taiwan series: bookstore for beginners

i was facetiming with my mom the other day, and she asked (again) when i was going to go home for a visit. i love my annual visits, but have had an overwhelming sense of dread on the topic since Z was born. not that i don't want to take him home to meet his great-grandmother and introduce him to ding tai fung, but the thought of having to deal with baby jet lag makes me want to stay on EST for the next 10 years. from all accounts, it will ruin your trip. (i'm still recovering from our trip to L.A. last week, and that was only 3 hours' difference!) so while i ponder whether or not i have the courage to do such a thing, here are some photos of an adorable bookstore 「新手書店」 in taichung that we visited last may.   

i love the wood and black metal exterior. when i build our dream house, this is the look i'll be going for. 

the interior is a similar aesthetic, with stripped wood and lots of vintage taiwanese tchotchkes. 

hhh picked up a few photography books while we were there - he couldn't read the others. :) 

if you're in the neighborhood and want to visit, it's at: Táizhōng shì xīqū xiàngshàng běi lù 129 hào [台中市西區向上北路129號]. 

taiwan series: revisiting fantasy story

it's a whole lot colder in brooklyn than it is in taichung. i've been back for about a week now, and am wishing for those sunny 70-degree days, especially now that it's getting dark at 4:30 here. ugh. to comfort myself, i'm revisiting photos from my trip! here are some that i took at fantasy story, which i first checked out last year (although i didn't get around to posting about it until september). 

i spent a bit longer there this time around - it was a weekday and things were slow, but there seemed to be more shops associated with the fantasy story brand. in fact, they were all strangely marked by strings of halloween pumpkin lanterns, which you can see in some of the photos. since my visit was in late november, i'm not sure if it was leftover from some halloween event, or a year-round thing the way christmas decorations tend to be. (i can still remember how my favorite restaurant in middle school had a "merry xmas" banner on its door in the middle of summer. tangentially, it's strange how so many american holidays have migrated to taiwan. my mom mentioned thanksgiving to me and i was like: "why do taiwanese celebrate the survival of pilgrims and squanto's good will?" these holidays were definitely not on any local's radar when i lived there in the 1990s....) but i digress. back to fantasy story: it's definitely very cute. but hey, i like this kind of thing. 

the spaces are available for events and exhibits, and it looked like a crew was scoping out the space for a future event while i was there. there were also more restaurants than last time - a tea shop and a japanese restaurant on the second floor, as well as a large western restaurant called isabella. 

it was so peaceful just wandering around and exploring alone. on the weekends though, it's probably packed with friends and family having tea and brunch and running around the courtyards. 

this is the "bookshop for beginners" - an introductory point to fantasy story. 

a list of the shops and restaurants on zhongxing first lane 「中興一巷」.

the second floor of one of the buildings. love the way they've restored the rooflines and shingles.

the current photo exhibit. 

one of the dining options.

the adorable outdoor seating at one of the second floor restaurants.

a window to the teashop.

this place serves noodles, i think. 

a view down to one of the interior courtyards. 

fantasy story featured blooming bougainvillea too, like everywhere else in taichung. how have i never noticed these flowers before?!

the second story of the complex. i hear it used to be dormitories. 

an enchantingly green corner. 

a shop with curios and plants. 

this shop bears signage for an architect's office, but seems to also sell other goods.

the second complex on zhongxing road. 

isabella's lush courtyard. 

these plants are amazing! i would live here.

a gift shop on the second floor of the second building. 

looking down into isabella's courtyard.

a glimpse into the eating area at isabella.

the entry area to isabella.

each building had two to three small courtyards. this was taken from the street into the last.

more plants! i wished that i could bring them all home. 

a map of the different locations associated with fantasy story. 

ps. check out my last visit here.

taiwan series: fantasy story

recently, i booked my plane ticket to taiwan for my mom's 60th birthday. it's been years since i've been able to be with her for it, so i'm excited for the chance to celebrate with the whole family. buying the ticket reminded me that it's been a while since i posted a taiwan entry. i should probably get the rest of my photos from my last trip up before i take my next! 

the streets of taiwan are ever changing, so i try to do a little exploring whenever i return for a visit. things are pretty different now from when i was growing up there. in the mid-nineties, my friends and i spent an inordinate amount of time at first square, a sub-par shopping center anchored by a forever streaky and less-than-impressive replica of the louvre's glass pyramid. first square's only saving grace was its cheap movie theater and an abundance of bargain shopping. (i bought a lot of earrings and clothes there as a 13-year-old.) we also did a lot of mtv-ing there. for some reason, "mtv" in the parlance of taiwan at that time did not mean the music videos or reality tv, but referenced businesses that offered rooms where you could 1) rent a movie of your choice to watch on a wall-sized screen and 2) order all manner of bubble tea, beef noodles, fried chicken, and other taiwanese snacky delights to go with said movie. it's not like we were living in the lap of luxury, but the entertainment that first square provided was right in line with our middle-school allowances. there were of course also the night markets (gloriously cheap), tea houses (on every corner), and department store food courts (the variety!). you could say that cheap eats was the theme of my adolescence. (really, not that much has changed.) 

taichung, my hometown, used to be a distant second to taipei in terms of food, culture, and shopping. but these days, there's plenty to keep me busy during visits. last time i was there, i wandered away from the comfort of the gongyi road eslite branch down some smaller streets and ended up at the bookshop in fantasy story.  it's a strange name for a venue - or rather, a series of them, i discovered - but basically, it's a collection of shops, cafes, and restaurants in the side streets around gongyi road and meicun road. 

hhh examines the fantasy story map.

the map up close.

there seemed to be one main building, which looked like a conversion of old residential houses. parts of the complex were left in disrepair, while others were restored and renovated. nature staked its claim on these buildings long ago, and it looked as if it would have been a losing battle to fight back. 

the domesticated parts of the complex housed boutique shops, populated by tiny potted succulents and bed linens. i think i also saw an architect's office, but i'm not completely sure. 

and a few more photos of the intertwining of house and tree. 

when i go back to taichung in november, i plan to visit the other fantasy story spots that i missed. stay tuned for more photos! 

ps. for more of the taiwan series, see here. 

update 12/01/2014: i went back! to see more, go here.