I’m planning/hoping to leave Taiwan in a few days to visit my family in the States and wish to bring a gift/s for the 2 year-old boy my bro adopted from Nepal. The fact he’s from Nepal is actually irrelevant. More important is the values of my bro and his wife, which in general would dictate something within the following rough guidelines:
The gift should not be plastic, with batteries, flashing lights or electronic noises.
It should not be a toy gun or other weapon.
Natural materials, such as wood, leather, cotton, silk, etc are preferred.
Traditional arts, handicrafts, original designs and/or handcrafted objects and the like are preferred, but it shouldn’t be some boring artifact; preferrably it will be something that he – and any other kid – would feel is really cool and/or a lot of fun.
Cartoon characters, mass-produced and commercial items are less preferable.
Toys are preferred, but nice ethnic clothing might also work.
Clearly Taiwanese/Chinese/aboriginal, due to the design or due to Chinese characters, etc would be good.
I’m afraid not much in Taiwan satisfies those criteria. More easy to find cheap, plastic, commercial night-market crap. But, any ideas on healthy, natural, ethnic things as described above? I may check out the Handicraft Store near NTU hospital, which is usually pretty good, but I don’t believe they have much of what I’m seeking.
Two is kind of a tough age to appreicate handmade local gifts.
There is a good toy street behind the train station that has some interesting stuff. Maybe you can find something there that meets your criteria. (I can post a map if you want, not sure what the name of the street is. Its between Nanjing and Civil / chende and Chungqing).
I saw something the other day that was very cool. If I saw it a few months ago, I would have brought one home for my neices. It is a battery powered mini scooter. Its not your typical one like a razor/skateboard. These look just like real scooters and high quality. I think age is about 4-5. Sorry, i know it doesn’t help, just post this in case someone else is thinking along the same lines.
Thanks for hte suggestion. Any help is appreciated. When you say behind the train station, I assume you don’t mean across the main street in the cram school neighborhood – that would be infront. I assume you mean the other direction. Is that right? Is it just a block or two behind so I’d find it if I wandered around there?
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’m planning/hoping to leave Taiwan in a few days to visit my family in the States and wish to bring a gift/s for the 2 year-old boy my bro adopted from Nepal. The fact he’s from Nepal is actually irrelevant. More important is the values of my bro and his wife, which in general would dictate something within the following rough guidelines:
The gift should not be plastic, with batteries, flashing lights or electronic noises.
It should not be a toy gun or other weapon.
Natural materials, such as wood, leather, cotton, silk, etc are preferred.
Traditional arts, handicrafts, original designs and/or handcrafted objects and the like are preferred, but it shouldn’t be some boring artifact; preferrably it will be something that he – and any other kid – would feel is really cool and/or a lot of fun.
Cartoon characters, mass-produced and commercial items are less preferable.
Toys are preferred, but nice ethnic clothing might also work.
Clearly Taiwanese/Chinese/aboriginal, due to the design or due to Chinese characters, etc would be good.
I’m afraid not much in Taiwan satisfies those criteria. More easy to find cheap, plastic, commercial night-market crap. But, any ideas on healthy, natural, ethnic things as described above? I may check out the Handicraft Store near NTU hospital, which is usually pretty good, but I don’t believe they have much of what I’m seeking.
Thanks for your suggestion/s.[/quote]
Actually they should have a lot of things that satisfy your criteria. Cute little native designed hats, tops, alligators and reindeer made from rope, those pigs that spit a stream of liquid when you soak them in hot water (still a favorite of my nephew at 15 years of age), handmade kites, those monkeys that link together (my 2 year old niece loves them), bamboo tea sets (more for a girl), a traditional chinese style jacket for kids. If you haven’t been to the Handicraft market for a while they have a lot of new stuff. Lots of revival of traditional crafts in the past few years.
What about some kind of musical instrument? I’ve no idea of the cost, but an erhu or something might fit the bill, especially if your bro and sis-in-law plan to encourage the boy’s creative abilities in the future.
I had the same thought. I bought a bamboo flute for my bro from a night market one Christmas, but even for an adult it was hard to play and would require a fair amount of practice. I suspect it’s gathering dust. For a 2 year-old, the instrument would have to be pretty simple – I think an erhu would be too hard (and maybe too expensive). Drums would probably be better, but my bro already brought back some drums from Nepal. But I will keep my eyes out for appropriate instruments. That’s definitely a good idea.
I was also going to reccommend a musical instrument but I was thinking more along the lines of the things you canbuy in damShui. At most of those shops you can buy an assortment of music makers such as shakers and bamboo noise noise makers. We have boxes of them and kids love 'em!
Within the pink box on this map is the toy street(s). I think you can figure it out. One of the streets in that area is paved with bricks and becomes a pedestrian mall on weekends. This is where all the good deals on leather jackets, suitcases & bags can be found. Nearby are streets that have all the halloween costumes, christmas lights, paper latterns, tiki torches, etc. If you walk around you will find the toy shops. I don’t know if there are alot of handmade things, but you can find shops that sell traditional chinese childerens clothes.
After giving it some thought, I guess small kids do not need much to stay amused. I remember my sister’s 2 year old was happy with just a plastic easter egg all day. (also she liked destroying everything, hence the nickname frankenchild). have a good trip…
They have those little turtle shaped whistles. Shaped like turtles and bugs and such. Ceramic is close to natural. You can buy then on the Danshui river walk. My nephew LOVES his.
