Fashion Finds from Far Far Away

My two week adventure to Taiwan has left me with serious jet lag, a new bag of clothes and a hybrid between a question and thought. These rare specimens are called a questhought. If you didn't know these existed, well surprise, they do exist. Well, in my world anyways. What a strange world I live in.

I did do some shopping in Taiwan, but don't worry I didn't go mega-crazy. I think. If I could sum up Taiwanese female fashion I would use the word "cute". They all dressed rather modestly. I was surprised to see so many people wearing jeans and jackets when I was wearing a tank and shorts and still feeling the humid heat.

For all you cheapskate peeps, Taiwan shopping is definitely a must if you are ever to visit the lovely island. Sure with cheap clothing comes cheap, or a less than high, quality, but you can find some pretty cute things out there.

Before coming to Taiwan, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to buy anything because of my gigantic size. Asian sizes tend to run really small. My last experience in China was buying an XXL. Awesome. But thankfully, I did manage to find things and thanks to the loose and bubble trend that is going on in Taiwan worrying about being the sad girl who couldn't find anything that fit would only be a story of fiction.

Oh and back to my questhought. Why are my feet so big?! The only thing I couldn't manage to find were shoes my size. I think my feet in Taiwan are the rarest creatures in that island. It doesn't help that my feet are not only big in length, but big in width as well. It's an embarrassing moment in your life when your mom asks the store manager what's the biggest size they've got and the store manager asks how big and your mom points at you and the store manager looks down at your feet and immediately shakes her head. Then there is that awkward moment where you look at the person and she looks at you and you look back knowing fully well that the person is laughing uncontrollably inside at your gigantic feet. Finally you walk away empty handed while your size 6 footed sister gets to comb through the racks and shelves of cute, trendy, (although cheaply made), dainty shoes of joy. Luckily enough, I did manage to scrape up two pairs of lovely sandals in my size! Even though on one of the pairs my squishy heel peeks off the shoe, I will call them shoes in my size. Take that you small non-size-9-dainty shoes of horror!!!

Back to shopping. The place I went most was WuFenPu. It's an area made just for shopping. Every little alley is filled with the smell of new clothes unwrapped or wrapped in plastic packages (and imported from good ole China). Most stores had sale items - $100, $200, $300 and so on. These are in Taiwanese dollars roughly $30 NT= $1 American dollar. Knowing me and my primal thrifting instincts I rarely left the comforts of those sale racks, getting almost everything at WuFenPu for only $100.

A lot of the styles I saw there were not so much different to the trends over here except in a more "asian/FOBby" manner. I don't know if you get what I mean, but I'll carry on nonetheless. I saw many suspender inspired items, a lot of bubble hems, graphic T-shirts with large phrases printed on, and lots of jumpers. There weren't any dressing rooms and trying things on was a big no-no, so I had to wing it, use my instincts and estimate. I often overestimated my skinniness or is it underestimated my fatness? Either way, I had to give some things over to my sister.

Without further ado, my Taiwan trip haul.

1&2 Jewelry was from my aunt. She went to China and bought all these interesting pieces and planned to sell them for profit in Taiwan. She told me to take whatever I wanted. Um, okay? So I did. I got these awesome ring-bracelets. Now all I need is an Indian outfit and I'm ready for my bollywood debut! // 3 dress: $100NT from a night market. Very schoolgirl meets leprachaun. Mildly tight, not sure if to give it to a friend or somehow make it work.

1 tshirt and not just any tshirt, a PANDA t-shirt. $100 NT. The thing I love about asian countries is the mass amount of panda paraphernalia they have. SO CUTE. I have an insane crush on fat pandas // 2 shiny shiny dress. $100 NT. I'm not quite sure why I bought it. Maybe I was trying to fullfill my inner diva's style sense. It was my first purchase and I think the cheapness of everything got to my head. I'll figure it out somehow!// 3 top. $100 NT. I'm a sucker for things that have doodles that look like I drew them and for bubble-esque hems. And the round buttons on the straps. I'm a sucker for many things in life, these are just a few.



1 top. $100 NT. I love the faux suspender straps and black and white is one of my favorite combos...because they're panda colors! // 2 PANDA BAG! $100 NT. I almost peed in my pants when I saw this. // 3 shoes. 2 pairs for $300. They're a lot cooler in real life and are so comfortable. Maybe it's because these were the last pairs sitting out there and have been worn and stretched to perfection?

1 floral button top $100 NT, it has a collar and then two straps making an X in the back. // 2 Tunic or super mini dress $100 NT. Simple but nice with fake crystal buttons. One step closer to my African safari dreams. // 3 Jumper $100NT, I love a good ole jumper.

1 tshirt $100 NT, my mom didn't like how it looked on her so she gave it to me. // 2&3 dress& tunic 2 pieces for $150. These are super comfy pieces. Way cheap.

I also did shop other places but didn't really buy except when we went to XinmenDing, a place where a lot of young people hang out. Not as cheap as WuFenPu but still fun!

1 lime jumper $300NT, there goes the bubble! // 2 pink doodled mini-dress $300 NT there goes the bubble again! and the doodles! // 3 Be Happy Shirt $100 NT because I like being happy.

There it is folks, my haul of clothing from Taiwan. I really need to stop buying and start prioritizing things in life like sleeping. I need to fix my internal clock. I didn't know jet lag could screw with my brain this much.

Oh yeah, and click here. Heehee.