Travel companions come in many shapes and sizes, and they can sometimes be the making of a truly memorable holiday. For a traveler who enjoys nothing better than wandering the nooks and crannies of large cities looking for a bargain, Suzy Gershman might well seem an ideal companion. The creator of Frommer's Born to Shop series, she is a veteran of malls, markets, boutiques and bistros across the world. Last week she passed through Taipei to compile a segment that will be incorporated into a new edition of Born to Shop: Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, scheduled to hit bookshelves next year.
Lounging on the sofa in her suite at Taipei's Ritz Landis hotel, Gershman outlined the busy couple of days she planned to spend in the city before heading off to Bangkok. A huge stack of travel books, in both English and Chinese, lay piled on the coffee table, ready to be posted back for research. There wouldn't be time for much - foot massage, hot springs, night markets, the textile market, paper museum and Taipei 101 where already on the itinerary, and she might take in a couple of other recommended destinations during her stay.
Suzy Gershman traces her roots as a shopping guru back to her childhood. "My father always said he began this career. He was a chairman of WHO and he would travel to Geneva once a month for his meetings and we would then be out and about traveling to different countries around the world. He would give me a quarter and say 'See what you can buy for this.' And in those days you could buy something for a quarter - something decent. I suppose that's where the game of it started."
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES
A trained journalist who worked with Time and People magazines, she brings a lifetime of shopping and traveling experience to her current work, but still enjoys the challenge of finding a bargain, "learning what makes value, what are the different elements that go into something."
She has since parlayed that into a career that takes her around the world virtually every year, updating and adding to her Born to Shop series.
Asia is not new to Gershman, who first published Born to Shop: Hong Kong back in 1984, when the series, which included London, France and Italy, was first launched. But while Hong Kong back then was no more than an Asian outpost of Europe, the emphasis has now shifted, and as a reflection of this, Beijing and Shanghai were added to the Hong Kong volume in 1996. Since then, the Pearl River Delta and Hanoi have been included, and now a chapter to be titled "Weekend in Taipei" will be included in the new edition for release next year.
THE SEARCH
If it were not for the chance discovery of Shiatzy Chen's fashions while researching her Shanghai book, Taipei may well have continued to languish in Born to Shop oblivion.
"I had a group in Shanghai last Christmas, and we were on the Bund and there was a Shiatzy Chen store there, right on the Bund, and we are just all crazy for the store, and then we discover that the designer is from Taiwan. And so that made me interested.... And when United [Airlines] began their nonstop [flights to Taipei], that was it, we were going to Taipei," Gershman said. (United Airlines launched a nonstop passenger and cargo service between San Francisco and Taipei in June this year. It is currently the only major US carrier to operate this route nonstop.)
But while it was couture that brought Gershman to Taiwan in the first instance, it is not her main focus. Instead, she was heading off to the Yongle Textile Market (永樂市場) to check out good prices on textiles, and said that another item of particular interest would be prescription spectacles. "[I] did some research on having glasses made here, and that's a very good price compared to what you pay in America."
She is also very big on just looking around for "fun stuff" and had high hopes for Taipei's night markets.
"There is lots of fun little stuff in China. We are living in the age of the thousand-dollar handbag, so that it is understood you are looking to buy fun stuff. I hope the night markets [in Taipei] will have plenty to offer."
TAIPEI'S OFFERINGS
Such discoveries as these are incorporated into her chatty and highly personal take on a city or region. The style is an extension of Gershman's writing for magazines such as Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast France, and does not aim to replicate the factual density of The Lonely Planet or The Rough Guide. Intrepid adventurers eager to get off the beaten track as quickly as possible may not be impressed, but Gershman's sales figures indicate an audience more than happy with promtings to look beyond the malls for something a little more exotic - though nothing that will put you beyond your comfort zone.
Gershman describes her target audience as "the same person who would read Travel and Leisure magazine. They have got some money, but they are very concerned with value for money."
Such an audience, Gershman believes, would respond well to Taipei, because you are able to get an exotic feeling, but without too much discomfort and inconvenience. Her first impressions:
"It is so simple. I've been going to China for years and know Hong Kong really well. Compared to Hong Kong being overwhelming, frightening, this is like everything made friendly. It's easy, it's not overwhelming... ."
Having been in the city just over a day when she spoke to the Taipei Times, Gershman was already able to comment on what she regards as a state of denial in Taiwan about China's tourism development. "It's like the emperor's new clothes," she said, speaking about the gift shop at the National Palace Museum, which she dismisses as being unable to compete with museum gift shop at the Shanghai Museum.
"It was, oh my god, but nobody would say it ... Nobody would mention Shanghai," she said.
"The merchandise there [in the Shanghai Museum] is varied and very creative. The merchandise here, I don't know if it is a buyer, or a sales person, who has trapped someone, but they got into a couple of concepts, like 3-D, so half the merchandise is 3-D, so it is not just post cards that jump out at you, but the backs of mirrors, ... So there is lots of this junk that is not amusing."
It is strong opinions like these that Gershman regards as her stock in trade.
"One of the things I'm known for is for very strong opinions. I won't say what is polite, ... so people feel they can trust me. It is a personal series. It is a personal business. What I'm trading on is me."
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