Taiwanese sports fashion

I'd like to start by saying that I'm absolutely no fashion guru. However, I'd like to tell you guys about the sports fashion in Taiwan.

Sports fashion is kind of big in Taiwan. Everywhere you go, you can see sport shops and people are dressed kind of sporty and casual. Sports shops are very concentrated along and around Roosevelt Road in Gongguan (red or green MRT line) with approximately over 10-15 stores.

If you go to Shilin Night Market or Ximenting, you will find plenty of sports shops there as well.
What I miss in Taiwan though are sporting goods chains like Stadium, Intersport or Team Sportia in Sweden and a chain like Super Sport in Thailand. There is a big chain called Momentum here, but they don't offer complete solutions like the stores in Sweden.

Everywhere go you here, you can only find stores selling shoes, clothes and some accessories. I would like to find both equipment, clothes and accessories. However, I just heard from a colleague that there is a big French chain called Decathlon that just opened a store in Neihu. Their first store is in Taichung, south of Taipei. This store sells basically everything about outdoor equipment and sports. I went to Neihu to have a look. I could only find their own brands and the price level was not good at all. There were absolutely no international brands. I would say it is just crap out there.

Let me then tell you about the sport brands that you can find here.
Do you remember brands like Kappa, Fila, Lotto, Hang Ten, Diadora and Airwalk? Well, these brands are long gone or out of fashion in Europe. In Taiwan, they are still quite present. In every department store (there are many!) you will find a section with these good old brands. The style and design are really not up-to-date. However, you could still see many people wearing these brands because they are considered to be on a reasonable price level.

Nike, Adidas, New Balance and Puma have numerous stores in Taipei. These brands are considered as the high end brands. From what I've learnt, some of these clothes are designed and produced locally. This means that you might not be able to find the same item abroad. Other brands you can find here are Asics, Reebok, K-Swiss, Brooks, Merrell, Saucony and Converse. A newcomer that is popping up and becoming very famous is Under Armour. There are some local brands like Firestar, Five-Up, V and SOFO, and they are often sold in the same multi-brand-store together with the other famous brands.

The sports fashion here in general is baggy sweatpants with very wide lower trouser legs and high sole sport shoes. This kind of style is long gone in Europe where people use slim fit or skinny pants (like Adidas Tiro or Condivo models) and low sole sport shoes together with slim fit tshirts.
Sizes in Taiwan are sometimes very strange where Medium is the smallest although there are still many people that are quite small and short (like me). In general, slim fit fashion is not so popular here (yet).

Fashion wise, I've seen some epic fails at the gym: A guy wearing a winter hat and vest. Guys wearing loafers or boots. A guy wearing what seems to be pyjamas pants. A girl carrying a handbag during the whole cross trainer session.

I have also never seen any other places where they have so many sport caps like here. There are really thousands and thousands of models to choose from. Taiwanese people tend to really like wearing a cap since baseball and basketball are very big sports here. Most popular right now are snapback caps. Most of them have the letters NY on it. New York, that is. You can also find stuff like Obey, Supreme (sometimes misspelled as Superme!), DOPE and BOY.

If you are looking for sports items, do it here in Taiwan!

Exercising in Taiwan

In order not to gain weight, there are two solutions; either you eat less (fat and sugar) or you do exercising.

I enjoy eating, especially here in Asia. However, I have been much better in controlling my consumption. Since two years back, I have also started watching my weight.

In Taiwan, the government decided some years back to build as many as 50 public sports centers across the nation following a 4-year-plan. The idea is good, but in reality only a little more than 50% of the sports centers were finished, leaving the plan much behind schedule. Not to mention that all of them went over budget. Let's not talk about politics though.

In these facilities, they have a swimming pool, gym, dance/aerobics room, spinning, etc.
In Wanhua, you can even enjoy paintball, climbing, basketball, table tennis, golf practice, etc.
While in Songshan, there is a big running track outdoor.
Nice, isn't it?

I have only been to the gym at Songshan Sports Center (near my office) and Wanhua Sports Center (near my apartment). Both are quite OK. I wish the equipment could be newer though. However, I recognize majority of the machines, since they look very similar to those I'm used to at home.

When I was in Songshan on a Tuesday, the gym was very crowded and you needed to line up for the machines.

Songshan Sport Center

When I was in Wanhua on a Sunday, the number of people was perfect, leaving lots of machines available. I went there on a weekday too. This time, it was more crowded, but still alright. I will definitely continue going to Wanhua instead. Wanhua is more convenient if I commute from my apartment (1 station away) and I can pass thru Ximenting for shopping or dining before or afterwards. Nowadays, I and my wife either walk or bike to the gym in Wanhua instead. It is much faster than taking the MRT.

Wanhua Sport Center

I can write a chapter about how to get changed before exercising. Let me keep this short. There is actually no changing room! You do it in the toilet/shower. Now you will say: The feet will get wet! Yes, they will. So, bring a pair of sandals. This hassle is the worst part about going to the gym here. Where to put my stuff then? You can put them in a locker that will cost 10NTD or 20NTD (a bigger one). Some people just put it outside or they don't even lock the locker. Don't forget to bring your own schampoo and shower gel.

The entrance to the gym is 50NTD/h. You pay at the main counter and then you'll get a receipt or a card depending on which gym it is. You show the receipt to the counter or swipe your card on the machine at the gym hall. Then you have to keep track of your time. If you exceed 1h, you have to pay 25NTD for 30min or 50NTD for 1h.
Otherwise, you can also consider a card for 1500NTD which gives you 30h. It is valid for 6 months. With this card, you are entitled to go swimming twice.

At World Gym, you pay 615NTD/time if you don't have a monthly card! This is a rip off, man! I went to the Ximenting branch out of curiosity asking how much a monthly card is and it turned out to be as much as 3500NTD! Wow! I have read lots of bad stories from forums about these so called "globogyms" where they offer different prices to different people and they try to force people to sign. However, I have heard prices are negotiable.

I have been a member of Friskis & Svettis in Malmö for 5-6 years and I used to sign up for the 1-year-card, which cost me about 13000NTD. Dividing it into a monthly cost, it will be 1083NTD.
Who can afford to go to those "globogyms" in Taiwan? Apparently, still quite many.

The good thing about not having a 1-year-card or monthly card is that you don't have to feel the pressure that you have to go there. The feeling now of being free and really going when I feel for it is good!

The public sports centers are definitely my choice!

Grocery shopping in Taipei

From time to time, doing grocery shopping is necessary. You don't need to carry an enormous bag of items with you home. You may only need to buy a package of milk and that still counts as grocery shopping, I guess.

What do you think I miss from home?
To be honest, for the time being, the only thing I make at home is breakfast and that's nothing advanced either.
I drink milk with my whey protein, prepare two slices of bread with some processed cheese, and have a small package of (too sweet) yoghurt.

The breakfast concept is about the same I usually have back home in Sweden. However, the difference is bigger than I could imagine before I moved here. I thought I could buy some real cheese. Stuff like Gouda. I don't like the processed cheese since it doesn't taste good at all. The consistency is really strange and there is no resistance of chewing. 
I quote from Wikipedia: "Processed cheese is a food product made from normal cheese and sometimes other unfermented dairy ingredients, plus emulsifiers, extra salt, food colorings, or whey."

Did you also know this? Once again quoting from Wikipedia: "Due to the processing and additives, some softer varieties cannot legally be labeled as "cheese" in many countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, and so are sold as "cheese food", "cheese spread", or "cheese product", depending primarily on the amount of cheese, moisture, and milkfat present in the final product."

I found some Gouda cheese from the delicatessen counter in some shopping malls, but the prices there are not very euro-friendly. I bought 4 slices (100gr) for 90NTD!

There are also no slices of smoked ham or other nice spreads I could put on the bread at the supermarkets. I bought a package of imported smoked turkey though, 258NTD for 272gr!
The assortment of yoghurt consists of almost only drinking yoghurt instead of the regular thick one; the low fat and sugarfree I have at home. The low fat milk also tastes strange. Damn, I do miss my regular breakfast in Sweden!

People tend to eat more white bread here and all the bakeries also produce this variant a lot more than wholegrain bread.

I also reckon that doing grocery shopping in Taipei is in general more expensive than doing it in Sweden, unless you buy those Asian vegetables. Furthermore, they don't have those supermarket specific budget brands for standard products that we have in Sweden from ICA, Willys, Lidl, Hemköp, Coop, etc. Those items are usually reasonable to buy and quality is OK.

A small comparison with a couple of items (using exchange rate of 4.5) in NTD:

                                       Sweden                                  Taiwan
Butter                              67.5 (big package)                  80 (small package)
Cheese                           135 (400gr sliced Gouda)       100 (100gr processed cheese)
Wholegrain bread           135 (big bag of Längtan)         50 (small bag of toast bread)
Milk                                  67.3 (1l low fat)                      75 (1l low fat)
Yoghurt                           58.5 (1l low fat)                      - (1l does not exist)
Romaine salad                54 (1 pc)                                99 (2 small pcs)
Olive oil                           202.5 (1l)                               350 (1l)
Spaghetti                         45 (1kg)                                 100 (500gr)

In a summary, it's cheaper and more convenient to have lunch and dinner outside than making it at home. I have bought some pans, pots and other cooking utensils from IKEA. They are still untouched. Time to return them within 30 days of purchase?

IKEA Taiwan vs IKEA Sweden

Firstly, I will deal a bit about price differences.
People who have shopped at IKEA in Sweden might have wondered how much more expensive the same items are at IKEA abroad. I would say that the price difference depends on what things you buy. For some items, the price difference is minor. For some others, it could be quite huge.

Secondly, what differs more is for example the sizes of pillows and blankets. I will compare duo items.

              Swedish size                      Taiwanese size
Pillow:    50x60                                 50x80
Blanket:  200x240                             200x200

Of course it's nicer to sleep on bigger pillows, but the blanket feels a bit too small now.

If you buy a bed from a local Taiwanese furniture store, you will encounter bigger problems if you want to buy bed sheets or mattress from IKEA to pair up with the bed. My bed is 180x187. I tried to buy a mattress cover, but the cover is 180x200. However, luckily I could still use it.

              Swedish size                       Taiwanese size
Bed:       180x200                              180x187

The bed set I bought included 4 pillow cases and 1 sleeping sheet. I first thought that someone must have packed 2 extra pillow cases by mistake, but it turned out that it really includes 4 pcs. Either they suggest people to use 4 pillows or they suggest people to exchange the 2 pillow cases frequently.

What about bed sheets then? In Taiwan, they tend to use fitted sheets, which I really dislike. In Sweden, I'm used to flat sheets. However, the issue here is not about fitted or flat. It's about that the fitted sheet is not fitting my bed. The IKEA fitted size is 180x200 and my bed is shorter. So, it's not completely fitting, but it works anyway.

IKEA food? Ya, what about the menu at the IKEA restaurant?
The standard Swedish meatball dish and a salmon dish are present. A real cinnemon bun as well. (My favourite!)
They even sell the Swedish Julmust, which is sort of a festive soda.
Apart from that, the Taiwanese restaurant served pork knuckle! I have never seen that in at IKEA Sweden. I miss the pork steak or chicken with french fries from home!
My impression is that the prices at the IKEA restaurant is higher comparing to regular local Taiwanese restaurants.

What happens when I move back to Sweden?
I will of course bring the blanket, pillows, bed sheets and bed sets home. I can't use the blanket and the sleeping sheet though. I can keep using the bigger pillows. The fitted bed sheets are useless since my bed at home is just 160x200.

I have not dug into single bed items yet. That will probably create another headache later as well since I have another bed room with a 150x187 bed. When/If a guest is coming, I need to buy a pillow, a blanket, a bedset and a bed sheet. Damn it!

The conclusion is that everything should have followed a global standard, if there is one!

I miss doing the laundry in Sweden!

You might think: Are you stupid?

Considering that we need to do the laundry, doing it here seems like a pretty tough job. You will agree with me after hearing my experience.

I have a new washing machine at home in the so called Laundry balcony. Most people in Taiwan have it like this, I guess. The machine is not super fancy and not very big, but it certainly does the job. 

I first washed a couple of new towels together with some of the new and dirty clothes. Guess what happened? All my clothes were covered with fluff from the towels! When I hang them up on the crossbar, the dust and fluff went all over the place. I was so happy having bought soft bath towels from the Japanese furniture store that's on the same floor as IKEA in Songshan. See what those damn towels did to me!

Second round, now with colored clothes. Obviously I made one mistake. I forgot to clean the filter in the washing machine. The dust and fluff from the first round were stuck to this round of clothes. All covered by fluff again.

I don't understand much of this machine.

Why do I miss doing the laundry in Sweden then?

You see, back home we have a dry cabinet or dry room. We even have a huge spinning dryer for bed sheets, towels, other non-important clothes or other items. I have never dealt with cleaning the clothes from fluff or dust. I only needed to clean the filter in the dryer.

Here, I have to hang them outside in a moist and humid environment. It's been the third day now and my pants are still not dry. I won't be going to the dry cleaner to dry my clothes. It will cost me a million in the end.

My wife gave me some tips to buy a dust roller and it helped, but I sat the entire evening cleaning that shit.

My colleagues told me to buy a small dryer for about 6000NTD (1350SEK) and put it on the balcony. No way I'm going to invest in that shit when I'm only staying for one year.

I really miss doing the laundry in Sweden!

[Edit]
After this post, I went to Carrefour to buy a Panasonic dryer which is capable of taking 5kg.
I really love doing the laundry here in Taiwan now! Haha!
Everything became so much easier since I bought this dryer for around 5000NTD. It feels wonderful to be able to do the laundry whenever we want and we can always trust that the dryer will do the job.
Of course, when the hot season came in April, it made things easier too since I still hang clothes outside. The only problem is that I need to sell my favorite purchase when we leave Taiwan. It's hard to part from such a wonderful machine.

How did I end up in Taipei (台北)?

People who know me know how much I fancy Taipei ever since 2007.

I came here on a short business trip with Sony Ericsson for the first time in September 2007. However, my first impression was not very positive to be honest. I thought it was a grey and boring city. Part of the reason was that I came from a short stop over from my beloved Bangkok, so everything that was in comparison at that time lost.

The second time I went there was in December 2007 and now things started getting much better! I actually changed my mind and liked Taipei instead! So, from that trip, I had a wish to work in Taipei for some period of time. Who knew at that time that this dream could come true almost exactly 6 years later?
I have been here almost at least once a year since 2007 except 2012 when I changed purchasing team and lost all my Taiwanese project work. I have been to Taipei 11 times before I finally moved here.
I guess everything happens for a reason, right? So, if I didn't change purchasing team to a more key component team and Sony didn't restructure in Lund, I wouldn't be here now.
Actually, I was offered a local contract in Tokyo, but I rejected it almost immediately and tried to give my employer a counterproposal of a Short term assignment in Taipei instead. After a couple of weeks, they gave me a firm proposal of a 2 years Long term assignment. I negotiated for a 1+1 contract instead. Just like a football player contract. A footballer that I "never" became in my life.

Well, folks, here I am in Taipei City starting from 1 December 2013!

I now stay in a new fully furnished 2-bedroom apartment next to Qsquare Mall and Taipei Main Station. The entrance of the mall is just a few steps away! My apartment is awesome and I really love that nobody has ever used it and the furnitures or other equipments before.

Commuting to work takes about 30min door-to-door by taking the Blue MRT Line and then changing to a short bus ride.

Life is good and fair sometimes!

Now I'm just waiting for my wifie to come in the end of January and share this adventure together with me!