Chuck Taylor by venitha

Jim's trademark Chuck Taylor tennies are all the rage in Taiwan. In an excessiveness worthy of America, a girl in Taipei sported ultra super extreme high tops, pale pink and flowered, as the perfect complement to the Hello Kitty ornament dangling from her handphone.

Jim, a budding Hercule Poirot thanks to the Agatha Christie novel he'd just finished, pointed out Chuck Taylor tracks in the damp ground leading up to a shrine in Taroko Gorge. "And they aren't mine!" he said triumphantly, holding up and wiggling his hiking boot-clad foot. A t-shirt and jeans kinda guy, he's inordinately proud of his new role as fashionista.

Jim's Chuck Taylors, of course, come from the US, as we've found nowhere here that stocks his size. We've been laughed at, or to be more accurate, Jim's feet have been laughed at, when we've inquired at shoe stores in myriad southeast Asian countries.

Of course, Singapore's weather is hard on shoes, but have no fear. Just as I'm preparing to toss Jim's yellow tennies down the rubbish chute when he isn't looking, his mother will arrive bright and early tomorrow morning (12:43am!) with a new pair. I bought them months ago on ebay, the US incarnation, where size 12's abound, and had them shipped to Marilyn for Christmas hand delivery. I don't remember what color they are, but somehow I doubt they're pale pink and flowered. Bummer.

venitha