Same atmosphere, same people, but different reasons of love… Welcome to Starbucks.

May 21, 2012 by Randi

Back in Vancouver, it was a morning ritual for me and I am sure numerous other Vancouverites to have their morning coffee or perhaps even two…  After a stressful morning, one may have even gone out for an afternoon cup!?  Whenever the time, the day just isn’t the same, at lease for me, without that cup of coffee to get me going.  I am not saying that your morning coffee HAS to consist of a cup from Starbucks, but of all the places available, it was the most convenient back home for me and I find their coffee pretty darn tasty.

Camera 360 Being an avid traveller, I knew Starbucks was going to be readily available in Taipei.  My first thought was that being a franchise outside of North America, the cost for a coffee may be more and I would be correct as it is $1.00CDN more to be exact.  If you were to frequent the local 7-11, OK, or Family Mart shops, then you would find a coffee for less than half the price.  I am sure you’re probably thinking, “7-11? Hmm…”  I was a little sceptical as well considering their coffee back home is terrible, but it isn’t that bad.  I still go to Starbucks now and then just to get the feeling of being back home, but there is the odd difference between the Starbucks crowd here in comparison to home.

starbucks_ximen I remember this discussion in my sociolinguistics class, and it was the history of the coffee houses.  Originally, we learned that the coffee houses were a social house for those upper class citizens to drop by, have a coffee and discuss anything from gossip to current events.  Not much of this has changed, from Vancouver to Taiwan.  The social scene for people to visit the coffee houses, in every country, are still in tact.  What I have noticed however, is that although coffee is available (perhaps not on the ready) the majority here in Taipei prefer their cold drinks to hot coffees.  Since coming here, I usually end up getting an Americano because the Starbucks daily coffee is honestly, quite terrible.  I have yet to try a cold drink, but it’s far too expensive for me to give in and buy one.

img_1063 Knowing a few baristas back home, they would probably go mad having to create the vast amounts of cold drinks they do here.  I have waited as long as 20 minutes for an Americano, which seems a bit ridiculous, and have witnessed line ups literally out the shop and down the street.  I love my Starbucks, but I am really not that desperate to wait for a cup of coffee.  The difference I have found between Vancouver and Taiwan is the reasoning as to why one ventures to Starbucks.  Although there aren’t as many in such close proximity as there are in Vancouver, the popularity of the brand is what brings the clients back for more.  It isn’t necessarily the coffee but the fact that Starbucks is so well known and it is a popular place to be.

Perhaps to some, Starbucks coffee might not be the most delicious coffee in the world, but the smell, atmosphere, music and surrounding environment is what brings a person back for more.  At least for me it does.  (^_^)  In Taiwan people don’t even buy a cup of coffee and you’ll have a hard time finding a place to sit amongst those that are just there to simply hang out or are sleeping.  One of my big pet peeves here… (T_T);;;  In the end, if I could describe what Starbucks is in Taiwan, it would probably be best explained as the LV or Gucci of coffee houses… Every one either wants to be seen with a cup in their hand or be in the premises of such a popular and trendy place.  Guess that means I am pretty cool!  Nah… I’ll always be a geek at heart.

 

 

For more information:
Starbucks Canada
Starbucks Taiwan

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Note to self: To have a delicious dinner you should be a good shrimper!

May 15, 2012 by Randi

On several occasions since our arrival, a few people had mentioned about the places to go shrimping.  I had never been, and nor had I heard about this activity until coming to Taiwan.  It was a hot day and since a friend was visiting, it was decided that we have a big lunch and head off…  The big lunch may have been too big, as it consisted of hot pot (with shrimp), and a whole lot of barbequed shrimp.  Although we were ‘shrimped’ out, we didn’t let this stop us from going!

img_1952 There are shrimp farms located everywhere in Taipei and New Taipei County, however we ended up heading to the Dazi area.  Along one road, we passed by numerous shrimp and sturgeon farms until we found the perfect place.  It was 500 NT for two hours and we were given bait and a rod.  After the gentlemen helped me get my rod and bait ready, I dropped my line in and within five minutes I was the first to get a bite!  As another half an hour passed I watched as the others kept pulling in their fourth or fifth one…  I stared intensely into the water, with my rod in one hand and a cold beer in the other, waiting for the next one to bite…  I pulled in my line, switched spots and changed the bait I was using, but nope… Still no bites.  Much like fishing, you definitely have to be patient when doing this.

img_1967 After an hour, the workers started to through more shrimp into the two pools.  As I saw all the shrimp being thrown in I thought to myself, “ok now I will be able to catch up!”, but there were still no bites…  It was finally down to the last minute and by then everyone had at least seven or eight in their nets.  I looked into my net and there was still the lone shrimp all by himself with no friends.   I looked at the clock and realized that my time was up.  It was then I had decided to throw in the towel when low and behold as I pulled my line in, I was the last person to get a shrimp!  WOO HOO!  In the end I realized three things:

1)  I really don’t have a knack for catching shrimp and may have to practice more.
2)  It’s also best that there were three other people fishing with me because I probably would’ve still been hungry after eating a two shrimp dinner.
3)  It was a pretty fun activity to try and I would definitely go again.

img_1960 After combining all of our shrimp together we were ready to cook our catches!  There were BBQ’s set up where you could cook them your self with a little salt, or you could aslo get it steamed and cooked with hot spices, which is what we choose to do.  There was a huge menu of great food available to go a long with your shrimp.  I think after all of the delicious veggie and shrimp dishes that night along with the shrimp from lunch, I was not going to be eating shrimp for a while. (>_<);;; If you were feeling a little lucky, there was also a sausage vendor outside with a bowl full of dice willing to gamble with customers and the winnings, of course, were sausages. Unfortunately, we were not so lucky and ended up buying a few sausages wrapped in rice instead. (^_^)

There are apparently quite a few locations around the Taipei area, the shrimp farm we visited was not too far from the National Palace Museum along Zhishan Rd. and there were many to choose from.  If you are interested in doing something different, heading to a shrimp farm is definitely a laid back and relaxing experience to try.

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