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| At Longshan Underground Mall |
Although craft shops are hard to find in Taipei, local handicrafts are evidence of a rich artistic background. The indigenous tribes contributed their art in woodcrafts, paper, sculpting, needlework, etc. This was evident throughout our travels. The dolls and puppets of the street vendors, the needlework evident in the indigenous souvenir shops, the woodcarvings at Alishan, etc. Art was everywhere.
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| Marble bridge at Taroko Canyon |
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| Jade hand at hotel in Beitou |
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| Redwood carvings at Alishan |
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| Jade Market in Taipei |
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| Artwork on a Temple rooftop |
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| A replica of a temple altar |
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| Replica of a slate house |
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| Clothing of the indigenous tribes |
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| a small hut made out of vines (Alishan) |
On one of our jaunts, we set out to find a local craft store mentioned in a newspaper article. The article said that Bear Mama was located in the do it yourself district off of Main Station. I had printed up my little cheat sheet with the name and address of the store and had found the street on the local map. After walking down the street for a couple of blocks, we decided to ask for directions at a nearby hotel. Making a fierce face and growling, I was able to convince the girl I was looking for Bear, not Beer, Mama. She spoke little English but wait was in her vocabulary. She wrote the address down in Chinese, ran outside and hailed a taxi, gave the driver directions and off we went. We were several blocks off going in the wrong direction and probably would never have found the place on our own.
Walking in, we saw a group of people working at a table and a fairly large selection of yarns and beadwork material. There may have been another floor with cloth, etc. but I found the yarn I was looking for and proceeded to the checkout. In Taipei, it is not uncommon to pay for your shopping bags and we always carried a plastic bag with us. But I saw bags behind the counter advertising the shop and I asked the cashier for one of them. She spoke no English but her coworker said it was $1000 ($30 US). It was not worth that much and the girl kept trying to sell us a plastic bag. The store manager was called; he spoke English and explained that you got the bag with $1000 purchase. So I had bought less than $6 and couldn't think of how to bring it up to that amount so I said thank you and paid the bill. The manager told the girl to give me the bag as a gift!
On one of our jaunts, we set out to find a local craft store mentioned in a newspaper article. The article said that Bear Mama was located in the do it yourself district off of Main Station. I had printed up my little cheat sheet with the name and address of the store and had found the street on the local map. After walking down the street for a couple of blocks, we decided to ask for directions at a nearby hotel. Making a fierce face and growling, I was able to convince the girl I was looking for Bear, not Beer, Mama. She spoke little English but wait was in her vocabulary. She wrote the address down in Chinese, ran outside and hailed a taxi, gave the driver directions and off we went. We were several blocks off going in the wrong direction and probably would never have found the place on our own.
Walking in, we saw a group of people working at a table and a fairly large selection of yarns and beadwork material. There may have been another floor with cloth, etc. but I found the yarn I was looking for and proceeded to the checkout. In Taipei, it is not uncommon to pay for your shopping bags and we always carried a plastic bag with us. But I saw bags behind the counter advertising the shop and I asked the cashier for one of them. She spoke no English but her coworker said it was $1000 ($30 US). It was not worth that much and the girl kept trying to sell us a plastic bag. The store manager was called; he spoke English and explained that you got the bag with $1000 purchase. So I had bought less than $6 and couldn't think of how to bring it up to that amount so I said thank you and paid the bill. The manager told the girl to give me the bag as a gift! 
GRRRR! BEAR!!!
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