the entry mons

i'm never that much of an epicurist, so when it boils down to fine-shitez-dining, i am pretty much alicia silverstone circa clueless days. cutlery placement, goblet codification, and the pretentious petite nosh displayed in an aesthetically albeit inexplicable composition, i had to play pretend throughout the entire session.

just to backtrack a little for the misinformed, i was invited to a posh restaurant for a luncheon, exorbitant et al, because, well, i had the providence of being the achiever in the top three producers in prudential. so, it was meant to be, that i plumped my ass at one of the fanciful eatery du jour, fifty-three, where they served modern euro cuisine. setting-wise, it was perfect, but i am never much of a conversationalist when it comes to such affairs. so my pictures did the talking. here's some:

exquiste feed at fifty-three with colleagues

no, it's not a footrest, but a bag rest for the ladies.

did i mention it was pretentious?

ever wondered what it's like to be caricatured? i've got one of myself and my friends vellene and hock yong. courtesy of chivas!

bugs-bunny-meets-elvis-coiffure

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the entry flea by day, fly by night.

i had amassed a huge amount of clothes after schlepping up articles of apparels from one too many impulse buying. eventually, i decided to rent a stall in pseudo flea market milieu and hawk my clothes with jeremy, who had an equally bulging closet.

first things first: we trudged down to ikea to snag some aesthetitically appealing chattels and, being endowed with a finite amount of good taste, one of them being able to source for the likes of furniture, i took front stage. we got ourselves a couple items to display our wares, and nursed our stomaches with some economical freshly-blanched frankfurters at the same time.

jeremy a.k.a popthemusicdrug

setting up stall is crazy tiring. we dragged, heaved, lifted, employed every possible permutation of moving the huge wad of clothes from one point to another in the least amount of time; we had to be present at the stall on time. it was sorry-ass tedious. our stall looked promising enough though. proof:

some of the brands we hawked: ice cream, anything, trainerspotter, etc.

more offerings from stussy and the hundreds.

i must say, even i was impressed with the entire setup.

guess who i am?

it's our dearest sherlyn!

the following day began promisingly enough: we sold our most expensive item, a pair of dsquared high-cut kicks. and with helpers duncan and felix to help us out (thanks guys!), we ended with quite a handsome sum of profit from the two-day sales. nevertheless, nothing beats the fun of selling our clothes whilst having a great time with friends.

after that was over, i made way to meet gabriel to collect some puma items (more sponsored gifts!) and free-doodled my version of a masterpiece that best represented what i thought of puma for their campaign. creativity, apparently, isn't my forte.

felix and duncan put their best foot forward

we've got some good-looking customers as well.

although not obvious, i drew a huge palm and plastered my hand over it.

did i mention creativity isn't in my blood?

new kicks from puma

happy with the purchase and all.

calling it a night with some drinks with duncan and gang.

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the entry ups taiwan part. 2

plucky fashion sense sometimes maketh a macabre fiasco, as demonstrated by this spritely lady who ups the ante further in the following ensemble:

or check out legendary ximen denizen who stakes out in the locale jiggling to his own choreographed spasms. better known as the ximen san bao (literally translated as "ximen's three treasure troves"), this corpulent lad is one third of a famous trio in the locality's site.

it's already day four! i'm off to the suburbs of taipei, dan shui. the hangover from yesterday was terrible. i woke up with a croaking voice, hit the showers, and pigeon-toed in new adidas multi-neon high-kick pumps that was so ludicrously tight, i was limping half the time.

another singaporean friend, jarrell, joined our posse today for a late lunch, and it was late for the mere fact that traveling was a motherf***ing bitch. we were crammed in two korean-fabricated clunkers for almost a whole good two hours of the journey, and that's not counting the time for the voyage back. by the time lunch was over, nightfall had taken over. heartiest meal ever in taipei though.

jarrell cameos for the day.

getting lost and consulting his gps?

nah, just looking at the menu, and something else.

frank's texas bbq, a good two-hour journey drive away.

a hungry man is a puzzled man,

or not.

taiwanese cronies: luke and owen.

a little apparel procurement after a satiated meal.

this ramen could knock your socks off, even on a full stomach.

the broth is doused in garlic through and through. yummy-licious!

another day, another attire.

what's left of my turned-out pockets.. less than 500 NT$.

and the repercussions after knowing it... hapless!

day five started to prove to be an uphill battle against spending senselessly. i had reached into my pockets and shelled out less than five-hundred taiwan buckeroos. i experienced a mild panic attack, while random wild thoughts were coursing through my brains. i was cracking my head hard, thinking what i could have spent all my money on in the course of halfway through the holiday.

my day was beginning to look bleak, until i spotted an envelope, folded neatly in half by the bedside table. it was the same envelope that i kept all my remaining taiwan dollars, and upon fishing it out, there were a few thousand-dollar bills stashed inside. after some csi-esque probings, i gathered it was house-keeping who left it there, because it sure hell wasn't there when i last saw it. thank god for honesty.

moving on then, karaoke!

time for some out-of-tune warbling.

... and some booze, nevertheless.

okay, so we aren't exactly the three tenors.

the sixth day marked the penultimate day of our trip, and it has been a big tired blur of japan-inspired cosplay looks, designer clothes (the haberdasher on my jacket speaks dsquared, albeit on sale), and camwhoring, punctuated by the occasional morsel of divine shopping. tonight was also the last night before our big heave-ho back to singapore.

my taiwanese compadres, seeing it so, wanted to meet up for the last time and gave us a call at ten in the morning. i stumbled onto the phone and answered it; no one was there. paul emerged, disheveled, from the bathroom, a huge quantity of soapsuds lingering behind his ears still unwashed from his shower (it happened a couple times). he asked "who was it?" "it's luke, i guess he's asking us out." "ok, that's great. looking forward to it." he said, as he lumbered himself back into the bed. so much for enthusiasm.

i am tired. whatevz. want to see some japan-inspired cosplay looks, designer clothes and camwhoring? that's all i've got left.

beautiful backdrop on our hotel rooftop.

owen taking us to stake out at taipei's latest mall: q-square.

the last day always sucks. it reeks of luggage, both emotional and physical. luckily, i managed to accomplish some quality stuff, for example: downing my last bubble tea, salvaging more memories with some photo-snapping, and looking supremely scholarly and erudite in my getup, geeky glasses and all.

on another note, i never really got comfortable with the taiwanese currency. every time i made way for the cashier, i would be panic-stricken over what banknotes to hand over that i eventually thrust what would be of a magnitude much larger than the purchase. i may be a financial planner, but my arithmetic intellect inexplicably falls short and i end up scooping the change over the counter every time. by the end of the trip, my pockets would most surely be bulging with the taiwanese token of every denomination.

loving this picture, but not the low-end plastic bag i'm lugging.

back at taoyuan airport once again.

i bumped into another fellow singaporean friend, gavin, at the airport. having been bitten by the love bug whilst here, he was unenthusiastic about leaving taiwan. i felt sorry for the poor dude, accorded him the most peerless looks of commiseration, and bought him a cup of hot cocoa. however, said hot cocoa failed to mitigate the situation, and to appear in our photo. bad photog.

putting up a brave front for the camera, gavin, and i.

layover at klia airport brings us on a jungle boardwalk.

one last picture for the road.

adieu taipei.. till the next hols.

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