Hi, could someone possibly provide some directions for getting to Little Garden Shoes in XiMenTing?
Cheers,
The Big Babou
have seen pig tusk necklaces for sale in a couple of rural locales. my family back home went nuts. i had to buy out all the supplies due to ripple effect. a couple of folks went so far as to frame theirs. i guess they liked 'em a little. also know of a rural shop where the old guy still makes hand made ukeleles, pipas and the like. not flash factory finished but rough and quite pleasing to visually behold. he is in fenglin, hualian.
I was given one of those tusk necklaces by an old aborigine man down in that place in the mountains near Kaohsiung (sorry, the name escapes me) after my wife had spent some astronomical sum on handmade coloured glass beads down there. Those multi-strand bead necklaces can be incredibly elaborate and look outstanding when framed.
Skeptic, I would be very grateful indeed if you could recall more about those handmade instruments – sounds exactly like the kind of thing I’m always on the lookout for.
Skeptic Yank, any idea as to how I could obtain one of those necklaces? Do you know their name (in Chinese)?
I went down to SanTiMen near GaoXiong and bought some handicrafts, but it all seemed to be made for the tourist market, if you kow what I mean.
Got given a leather + earthern Aboriginal necklace, which is supposed to be some sort of good luck charm, but I’m too scared to wear it, in case I break it…
That’s the place I’m talking about too. Of course the stuff is for the tourist market – who else would buy it? Its nevertheless pretty nice, and if you go into the little backstreet place where they make the beads (and offer workshops on how to make them, too) they can explain the actual designs of each bead, as well as the way they’re strung together – they all have specific meanings, including family/tribal sept, etc. – almost like Scottish tartan in a way.
Anyway, as a totally Taiwan souvenir, I think they’re maybe as authentic as you’re going to get.
can someone give me directions to the silk slippers place? i wandered around hsimending today looking for it, but came up empty. would really like to buy some for a friend before i go back home. thanks!
My mom has her silk slippers on display, too. She also very much likes her shell wind chime, though I know those aren’t really culturally unique. I like to give some wonderfully smooth green tea. Comes in a nice can and smells and tastes lovely.
You are probably long gone by now, but I like to take Chinese knotting
or Chinese macrame. There is a great shop on behind Jen Ai Hospital
at the corner of Tungfeng Street and Ta An Road (I do not know how
to spell those in contemporary romanization, sorry). The owner and
her helpers are great and the prices range from very low to high.
I like cloisonne (Chinese enameling) and this is one of the last places
I can still find it. They have necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. They
also have wall hangings and other stuff.
If you do not like red and it is in red, talk to the owner and she will
have her staff make it in the color of your choice.
I also sometimes have pieces of pottery or beads and design something.
She and her staff will make what I design. I also have made suggestions
to her about some of the stuff, an improvement on a design, and now
usually get a nice discount when I go.
I also think that the staff at the Taiwan Handicrafts Mart which many
people have mentioned are great. Alot of my friends loved their
keychains - near the front of the store as you some in - with different
dragon designs and the Chinese knotting with jade things which hang
from a woman’s purse. They also have cloisonne earrings - a mixture
of old and new designs. That is one place where you can find the most
expensive things or some of the best deals if you just look around.
The glassy figurines from either Liuli Gongfang or Liuyuan (Tittot).
Rather pricey perhaps, a couple of thousand NT for, say, a small horse, but still worth it.
Tittot has a museum near Kuantu MRT station, and I believe I saw a store on Renai sec. 2.
Liuli Gongfang has a big store somewhere in Tienmu and stands in several department stores, including the Sogo (something like the 9th or 10th floor) and one of the Mitsukoshis near Warner Village.
It’s pretty stuff, if not particularly Taiwanese in look, more Chinese or pan-Asian.
If you want something really-really Taiwanese, I would go for the aboriginal art or the Taiwanese puppets at the Eslite mentioned by one of the previous posters.
I think anything from Taiwan is a great souvenir!!
It’s close to Christmas, but I have a feeling that after six years all my relatives are getting tired of Taiwan and Chinese stuff. Last year I got the waving cats.
Betal Nuts keychain. (sugguested by my friend, Danny)
Painted chopsticks and embroidered silk lipstick boxes. Cheap, but nice stocking stuffers. Last Christmas, I tried my hand at Chinese calligraphy and made red scrolls with Chinese names that I made up for the adults in my family (grandparents, mother, aunts, uncle, siblings, cousin, and all of their spouses, 16 people total) based on their names and personalities (with name approval from some of the Chinese teachers in my school), wrote on heavy red paper with a calligraphy brush, wrote the pinyin and English meaning with a gold pen, and tied it with a gold ribbon. My family loved them.
Chops are pretty good. Choose a nice chop and get a Chinese name for your friend/family member engraved on it.
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]Chops are pretty good. Choose a nice chop and get a Chinese name for your friend/family member engraved on it.
Brian[/quote]
That’s what I wanted to do last year but my wife told me it was a stupid idea. I think I’ll do it this year.