and other short stories.
On the third day, we went to Eslite bookstore - the biggest 24 hour bookstore chain in Taiwan.
My my, the bookstore was HUGE! I was in nerd heaven!
One small section of one side of one floor.
Sister and I spent too much time [and money] at the first floor of the bookstore on…….. guess what..
.
..
…
Agnes B stuff.
There was a Sports B shop, a line from Agnes B, which we have never seen in Sg before [but I think they have opened a couple here since] and while waiting for sis to decide on her purchases, I got distracted as well. Yikes!
Ponyo! In mandarin. -_-”
Pardon the blurry, over-exposed shots. I forgot to reset my camera settings and was taking pictures urm. secretly.
The place was quiet and serene. I like it. I’d have love it more if the books weren’t in mandarin, but well.. when in Rome Taiwan….
This was for Boyfie, a fan of Banksy.
The name of The Game spreads far and wide. My guy friends were shocked scandalised surprised to know that I have the The Game book. Hiak Hiak. Boyfie even asked, ‘but why would you want to read such a book?!’ To educate myself on the evil cunning ways of men lah wei!
The bookstore has cute stuff like this. I spent moolah on a The Little Prince 2009 organiser and some 3d postcards, while sis got herself a set of Keith Haring wall stickers.
Miyazaki’s stuff was everywhere. But all in mandarin. Sigh.
Ok, enough of over-exposed photographs that blind your eyes.
In Taiwan, we suffered from Ponyo overload. The Ponyo song was playing everywhere!
Ponyo, ponyo, ponyo sakana no ko~
Aoi umi kara yatte kita~
There were different types of Ponyo chops for passerbys to chop on.. whatever they want to chop on.
Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo fukurannda~
Manmaru onaka no onna no ko!
If you didn’t already notice, there were very little camwhoring pictures. That was because I was feeling soooo ill. Symptoms after symptoms came in waves. Cough, bad throat, runny nose, headache, feverish, pukish.. the list went on. Thank goodness for Fernie and sis’ patience with me. I was so sick that on the third night in Taiwan, I dreamt that I was in the hospital, all hooked up in breathing tubes and stuff. Yeurgh.
Lunch on the second day. This was an awesome lunch [on a normal day] but I just couldn’t stomach it. Pushed the rice around the bowl to psycho Fernie and sis that I was feeling better, but stopped after 5 – 6 mouthfuls because I felt extremely pukish.
Lunch on the third day was better. Fernie, sis and I hopped on a cab to go to Taipei Medical University [HA HA, you guys must be wondering, why!? of all places?? And no, it wasn't because I needed medical attention], but the driver dropped us at Taipei Hospital instead. A friendly staff came to our aid and directed us to the right building. We were headed for….
MR J’S RESTAURANT!
Excited!
That’s right. Sorry for the misleading title. We didn’t meet Jay Chou. We merely went to a restaurant opened by him. Remember the sappy romantic movie “Secret”? The restaurant was decorated with frames of scenes from the movie, and the famous piano was there as well. Needless to say, I went shutter-crazy.
The menu.
I am Rain. I love you. Do you love me? Where are you…
The food was great and value-for-money. All of us ordered the set meal which comprised of salad, soup, main course, dessert and a drink.
The salad was one of the best I ever had in my entire life – so fresh and yummy! I don’t mind having salad like that every morning!
Cream of forest mushroom or something to that effect.
My pasta, which wasn’t as tasty as sister’s or Fernie’s main course.
A fan of “Secret”.
The famous piano.
Not too difficult to learn. 
Me looking short and fat and round by the piano.
We were wondering why the food was cheaper than what we can get elsewhere in Taipei and came to the conclusion that perhaps it was because the restaurant is within school compounds. Student prices and all that. Then I started wondering… why have the restaurant here of all places? Could it be.. that “Secret” was filmed here?? ‘Clock tower’, arches, cobblestone pavements.. Could. it. be..?
From sis’ blog. Look at the chocolate treble clef on the dessert plate!
Sore that there wasn’t Jay Chou? Orh lah orh lah..
Hur hur.
It was Wu Fen Pu again in the evening for some shopping. 
I like this place better than the over-hyped Shilin Night Market. Quieter, cosier and it has more interesting unique stuff to buy.
From sis’ blog.
There was a hilarious moment when the three of us walked past a shop and a really good-looking assistant asked sister, “Yao jing lai kan ma? [Want to come inside and have a look?]” All of us shook our heads but some steps after, we gathered and gossiped about how cute the guy look [sorry boyfie!] and funny Fernie said, “You should have just said ‘Hao! Wo kan! [Ok, I'll look!]‘ and stare into his face!”. Cue more giggles. Ahem. Girly moment.
Night falls and we headed back to our hotel to catch some drama serials – Corner With Love for sis and Coffee Prince for Fernie and me.
Other Taiwan posts:
*burst out laughing hard at fernie* so typical of fernie to say that! laughs. it reminded me of the other night where gee nearly bumped into a stranger and fernie from behind quickly shot at gee, “Did you kiss him??” with her wide-eyed expression. gawd. it took me quite a while to stop laughing.
laughs. i can imagine her wide-eyed expression!!! very cute tho’.
btw, did you gals check to see if the stranger heard her??
the three of us actually continued the convo from ‘hao! wo kan!’ but i can’t remem what other gems we said.
wahahaha i don’t think so as fernie was hand-signing excitedly to us. besides i was busy laughing? laughs.
haha. i can so imagine the whole scene!
my gosh.. yes, eslite is like huge. just the magazine section is insanely huge.. the selection is more than extensive lor
but………………… mandarin.. =( i feel stupid.
I went to eslite when i went taiwan in 2005.. it was crowded even at night.. Miss the books….
heh.. seems like everybody’s been there! it wasnt very crowded when i went there.. perhaps cos it was a weekday, and was during the off-peak season..