Typhoon - Jangmi

New typhoon, Jangmi is gonna hit Tainan, Taiwan ETA 28th Sep (Sunday) afternoon time. This is gonna be the third typhoon I'll encounter. The typhoon occurrence frequency seems to be pretty high lately, where almost every week there's a typhoon alert. And that's not it, words that this will be the strongest typhoon Taiwan has ever encountered in the past few years.

As you can see, the eye of the typhoon is already on top of Taiwan at the time of posting (picture taken from Typhoon report). This will be accompanied by strong wind (I mean really STRONG wind!) and heavy rainfalls. Trees fly, roofs fly, people fly, pigs fly, everything gets wet and messy outside. And nobody wanna be outside that very moment. Who knows one might get hit by a flying cow. In short, it is really-very-extremely dangerous during typhoon storms.

Satellite view.

Having experienced the previous two, I've stockpiled enough food for at least 1-2 days, just in case. Known that there's this poisoned milk powder (contaminated with melamine, causes kidney stones) crisis, I've got everything without milk powder. Though the Taiwanese health ministry has already cleared out the contaminated products, which means those on the racks now are safe to consume, I'd rather wait a lil longer. Tons of food products were affected, from biscuits, instant packed drinks, Taiwan famous pearl milk tea, breads and etc. Wtf...wtf...wft!

Assorted instant noodles & biscuits.

Come, you s.o.b. typhoon. I am ready. Muahaha...

Disclaimer: I won't complain too much if Monday is declared holiday though. *wink*


Updates: Monday, 29th Sep is now declared holiday (no need to work, yay!) since the storm is getting bigger with increasing wind velocity in Tainan county. The place will be on red alert until tomorrow late evening. Ah...get to camp for another day.

Big Boys' Toys

It should have been called Otaku's heaven. But since Otaku directly means 100% nerd crap as seen on TV, so I think it would better be called big boys' shop...or whatever. Contrary to popular belief, those of us who dig toys, are also capable of beating shit out of people in real life. So, yeah, you get the drift. *evil laugh*

Anyways, knowing that the toys in Taiwan are way cheaper than those back home, I found my way to one of the famous toys + boutiques plaza of some sort - Wan Nian commerce plaza at Ximenting, Taipei. It is a good combo where one could bring his girl friend or wife or mum to shop for fashionable items/clothes while he hunts his stuff (toys!).

Wan-nian Commerce plaza at Ximenting

Inside this dome of treasures, you'll find assorted model kits (Gundams!!! lots of them!), fans of the Fett (if you watched Star Wars, you gotta know Boba Fett! come on...) would find their little shrine, and tons of figurines. I'm not sure bout other kits but seriously, the Gundams here are damn cheap! If you are hunting for Gundam kits, you should never miss this place.

Oh, and not forgetting firearms! Fake ones of course. Airguns, BB guns, replicas, kevlars, Camo shirts...man, I wish I could ta-pao (buy and take away) the whole shop. The shop name is kinda hillarious, the translated name is called Hero's inn or something.

From Colt .45 Magnum, MP5 & variations, AK-47 & variations, M4 Carbine, pump action shot guns, Springfield rifles, Barrett .50 Cal sniper rifle, famous AWP sniper rifle, Dragunov sniper rifle, mini guns, LMGs (Light Machine Gun), RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher, but it looks more like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter's ZEUS Anti-Tank device to me) to Alien vs Predator human rifle as seen in AvP games! The coolest thing is there was a hot chick getting a Berreta or Glock pistol (not too sure bout the final ones she got). OMGWTF!

However I didn't take pics of other hobby shops as they are not very appealing. We hobbyist do not give a damn anyways, 'cause we know with greater power, err...design comes greater responsiblity (cost!).

The best real example is this Gundam Base Taipei in K-Mall. It took me a while to flip-zoom my digital map a couple of times, cause there's no sign saying K-mall outside of the building! Dang. Here you will see 3 huge ass Gundams around 8-9 feet tall at the main entrance of this shop. It is more likely a Gundam museum though.

Rows and rows of assembled MG Gundams on the racks and there's even a corner for fans to watch latest Gundam anime series projected on a wall. It was indeed a spectacular sight.

Rows of Gundams & villains. Caught two Zakus on the cashier counter.

The sad thing is, as mentioned, with this sort of huge showcase and "official" thingy, you won't expect things to come cheap. The model kits sold here are with hefty prices. The Shin Musha Gundam I was hunting for costs around NTD2000+! WTF.

Given no choice, I fast snapped some pics of this amazing Gundam Base (with amazing prices) and squeezed my way back to Wan-Nian plaza which is located one MRT station away. Luckily I was quick enough to snatch one of the few MG Shin Musha left among the shops! I remembered there were still many units when I first entered Wan-Nian bout 1-2 hours ago before going to K-Mall. This kit was selling out darn fast! I was told to wait till next day for new stocks to replenish. Whew, that was close.

There, my haul. NTD1200 (RM130+) MG Shin Musha with special parts separating tool and a limited edition poster. And one NTD300 (RM30++) HG Dynames for my lil bro. It was a nice deal.

Will be getting myself another gundam, a MG Zaku II Ver.2 06J or 06F (NTD800+, around RM90+) on my next trip to this shop. *grin*...I'll have my complete Gundam vs villain gunpla then. Wahahah...