Trip to Taipei Taiwan

Well it has been two weeks since I have written, there was no time. Last week was preparation for the trip to Taipei Taiwan; I went out one night to the horse races which were fun to see. The place was filled with foreigners and then the serious Chinese who were playing the big bucks on the horses.
Our flight to Taiwan left Saturday night, there were five of us on the flight which was nice. We arrived and were driven straight to the hotel. We put our bags in our room and then went to the hotel bar for some Champaign; Christoph gave us and the bar tender a lesson on how champagne should taste/ look, first bottle they brought was not expectable. Sunday morning 9am we were all off on the bus to the Taiwan Puma office for the pre production meeting. At the meeting the countries picked out how there shots would look/what actions the band would be doing, to show the products. After the meeting a bunch of us went down town to an event where Eddie who is featured in Puma’s most recent campaign that is about to come out was doing something with nokia, so we went to say hi it was pretty boring but interesting to look around and eat some food from the stands. Eddie recognized everyone from Puma which was cool, he is pretty big in Taiwan. We then went out to our first dinner which Eddie joined as well. The food was Taiwanese and really good, there were about 30 of us sitting around a large round table.

Monday we had a free day which was so nice, it also meant that I was going to be able to see Taipei!! Gary and I spent the day going around being tourists which was so great! We started at 101 which is the 2nd or 3rd tallest building in the world now. We went to the top which was cool to see the city from above. We then headed to another part of the city where we ventured down some side streets, and just looked around. We searched for a temple which had been recommended but for the life of us could not figure out where it was, so we headed over to a memorial which was really cool, it had a concert hall and theater on either sides, it was enormous and spacious. We then headed up to some night markets which because it was not night yet were not in full swing but we got the idea. We then headed to another part of the city which was called the “zone” which were nice side streets, had lots of outdoor food markets. There was one street which had lots of outdoor bars which we were in search of that Gary had been to before, however when we finally found it they were not open yet so we headed to a different street to have dinner and some cold beers.
Tuesday was the first day of shooting, the studio was about 30 minutes away from our hotel so every morning we had a bus that took us there. We had a lounge area with a table couch, fridge another table which had food on it at all times (yikes!), this area was where we could do work while the shooting went on. Then above the lounge was where the band could hang out, make-up was done and small room for dressing and styling. Where the shooting took place was really big. The first day was a bit slow but this is because it was all new. The band called Da Mouth was really nice and funny not shy at all. They were really laid back but worked really hard. It was fun and interesting to talk and get to know them over the week, one was actually born in American San Francisco so he’s English of course was really good. We spent Tuesday-Saturday at the studio shooting 9am to 6 or 7pm. Then every night we went to dinner, we had hot pot, fusion, Taiwanese, and Japanese, all really good!! The last night we eat at a really nice Japanese restaurant where everyone had a really good time.
Over all the trip was really good, at times it was very frustrating not knowing mandarin because it was literally Christoph, Gary and I that didn’t know mandarin from Puma. Some people thought I understood it because I would just stand there and listen back and forth and I guess it looked like I knew exactly what was going on…which was not true! Sometimes if there is a lot of gestures thrown in with some English words I can figure it out ahah. But that is rare. The photographer (who was excellent at taking pictures I have to add), his assistant and the stylist and his assistant were from South Korea so they spoke English to everyone. Raymond was the stylist and was hilarious, we became good friends, and hopefully if I go to South Korea I can see him again.
Overall it was really fun and interesting to see a shooting take place, so many shots were taken, and it was interesting to see how one needs to show product/logo everything that goes into it! Saturday we shot all day, we had one big group photo at the end with everyone and then Angie and I literally ran out of the studio to the car that drove up quickly to the airport to catch our flight back to Hong Kong. I got back to my apartment around 12:30am took a shower and tried to bring myself to go out and meet up with friends for Halloween but failed and went to bed. So my first Halloween that has not been celebrated, in some ways sad but really no big deal. Now I feel the exhaustion, and have asian pop music constantly stuck in my head. Sunday I tried to sleep in as long as I could, did laundry and got my life back in order, Sunday night Tanja and I went for a drink on Knutsford Steps which is a great street which has restaurants and bars all outside, was nice to catch up after long week.
This week hopefully wont be to long, I will find out tomorrow if I will go back to Taiwan for the music video, all depends if Angie will need extra help, I hope I can go because it would be very fun and interesting to see as well! otherwise will do work in the office.
Alright that’s all for now, hope everyone is doing well and had a good Halloween!!
xoxox

---

---