture Centre opposite the University so I decided to head there. Upon arriving, I think everyone must have been at the shopping malls including the exhibitions. There was virtually nothing to see except a small photo gallery that demonstrated the genetic link between the Taiwanese Aboriginals and the Pacific Island migration including New Zealand Maori population. This was something that New Zealand had documented quite a while ago. In all fairness to the Culture Centre, I think it is more of a performing arts centre and the performances are probably at night time and during the right season (now being the off season).

So after viewing this small exhibition, I wondered what I was going to do? Any guesses? I bet you guessed it. I headed to Dream Mall. What motivated me this time was that the Doctor had given me some vouchers that he had received for signing up for cable TV for a year and one place to redeem them was Dream Mall. While living in New Zealand, we never really bought any clothes and when we moved to Taiwan, we decided that we would take the clothes that we wore on our backs and buy good quality Taiwanese clothes more suitable for the climate (see there is justification for me visiting so many shops). Well I found one shop called Baleno and they seem to have reasonably price merchandise in the style that I like. After the sales lady tried to cross sell t-shirts and shorts I walked out with only one polo shirt and five less vouchers. The other clothes that the Doctor and I buy will probably be from the stores on the street or in night markets as they are generally the same quality. The advantage of the night market is that they have bargain prices and deals such as buy one get one free plus the atmosphere like a carnival.

The last thing that I will leave you with is another photo of the sun setting. Mother Blog gave me the suggestion to take a photo with the sun a bit higher. This photo doesn't show the colours that the sunset brings. I literally have about a minute and usually by the time that I notice the moment has passed.


Till next time, haveagoodone...