“XiangGang Lai De”

(Previous Post: “Xei Xei Ni Oh” , “Hao De, Ke Yi”)
I must mention about the Taiwanese lifestyle bookstore. There’s this craze here for us and they expanded their business in Hong Kong 2 years ago. I finally got the chance to ‘worship’ the original Eslite in Taiwan. We visited Eslite Spectrum – a branded shopping mall. I thought books would be the center stage of the mall, I was wrong. What around the books were more interesting and attracted another type of customers like me. Most products like food, fashion clothing, designer bags, i-scooters, glasswares, potteries, crafts were all made in Taiwan. I started to see the pride in Taiwanese people when all of them come together as oppose to the worldwide brand names in Hong Kong.

The Wu Pao Chun Bakery located at the basement/food court. This was recommended on the guide books we read. All I knew was its a bakery until I bought their bread and googled it. Mr. Wu was the Master Baker from an international bakery competition. Oh wow, he actually beat the Europeans. I have no idea if he’s still baking at the shop, but his recipes including the winning rose-lychee bread was there for purchase. Speaking of the pride of Taiwan, I totally see his impact to the country.

Another bonus surprise I came across in Taiwan was their recognized indie music. Unlike our indie music that is kept so buried underground no one knows about them, Taiwan Colors Music Co. Ltd (TCM) has a network to keep all the indie artists in loop or I should say TCM has provided a platform for all the musical talents that truly love music rather than fame. Thanks to that, It got my attention at the gift shop ‘PRESENT+’ in HuaShan 1914 Creative Park. I think these are the artists that we should respect. Their music has got soul and poem-like stories were made into music. Genres are so broad, instrumentals, world, folk, alternative, rock and more. These TCM records are available in bookstores and gift shops with sample listening. It’s what exactly what I wished to discover from Taiwan. I bought 3 albums in total and left me thinking about discovering more back home.

It’s an art for us city people to ‘Live a little slower’, slow things down a notch. The habit of rushing things can overlook so much quality around us. I wonder what if Hong Kong has less population in a populated area, would it make our city more comfortable instead? Food cooks slower, people eat slower, staff shows more courtesy with less stress, restaurants have less tables and less noisier, room then gets more spacious,…These are just 1 of 1000s what ifs.