Any ideas?
Going back to the states for the holidays and I’m trying to find the awesomest Taiwanese gift.
I bought some pretty nice Christmas cards with Taipei 101 and CKS and SYS Memorial Halls. Very original and cool, if you ask me.
school book bags go over a treat.
Are you referring to the vinyl man-purses that taiwanese adolescents use?
Where did you find these, @Icon? I have been looking for some unique Christmas cards to send home…
Waving cats.
Raving cats?
There are some cool cards available in some stationary stores. I found a load in Taichung, all Taiwanese made.
Waving cats is a cool one.
I was thinking about some Bai hao Oolong - it’s dark, you can make it in one pot and the Queen liked it (and gave it a name)
Yeah - waving cats.
Shida. Coming from The MTC’s entrance, go down Shida Street on teh dorms side. Take the first left entrace towards the night market, right at the Kodak store. The second or third store there, what we called chucheria, or rather, a stationery store that sells everything under the sun -blankets, condoms, cooking utensils- has a bunch of christmas cards up front. Enjoy.
Cutesy stationary, coins (available at post office), collectors’ postage stamps, nougat, anything from the gift shop at 101, Chinglish T-shirts or bags.
Thanks so much! I will walk over that way this week and have a look.
Huh, should’ve checked this thread for the suggestions. Although condoms won’t fly for me.
I did find some nice looking Taipei 101 Christmas cards at Eslite Bookstore. They run about NT$18 a piece. Save some for me though I don’t think I got enough yet.
In general, it’s helpful if you say something about the person the gift is for. E.g., are they two, or sixty, boy or girl, etc.?
The government-run handicraft store on Xuzhou (Hsuzhou) St., and the gift shops at the History Museum, 101 and NPM are good places to check out for gifts.
Also consider custom-made items. I’ll be making t-shirts for a friend’s kids back home, using a picture of a popular Asian cartoon character they like, and adding the kids into the picture. Cost, NT$150 each.
I’m sending everybody free gift certificates to a new cemetary I am investing in.
Hillside views to the ocean, beautiful trees that bring shade and a nice breeze to comfort those who need to grieve for lost ones.
Time shared plots available.
Almost every Christmas card I’ve seen is in English only. I found one line of cards (about 12 of them) that have any Chinese on them, and only one card that says Merry Christmas in Chinese. What’s up with that?
I’m in, in case my evil plan to have my ashes scattered in Bitan does not work…
They won’t fly for me either, but don’t worry about that any more since I realized they’re for something else entirely.
I don’t know. The only Chinese Christmas cards I ever found were on clearance sale in July one year. They were VERY Chinese, written in Chinese with “Merry Christmas” in English, and cool looking. I think I bought about 40 of them for ten or fifteen NT and used them that December. Everyone at home LOVED them!
Catfish, what I meant is that in that store they sell all kinds of daily life necessities, sundries, etc… PLUS they have a great selection of Christmas cards, including the ones with Taipei 101, Miramar Ferris Wheels, CKS Memorial Hall, etc… at 12nts or less.
Christmas isnt really a Chinese tradition is it?
It’s suppoed to be a religious even but now it’s just an excuse to buy gifts. I’d rather send a gift when least expected.
There is more value in that than putting out at xmas time. And for most locals it’s just another day at the office.
Anyways I don’t celebrate xmas.
You should check out the Chinese New Year cards. They already have those at Eslite. They’re fantastic. I usually send those instead of Christmas card. This year I found some cute Christmas cards, though, so I’ll send those. Then I’ll save the New Year ones for real New Year’s.
People back home quite enjoyed those big bags of machi (muachee…muagee)…whatever…sticky sugary candy. And any Hello Kitty stuff, even though that’s not really Taiwanese.
How about this one, available at Kingstone? I’m guessing it translates roughly to “Merry F#@%ing Christmas.”
And people say the locals don’t understand the Christmas spirit . . .