Fabric. Fabric. OH MY GAWD FABRIC.

This fabric rules.  This fabric sucks.  This fabric rules.  This fabric SUCKS!  ... I'm getting ahead of myself.  Lemme back up a bit.

I woke up pretty early, but wasn't sure what time it was because I didn't have a timepiece to indicate.  By the amount of light outside, I was pretty sure it was fairly early, so I attempted more sleep for a while, then gave up and got my computer.  I was able to chat with some people, which was nice.  Then, a shower before meeting Angela in front of my hostel at 10.

SO GREAT TO SEE YOU, DAHLING.

She offered to show me where she does all her cosplay shopping, so I was TOTALLY ON BOARD for that.  We took the Metro to get there.

The closest station to me.  It's on the brown line.  I can't say the name.  There's a Dunkin' Donuts inside!

We got off and walked through an underground mall, which was nifty.  A lot of the shops weren't open yet.  I bought a cheap watch.

For lunch, I got to choose between a maid cafe and a butler cafe.  It was a rough decision, but since the maid was standing and waiting (ie luring in customers) outside of that cafe, and she was nice and spoke some English, I chose that one.  Pictures of the maids aren't allowed, and the cafe itself wasn't too much to take pictures of, but the food was cute:

My mango soda.  I think it was mango juice with a bit of soda.  It was nice and the straw was totally cute!

 The soup was nothing special, so I'm skipping that picture.

The English menu called it something like 'Grilled Cheese France Toasts' or something.  It sounded somewhere between good and nasty, so I ordered it.  Turns out 'France toast' means French bread - a baguette - not what I think of as French toast.  It actually tasted pretty good.  Cheese is something lacking in my life in Japan.

My lunch was made to taste better with a little spell - a combined effort with the maid, and me.  We made our hands into a heart shape and said 'moe moe chu!'  Hahahaha

Angela wither her tuna 'Subway'.  Hahahahaha  I guess no one actually calls them 'submarine' sandwiches, but 'Subway' is just wrong.  I love the cat with a fish drawn in sauce on the plate!

There was some light reading material to choose from - manga and some magazines.  These Cosmodes are some of the earliest issues - 3, 4, and 12.  Issue 3 was covering Anime Expo 2003!  O_O  The difference between then and now was crazy - clearly homemade costumes vs everyone buying them now, few colored eyebrows, etc.

I finished before Angela, so the maid brought over a game.  Y'know that game where you press the crocodile's teeth and if you get the wrong one, it snaps down on you?  I lost, so my punishment was that I had to wear these ears.  I AM SO SAD.

We made our way through the mall a bit more and up into the street where we found HEAVEN.  *A*  Just kidding, but we went to this area where the streets were lined with fabric and notions stores.  THEN we went in a big building which was nothing but fabric vendors on top of fabric vendors.  Imagine the organization of a flea market.  Take away the walls or spaces between and FILL IT WITH FABRIC.  Yup.  I only got a few pictures because I felt awkward, but here's a rough idea:

This is just a tiny portion.  Of course, I couldn't think of anything I needed and didn't want to buy it just to buy something, but I wanted to soooo badly.  After a turn around there, we went to a button shop to get some studs for Angela's sister.

They sold buttons, trims, studs, frogs, and all sorts of delightful little things!

Next stop was a bead shop Angela frequents.

One of the aisles upstairs.  The little baggies tended to be NT30-80, which is about $1-2.50.

I bought a blue crystal for my Asuna cosplay (stupid Yui-thing).  They sure had some interesting things there.  I didn't get a picture, but my other purchases included the following, made to be pendants: symbol of the Deathly Hallows, the Konoha leaf symbol, and a Mockingjay.  WHAT THE HECK, PEOPLE?!  Anyway, they came in packs of two, so a couple people are getting those as souveniers.  XD

A bit more walking around.  I bought some fried dough thing that was like a ball of elephant ear, but wasn't good because it was cold, so I chucked it.  Then Angela recommended some Almond tea, which wasn't to my liking.  I couldn't tell what the taste reminded me of.  Not quite the horrible dental work image which coconut summons in my mouth's mind, but something unpleasant...  I did finally have a snack success with a sweet goo sandwiched between two biscuits.

It made me thirsty, so we went into a nearby Hi-Life (convenience store), and I got the liquid happiness which doesn't exist in Japan: CHOCOLATE MILK.  Yummy.

Alas, Angela had to take her car to the shop and get ready for her photoshoot later, so we parted ways and I made my way back to my hostel.

I got lost only once, for a minute or two then I stuck my head into a 7/11 and asked directions.  Rather, I got to where I thought was close to my hostel, went into a 7/11 which was literally across the street from another 7/11 and did lots of gesturing.  I have a business card from the hostel that has a map on the back, so I showed them the card and tried to ask if where we were was on the map.  The poor guy looked at the card, then fetched his co-worker who spoke a bit of English.  It turns out I was pretty close.  I just needed to walk down the street just before the 7/11.  Good.

Walking down the alleyway/street, I took a few pictures to try to capture the atmosphere.  XD

I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually mean 'beware of hats,' but that's my best guess.

I got to a place I recognized and went to the tea shop to get a bubble tea to show you guys this time.  My second Taiwanese bubble tea.

Yummy.  The bubbles are made of tapioca or something like that.

I was really sleepy and wanted to take a nap, but chatted with a couple people online instead, before heading out for dinner, shoe shopping, and the photoshoot.

I settled on this variety of fried potatoes.  Three kinds of sweet potatos and one regular potato.  They were all pre-fried, but then she chose an assortment for me and re-heated them in the oil behind her.

Very yummy.  It looked remarkably like the mushrooms from last night when I took a picture, so I'll spare you that.

The stall next door offered all kinds of cooked body parts of animals.  In the bottom right there, we have chicken feet or something similar.  Lots of shops sell things like feet, livers, intestines - so gross. 

I really wanted to find a pair of brown loafers for my photoshoot Sunday.  I've been meaning to buy a nice pair for years and haven't gotten around to it (because they're not cheap), but Taiwan has lots of cheap, get-what-you-pay-for shoe shops, and since that kind of looks-better-than-it-is shoe is great for cosplay, I thought I'd give it a go.  Alas, I could only find black loafers, even though I went into about eight shoe shops.  My budget was set at around 1000yen, so I settled on a pair of black loafers for 380 dollars, which actually shakes out to 1043yen, but it's close.

Purchasing them was interesting.  I took the shoe to a shop employee, and tried to explain I wanted a bigger size (After establishing there was no brown).  She wanted me to try on the 69.  Well, of course my foot didn't go it.  She goes in the back and brings out a 78!  WAY too big, of course.  I tried to ask for a 75.  She comes back with a 77 and 76 and hands me the 77 first. Still too big.  I went with the 76 mostly because it fit, but also because it was difficult getting anywhere with this woman, who at least came off as rude, whether she actually was or not.

I stopped at another stand where a bunch of different fruits were laid out and chose two things that I understand to be sugar apples and a few small pieces of melon.  The lady cuts up the fruit you choose and sells it by weight.

I didn't get a lot because I wasn't really sure what I was getting.  The thing with the red skin is the sugar apple, which wasn't really all that sweet, and the thing on the left is the melon.  It was lovely.

I made my way out of the market, past the row of pet stores (SUCH cuties! I never see pet stores in Japan, but Taiwanese have their dogs with them all the time, often being carried and often wearing clothes, but they're obviously well-loved.  I also see much bigger dogs here than I have in Japan), and up the street to the train station.

I got to the meeting spot right on time and ran into Angela as she was getting through the ticket gate.  We met up with her friends, a couple of whom speak Japanese, and they spent the next hour getting ready before starting the shoot.  There were four cosplayers and four photographers plus me (nineth-wheeling) in the group.  There were two other photoshoots going on in the stairwell, too!

The location was a stairwell in a department store attached to the station.  Pretty nifty.  Here you can see the cosplayers and two of the photographers.

After a while, we went outside to get some pictures with the lights.  I thought the Japanese loved lights, but I think the Taiwanese have them out-done!  At least based on where I live.  For both countries, it's more of a date holiday than family one, so the lights are a romantic date spot (or, apparently, a great place to take the kids).  As usual, with photoshoots in public places, WE WERE TOTALLY IN THE WAY, but some people were excited to see them and lots of people walking by whispered 'cosplay!'

I was easily the most ill-eqipped for this shoot and didn't really get any good pictures.  :<  I'm sure the other four did, though.  XD

After that, they did their Secret Santa gift exchange, half-changed, and we high-tailed it to catch what was either the last or second-to-last train (around midnight).  I got back just fine, using the route I determined earlier.  ^-^v  Even pros at being lost develop strategies over time, I guess.

I was really tired when I got back, so I wasn't able to finish this then.  Sorry it's late.  Gotta get breakfast then get ready for my own photoshoot today.  ^o^/