Cosplay in Taipei, 2010

Check my girlfriend's photos

Ok, I have to admit that she probably isn't an MKL fan. I used a team of very skilled photoshoppers to put that logo in there. Doesn't she look cool? :-)

In case you're interested in cosplay, check my girlfriend's awesome photos. She went to a recent gathering of cosplayers in Taipei and took plenty of pics. The cosplay subculture is in recent years very popular in Taiwan and the Taiwanese teens are as good as Japanese, when it comes to dress up like their favorite manga characters. You can also see what the girl above really held in her hand. Have fun browsing pics. More here:

✰ Cosplay in Taipei, 2010 via Flickr by LilyChen>>

[My TAIPEI page][Photo by LilyChen, 2010]

Lovers in Seoul

»You don't love a woman because she is beautiful,

but she is beautiful because you love her« by Unknown

송희 woke up pretty late and had to rush to town. She was very troubled, didn't know where her head was. Not only did she have a major assignment at school, she also had a very important date with a certain someone at 1 o'clock. It was already 11. She found her watch, put it on and realized she only had few minutes to find the second stiletto as well as some untorn stockings. Her skirt was thoroughly crumpled, so she quickly ironed it with her hands. Her hair was messy, she tied it in a bun and soon after began cursing while frantically putting on the the only undamaged tights she had found. She uttered »How did I end up like that« when her uncut razor sharp toenail pierced through the fabric like a hot knife through a piece of butter. She instantly lost it. She pulled everything off and decided to go bare legged. By going over her the skin with the hand, she realized that she hadn't shaved her legs for a while, which made her utter another »damn«, but she didn't have time to even think about that. She just grabbed her purse, put on the shoes and rushed off, nearly jumping down the stairs, stumbling several times. She soon felt something was wrong with her shoes and by looking down she recognized that she put on two different ones, one with a visibly shorter heel. She could not return, because the bus on the other side of the road was already letting people in and she had to speed up her pace to catch it. She was lucky that day, the driver seemed to be in good mood, because he waited for her. All sweaty and messed up she started walking up the aisle trying to find an empty seat. There was none. So she stood there all by herself, with old women giving her mean stares, seemingly gossiping about her. She had no time to think about that either, all she cared about in that moment was that dreaded assignment. The bus suddenly stopped and her purse fell down, with a lipstick rolling down the aisle. Everyone stared. She blushed a little, but gracefully walked out. However once she had left the bus, she realized she had made a terrible mistake. She took the wrong bus and ended up in a totally wrong direction. She sat down on a bench at the station and started crying. She knew she can forget the assignment and she didn't feel like going on the date. She felt terrible and out of place. But somehow the thought of him calmed her, soothed her, gave her hope. She knew she had to meet him in that café that day, because she didn't have his number, nor his address. If she didn't meet him that day, she would probably never get another chance again. After all, Seoul is a big city. She decided to find her way back. She spotted the main road and hoped to get a better overview of the whole area. She could not walk well, so her pace was slow. It was 11.47 when she suddenly saw a subway station on the horizon. She knew she'll have to walk a long way, before she can ride that train to the guy, that made her heart flutter upon a mere thought. Her mind was wandering. And the train was, too. After seemingly endless 53 minutes she finally reached at Yeouinaru. She knew she was late and was nearly convinced that he had left already. But she wanted to be sure, she wanted to see, if that seat at the café is really empty. Half limping to the entrance, she saw someone through the door glass. Could that possibly be him? She wasn't sure. Maybe someone else took the spot, since it was already 27 minutes after 1 o'clock. She opened the door and slowly approached that famous table from the popular TV drama. It was him! She stopped for a second, took a deep breath and then voiced out a gentle »hello«. A hello with a trembling underlip, colored with fear and despair. She felt ugly and dirty, messy and lost. And in that moment she stood there like that in front of the man of her dreams.

»Hello 송희«, he said with a smile, stood up and offered her the seat. She sat down.
»You look beautiful today« he added, widened his smile and gently touched her hand.
She smiled, too. And then they had coffee.

[Photo by MKL, 2010, from Yeouido]

Trip to Graz/Gradec, Austria

The second biggest Austrian city

Click the photo below to see the map of our Slovenia tour 2010.

Graz (Slovenian Gradec, with around 260.000 inhabitants) is the second biggest Austrian town and the last destination of our Slovenia tour 2010. I thought it would be great, if my girlfriend, who saw towns like Piran, Trieste, Bled and Maribor, also sees another medieval gem in this part of Europe. Graz is not only the hometown of the actor and soon to be former governator Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, it's also one of the European cities with the best preserved medieval centers, which is even protected by the UNESCO. From the 12th to the early 20th century Graz used to be the capital city of Styria, a duchy within the Austrian monarchy (German Steiermark, Slovenian Štajerska), which included big parts of today's northeastern Slovenia, including my hometown Maribor. For a long time Graz was the economic and cultural center of this part of the world. It also had one of the first universities in the area and many famous Slovenians in the past (and even today) got their education in Graz, that's why the city is also important for the history of Slovenians (more info about Graz here).

FUN FACT: The name "Graz" originates from Old Slovenian "Gradec" (pronounced Grah·dets), which means "Small castle". Interestingly, "Maribor" (my hometown) originates from Old German "Marchburg", which means "Castle in the border region". We should've swapped the names or something. Well, this just proves that in the past Slovenians and Germans used to live on the both sides of the border.

Now you know, why I had to bring my girlfriend there. I'm sorry, this post is photo intensive, but I really like Graz's old town and want to show you all the beautiful spots. See my 4o photos of Graz, Austria's second biggest city:

Our trip started near Maribor and lead us over the border to Austria.

We needed about 35min and we reached the suburbs.

We were lucky to find an empty parking spot. A bit far from the center, but still ok.

We had to walk like 15min along this road, where many immigrants live.

On a Bosnian restaurant. She's a singer and she surely has a lot to offer.

The river Mur that flows through Graz also flows through Slovenia, we call it Mura.

The Franciscan church originates from the 13th/14th century.

That's where we enter the center of Graz.

I knew where I wanted to bring my girlfriend: To the Town hall building.

But we got hungry and wanted to try a hot dog. The lady was very slow, but really friendly. It felt like my grandmother made the dog for me. And it tasted really good.

And this is one of the most impressive buildings in Graz: The Town hall or Rathaus.

My girlfriend and her cute skirt waving in the morning breeze.

The Hauptplatz or Main square in Graz.

The famous Herrengasse, which is the most popular street in the center if Graz.

That's how the tram looks like in Graz.

And then we went to have a nice dessert. It was getting hot and we saw a big queue of people in front of an ice cream shop called Charly Temmel. The common sense says, if there are many people around a certain shop, it has to be good. So we gave it a try.

The ice cream was really yummy! I highly recommend.

A view on the Herrengasse (literally Gentleman street).

The Mariensäule (Mary column) with a fountain.

The Stadtpfarrkirche church from the 18th century looks nice.

We left the Herrengasse and explored some other parts.

This part had a Mediterranean atmosphere.

I love cities, where people hang out and fill up the restaurants on the streets.

She's Taiwanese, yes. But I was the one who incited her to do this :P

Walking to the northern part of Graz, I wanted us to go atop the castle hill.

This part is lovely as well, but we went the wrong way.

Ehm... do you love yours? :P

Judging by the accent, this girl with the gnarly hairdo was American.

And we finally reached the stairways to the Schloßberg (Castle hill).

I had fears that my (usually) clumsy girlfriend will trip, that's why I had to escort her up like a bodyguard. I'm not really comfortable climbing such stairs, but it was really worth it.

The view was getting better and better.

And then: Ta-dah! The Town hall building.

And finally we were above the Graz old town.

She totally owned Graz, woohoo!

This is the Urhturm (Clock tower) located atop of Schloßberg (Castle hill).

The name Castle hill indicates a castle, which doesn't stand here for over 2 centuries. When Napoleon's army came to Graz in the early 19th century, they destroyed the old castle, but the citizens offered money in exchange to keep the Clock tower and Glockenturm (Bell tower) intact. The French invaders agreed and today the two towers are famous landmarks of the city.

A nice garden on top of the hill.

The whole area was lovely, however we couldn't stay here too long, the sky was getting gray and I suggested that we leave the top and go back down and home. I feared a storm.

It's gotten really gray, but luckily we weren't caught in the rain.

We passed by the Murinsel (Mur island), a floating platform, built in 2003.

The view on the Castle hill.

And then we came back and most of the cars were gone. Luckily ours wasn't.

Graz is definitely worth a visit. Even if your main destination is Slovenia, go for a day trip to Austria and visit this city. It's clean and very beautiful. Compared to Maribor, it attracts a lot of foreign immigrants, be it from ex Yugoslavia, Turkey, Africa or Asia. It will give you the feeling of being in a big cosmopolitan city, but with a small town atmosphere. However, compared to Vienna, Graz is a small town, so don't expect too much. Compared to Maribor, Graz is a big city.

My rating of Graz:

Great place for photos ✰✰✰✰✰

Well preserved and clean ✰✰✰✰✰

Toilets, parking, souvenirs ✰✰✰✰✰

Friendly to tourists ✰✰✰✰✰

Maribor: City of towers :Before [Slovenia Tour 2010] The tour ends here.

[My MARIBOR page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Paulina 胡文英, Taiwan's wonder mom

Let me introduce you yet another exceptional woman from Taiwan


Meet Paulina: An exceptional mom.

I noticed Paulina, known under the real name 胡文英 (Hú Wén Yīng), in one of the updates on Nicole's Facebook page. So I had to check her out and wow: She truly is an incredible woman. Why you might ask? Well, she's a mom of 3 kids (the oldest is 17 years old) and looks that good. Don't you agree? She became popular in 2009, when she appeared on a Taiwanese variety show featuring beautiful mature women. She was 42 years old back then. She was born in 1967! She instantly became popular online, appearing on various blogs and forums. She's 43 now and still posting photos of herself on her blog. Do you remember, when I wrote about "Taiwan's wonder woman" Jeannie Hsieh a while ago? I couldn't believe how good she looked at age 36, but what about Paulina? I had a hard time finding a title for her, but I think "Taiwan's wonder mom" would do her justice (I don't wanna use that abbreviation that ends with -ilf, let's keep it classy).

Check some videos of Paulina, first is a slideshow of her photos, the second her appearance on a Taiwanese variety show:

According to Paulina, she doesn't do sports, she just keeps a strict diet. The rest is taking care of her body with various beauty products. I'm sure some of her photos were retouched and she also uses a lot of make-up, but we can't deny that she's blessed with great genes, that keep her looking young after the dreaded age of 40. Sure, she has a very skinny body (she's 167cm and has 43kg according to sources), but that alone doesn't make her look young. I think a lot of it is the attitude. Her fashion style and the way she takes photos is the one of a young girl, maybe a teenager, but definitely someone in the early twenties. There are photos of her, where I would say she looks 23, some others make her look way over 30. It depends on the angle, the light, the zoom and the expression. With that said, one thing is sure: She definitely doesn't look over 40. But these days, they say, you're as old as you feel. Age does matter, of course. If it wasn't, I would not write this post. But more and more men and women are pushing the boundaries, baffling us, inspiring us. As long as they age naturally, I will give them thumbs up.

Paulina, a 43 years old woman your cute girl next door?

Since I try to keep this blog somewhat semi-decent (alright, stop chuckling), I didn't wanna post some of her sexier photos. Believe me, she's pretty bold, when it comes to photo shoots, so if you wanna see some of her hottest pics from 2009, when she was at the height of popularity, go to:

性感熟女辣媽胡文英爆乳寫真>>

You can also visit her blog or browse through her personal album.

So what do you think about Paulina and how do you like women, who at an age over 40 still want to look like younger women or girls and behave that way?

[My TAIWANESE WOMEN page][Photos by Paulina, 2009/10]

[My photo 1, photo 2] Bonus: Paulina with 17yrs old daughter

Vote for the Best Taiwan blog 2010

Vote for me, if you feel I'm your best Taiwan blog 2010

If you follow my blog since last year, you know how big 2010 was for me. I went to Taiwan and had the best time of my life. Somehow I turned into a Taiwan blogger, which I didn't initially plan. Of course I'm not only that, but the posts about Taiwan gave me most traffic this year and helped me grow my blog like never before. I'm very grateful to all Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese readers for making me so popular and giving me so many compliments. And since I put so much work in my blog and tried really hard to write awesome posts, I want to ask you for a little favor: Please vote for me on Taiwanderful's Best Taiwan Blog Award 2010.

You can go to my blog's profile on Taiwanderful and click on the + under the number (as seen on the photo on the left). The voting will be closed on December 20th, which means there is only 1 week to go. You can vote once per day. Tell your friends ;-)

MY PAGES: In case you didn't follow my blog in 2010, let me show you my best of Taiwan. First of all, you can check my various pages, be it about Taiwan in general, my life there, the Taiwanese food or just browse through my posts about Taipei city, Taichung city or Kaohsiung city. Or maybe you're just interested in Taiwan's skyscrapers? How about famous Taiwanese women? It's all there for you, just have a look and choose whatever interests you.

MY POSTS: Besides the pages, I want to give you a personal top 10 of my Taiwan related posts in 2010. This is the stuff you have to read, if you're new here:

✰ Visit Taipei! (also in Chinese) - 46 comments, over 26.000 unique visits
✰ About young people of Taiwan (also in Chinese) - over 15.000 visits
✰ My 30th birthday on top of Taipei 101 - 49 comments
✰ I ate real frog! - 47 grossed out comments
✰ Jeannie Hsieh, Taiwan's wonder woman - 46 comments
✰ My list of Top 10 Taiwanese models - 44 comments
✰ Betelnut girl in Banqiao - 43 comments
✰ Shilin Night Market - one of top results in Google search
✰ Best bubble tea in Taipei - top result in Google search
✰ Historic gates of Taipei - one of the few English blogs on the topic

I just realized that I've written nearly 200 posts about Taiwan this year. That's amazing. It's a big resource and you can bet it'll grow bigger next year. So support me and please vote for me here. Thanks!

I love Taiwan. And you can bet I'm not just sayin' it!