1234567

The Lujou Culture Appreciation Group (current members comprise Kaylen, Eevie, Julie and Hsiuchi) went to see the If Group performance of 1234567, as promised. The four of us have been to many art events and music, dance and theatrical performances.  1234567 did not disappoint. They did some surprising and amazing things on the stage – towering structures, people swinging from ropes, layers and layers of gauze screens giving a depth to the scenery. However, there were not as many catchy show tunes as in Freeze! or Who is Santa Claus? and in it sometimes devolved into bad Taiwanese (experimental?) theatre. There was one section that used a blue sceen and real time video taping to clever and humrous effect. It was a long show, and nearing 10 pm, when most of the audience was wont to be nodding off, the cast took to the audience with an interactive composition of a melody and lyrics.

Kaylen having a chocolate egg at intermission, Eevie looking at her mom down in the lobby buying souvenirs and registering for free drawings:

The beloved Shuiguo Nainai made her appearance at the beginning and end of the show, and was around after the show for exactly 15 pictures. We were not quick enough to get in on that.

We had great seats in the second level, front row. But, all the audience interaction took place on the first level. Maybe we will try to sit there next time. 

Kaylen with ChiChi, the lead character in the show:

 

Yarn and Snack

A nice place to window shop and snack is Zhong Zheng Road near the Shihlin MRT stop.  A favorite outing of ours is to go to the yarn store on the corner and then have lunch at Ikari. The yarn store is located at Zhong Zheng Rd and Zhong Shan N. Rd intersection across from McDonald’s on the 2F.

 Just around the corner from here one can stock up on everything Kitty at the Eastern Cherry Boutique (notice the 7-11s in both pictures, the two stores are within 100 yards of each other):

 

Beitou Resort

Friday playgroup this week found us at a new (for us) indoor recreational spot in Taipei – the exclusive Beitou Resort.

 Located at the Fuxinggang MRT stop on the Red Line, this resort was originally created for MRT staffers to use. It is one of those weird government projects that you encounter occasionally inTaiwan. A big cavernous, lonely, wind-blown place for which a lot of money was spent to build, but which was never planned to be used, a slush-fund project. It takes me back to communist China and all the cavernous, lonely, pointless, wind-blown structures there…

 The first surprise we had is that we must enter the Resort from the MRT station. Then we walked across a bridge over the train yard to get to it. Since it is cleverly disguised as a either a train depot or a prison, we weren’t at all sure we were in the right place. We found the expansive steps leading up to the main door, but the main door was locked. There was not a soul around. The only sound was that of the weed whippers at work mowing the grass between the tracks in the train yard. We found a stairway leading downstairs and headed that way. Luckily, there was someone filling an ATM and he was able to give us general directions to the main desk. We pressed on down wide hallways, past huge banquet and meeting rooms. Finally we found someone at a desk in the exercise room.

Seeing all the benefits of this place we quickly bought ourselves a NT$200 membership in the club. One mom took the wiser approach of getting a guest pass to check it out before committing.

 Membership lets you use the facilities for a small extra charge: NT$60 for the kids’ playroom, NT$90 for the pool. The pool looked nice – a lap pool, a kiddie pool and a diving pool.

The kids had a great time in the playroom, and we definitely plan to go swimming there at some point. It is a nice place to add to our (short) list of good indoor places to go for playgroup.

So, if you want to go, just get off at the Fuxinggang exit and ask for directions. You will need two ID photos and some picture ID to get a membership card made. Children also need cards so bring photos and all for them as well. Children need socks in the playroom!

Places in Taiwan are funny: they are either super crowded or super dead.

Beitou Resort is the blue and grey building off to left, next to the depot:

Inmates, er, “members” this way:

Landscaping crew at the Resort:

 

 

Yingge

Last week we went on a daytime outing to Yingge with another homeschooling family. We met there at 11:00 am on a Thursday morning, so there were not many people there – we noticed a couple groups of school children and a tour group from Hong Kong. 

 It was a nice little adventure for Kaylen and me. Dacheng usually drives when we go outside of Taipei but since he was working we decided to take the train.

 The train was great! So fast and so cheap. Adult tickets to Yingge are NT$31 and a child’s ticket is only NT$16. If you buy a round trip ticket it is even cheaper. Trains that go through Yingge leave about every 15 minutes from the main train station. Almost all the trains heading south from the main station go through Yingge. The trip takes just under 30 minutes.

You can just show up and buy tickets the day you want to travel. If you know what you are doing at the train station, you only need to allow yourself about 10 minutes to get tickets and get down to the platform.

Check the train schedule to Yingge: http://163.29.3.96/twrail_en/index.aspx

 Once you get to the Yingge train station the Lao Jie (old street) is about a 10 minute walk. Or there are plenty of cabs waiting to take you there.

There are lots of DIY places on theLao Jie where kids and adults can try their hand at throwing pots or doing pinch pots. One place we found seemed to be a bit more reasonably priced. It was NT$150 to make one piece on the pottery wheel which includes adding some decorative touches after you have made the pot, another NT$150 for firing and glazing (sorry, you can’t pick the glaze color), and another NT$100 for shipping the piece to you. It is only NT$150 to ship 3-10 pieces so if you ship as a group you can all save some money. We spent NT$330 per child to make one piece, but it was a whole afternoon of playing. The teacher was really good with the kids and helped them a lot on the wheel and rescued their pots if they got out of control.

This place is at 55 Chongqing Street 2F, near the intersection of Lao Jie and Chongqing Street. Their phone number is 02-8677-2547. They also have a tea shop/restaurant.  And a website: http://www.ccv.org.tw/yingge/

Kaylen wearing her train floor-green pants, reading the paper on her commute to Yingge:

Arrival:

Hanging around on the Old Street: Kaylen, Sharon, Mark, Charlotte, Matthew and Timothy in the front.

 The whole gang at work at the wheels:

Kaylen and Charlotte decorating their pots: