First of all, before I get into my day at the mall, I have to say that my week was crazy busy. I have so much going on right now and am really looking forward to a little break at Thanksgiving and a real vacation at Christmas. I have to admit that starting school at the beginning of August and not having a real vacation until Christmas is a really long haul. I'll be so glad when it stops for a bit, although I am loving teaching here. I have so many huge assessments to grade and every weekend until Thanksgiving is booked with SAT proctoring (again) next Saturday, I'm judging a local spelling bee the Saturday after that and basically am keeping myself busy until I head up to Taroko Gorge over Thanksgiving.
So, back to my day at the mall....I'm taking care of my friend Dawn's daughter again this weekend so I wanted to come up with a plan for entertaining a 13 year old. Lily invited a school friend, Katherine, to spend the day with us. We took a taxi to the Dream Mall which is located a few kilometers from my place. We got there by 10:30, which is perfect because that's when it's less crowded. If you know me, you know how I feel about shopping (strong dislike) and crowds (not my favorite) so I was glad to be able to walk around without feeling surrounded. The Dream Mall is the largest mall in Taiwan and the second largest in Asia so I mentally prepared myself for this experience. My two trips to Costco have prepared me for how insane shopping is in this country.
The outside of the mall is pretty impressive. Yup, that's a ferris wheel on top. Like I said, go big or go home is Taiwan's motto.
This sculpture is right outside the main entrance and it's made up of scrap metal and is well over 25 feet high!
And....there's the cute factor to think about here.
This place is MASSIVE! So many levels that go on and on...it's a bit overwhelming and I don't think I saw 5% of it.
Little Hello Kittys everywhere!
Everything is just so colorful and displayed so dramatically!
The view as we go up the escalator to the 8th floor, where the movie theater is located.
Can you believe this!? Wow!
We bought our movie tickets and had time to kill so we went up to the rooftop to take a ride on the ferris wheel. These furry little creatures were there to welcome us to the amusement park and play area.
There she/he is! It's called the Kaohsiung Eye and is 160 feet in diameter.
These are what the cars look like and you can fit around 4-6 people in each car.
Our's was made completely of plexiglass and was clear all around, which was very cool as we went higher and higher.
This is my "cute" ticket.
Katherine and Lily.
Hazy/smoggy view from our container.
We're getting near the top now!
And....we are on top of the mall now!
This ride is a slow one so it doesn't stop when you get on or off. It was a cool way to see the city and I'll plan on doing it again when the smog clears (which doesn't really happen until spring).
We wandered some more through the mall on our way to lunch. We walked through the Japanese section of the mall. Beautiful shops and restaurants line the corridor - I want to come back just to eat some of the food I saw there.
A little different than LLBean don't you think? The other side of this rack was completely dedicated to Hello Kitty backpacks. I thought I'd save you from that image.
Such cool images as we go up and down the levels of the mall.
The whole place has amazing natural light and these fabrics cover the windows to block out the direct sunlight.
Although they don't go trick-or-treating here, Halloween is still a big deal. We spent a bit of time in the candy store where everything is so beautifully packaged and colorful. This country takes candy very seriously.
These are all different chocolates with messages on them.
I always swear I won't eat at any American places when I travel but this choice of dining was in their hands not mine. We sat overlooking an outdoor seating area and I enjoyed watching people coming in and out of the mall. The food was fine but, honestly, I'd rather have eaten in the Japanese section of the mall.
This was the view from our window...very neat seating area outside Coldstone Creamery.
It's EVERYWHERE!!!
And Mickey too!
Packaging is an artform here. These jars are of local honey.
Back to the candy store to buy some treats to take to the movie theater.
Well, Hello Kitty!
You know those little candy thing-a-ma-bobs that are outside of stores and restaurants in the states? What are these called anyway? Well, look at this line of them outside the movie theater!!! I figure there had to be close to 200 of them!! Most of them had anime characters in them.
Guardians of the Galaxy statues outside the theater.
More games to play - lining 2 walls at the end of the hallway as we wait to enter the theater. Like I said, CRAZY and overwhelming!
We saw our movie, The Judge, with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall and rushed home to meet Katherine's mom. I then rushed to get to my 7th, or is it 8th, dentist appointment and am now home recovering from so much visual stimulation.
All-in-all a nice day with 2 teenagers but I'm fine with venturing into this kind of shopping only once in a blue moon. It's an adventure but I'd much rather contend with the monkeys up on Monkey Mountain.
Tomorrow, I think a bike ride through the museum park is in order. I'll post more about that later.
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