Plush is for the posh. Since its opening last month, Plush has rendered the
stylistically comparable Room 18 last week's news. Leggy blonde models
hiding their faces under sunglasses and ultra hip hats can be found in the
corners as in Room 18, but Plush surpasses Room 18 in square footage and
frankly, it's plusher.
You won't find many people in denim standing around Plush's 10m-long bar, or
lounging in its oversized booths in the VIP room, where reservations go for
at least NT$8,000. Instead, the latest Prada shoes, Louis Vuitton bags and
Donna Karan designs adorn the fabulous faces and figures crowding into
Plush, where the atmosphere just exudes "Cool."
By no means are the crowds icy, though. The mainstream tunes keep the dance
floor full of party goers exchanging glances, giggles, and phone numbers.
The bar's wide selection of beverages, including unlisted specials such as
the "Plush Lady" (NT$300) and "Lamborghini" (NT$400) may be another reason
why everyone seems to be having such a grand time. Bartenders are quick to
serve up a variety of drinks starting at NT$200, and one is included with
the NT$600 cover charge on weekends. The cover is less, of course, if you
are one of the many famous young celebrities at Plush on a Friday or
Saturday night.
There will be no shortage of celebrities this evening in particular, as
Plush celebrates its grand opening with an invitation-only event. Doors will
open to the public after midnight, but prepare for a higher cover charge.
To get there, navigate the perplexing elevators in Core Pacific Mall to the
11th floor and, as the invite to the grand opening event reads, "dress hot." Plush is located at 138 Pate Rd., Sec. 4 in Taipei
(臺北市八德路四段138號11樓). For reservations, call (02) 3762-1600.
June 2 to June 8 Taiwan’s woodcutters believe that if they see even one speck of red in their cooked rice, no matter how small, an accident is going to happen. Peng Chin-tian (彭錦田) swears that this has proven to be true at every stop during his decades-long career in the logging industry. Along with mining, timber harvesting was once considered the most dangerous profession in Taiwan. Not only were mishaps common during all stages of processing, it was difficult to transport the injured to get medical treatment. Many died during the arduous journey. Peng recounts some of his accidents in
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) and the New Taipei City Government in May last year agreed to allow the activation of a spent fuel storage facility for the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門). The deal ended eleven years of legal wrangling. According to the Taipower announcement, the city government engaged in repeated delays, failing to approve water and soil conservation plans. Taipower said at the time that plans for another dry storage facility for the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) remained stuck in legal limbo. Later that year an agreement was reached
What does the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in the Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) era stand for? What sets it apart from their allies, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)? With some shifts in tone and emphasis, the KMT’s stances have not changed significantly since the late 2000s and the era of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) current platform formed in the mid-2010s under the guidance of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and current President William Lai (賴清德) campaigned on continuity. Though their ideological stances may be a bit stale, they have the advantage of being broadly understood by the voters.
In a high-rise office building in Taipei’s government district, the primary agency for maintaining links to Thailand’s 108 Yunnan villages — which are home to a population of around 200,000 descendants of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) armies stranded in Thailand following the Chinese Civil War — is the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC). Established in China in 1926, the OCAC was born of a mandate to support Chinese education, culture and economic development in far flung Chinese diaspora communities, which, especially in southeast Asia, had underwritten the military insurgencies against the Qing Dynasty that led to the founding of
RSS