Monday, May 27, 2013

Our Night in the Batcave

 photo 484835_10151681833246202_2067246176_n.jpg

I know, I know, I've become an unreliable blogger. Eventually that will end - I hope it'll be soon. For now...sorry!

But I am working on a longer blog post featuring thoughts from other women in Taiwan; I've just been lazy about adding quotes and hitting "Publish".

For now, please enjoy these wonderful photos from our night in Kaohsiung's famous "Batman Room" in the Eden Exoticism Hotel.

Some info:

Eden Hotel
(some English info)
#1685 Yucheng Rd., Gushan Dist. Kaohsiung
高雄市鼓山區裕誠路1685號 - about 1.5 km from MRT Aozhidi near the north end of Kaohsiung (NT150 or so from HSR Zuoying Station, depending on traffic and time of day, 24-hour restaurants nearby and they have room service)
(07)974-0888 - ask for the "Batman Room" (#315), or 蝙蝠俠的房間


 photo 293002_10151681833371202_1515539696_n.jpg

Ignore the prices listed - we got this place from 8pm-10am with free (mediocre, but edible) breakfast for NT$3600, or about USD$120, and I called the night before. This is a straight-up love hotel, with decorated suites in a variety of, eh, tastes...some more tasteful than others. Don't even ask me about the wall decal of the anthropomorphic, curvaceous tiger lady in the Jungle Room. It's better that you see for yourself, or that you just don't know.

You can watch TV on the LCD screen set into the cut-out bat here (there's another TV behind glass mounted near the jacuzzi). Good selection of free hot and cold drinks. All channels, including some you didn't want to know existed.

 photo 970336_10151681831271202_1678623335_n.jpg

Batman is everywhere in this room - on mirrors, as cut-outs, on posters, behind the bed, as curtain-like decorations, on the ceiling. It's really something.

It was great, because I didn't tell Brendan I was booking this room - which I heard about from a link a friend posted on Facebook. I just booked it and let him see for himself.

"Clearly you booked a love motel," he said as he walked in (he arrived in Kaohsiung long after I did as I was down there in the morning for business). There is a discreet parking spot with garage door for every room, you see, and that just screams "love motel".

...and then he walked in, and his face went from

:-)

to

O_O

to

OoO

to

 (((o(*゚▽゚*)o)))

...it was really amazing to see.

 photo 969009_10151681831541202_1817822889_n.jpg

What I loved were the details. Somebody clearly put a lot of thought into this room - from the bat cut-outs to the etched-glass bats to the bat toys and decoration to the die-cut bats adorning the desk and front of the bed (and that lovely velveteen Batman headboard) to the drop-ceiling and wall mood-lit Batman scenes. And it was comfortable and clean.

 photo 579301_10151681832221202_802831015_n.jpg

...there was even a replica Batmobile...well...it was made of plywood with one velveteen bench seat, but still. I am sure someone has gotten busy in there. Brendan made sure to sit in there and move his hands like he was driving and go "vroom vroom!" just for the hell of it. This is why I married him.
 photo 944198_10151680043361202_130581810_n.jpg

 photo 968784_10151681832491202_1104143867_n.jpg

...by the way, the chair next to the Batmobile? Yeah. They say that's a massage chair. It isn't. Brendan still sat there checking his e-mail.

 photo 936977_10151681832666202_1896409553_n.jpg

Some of the decorations, um, I'm not sure "Batman" would necessarily put them in his Batcave.

 photo 294197_10151681832721202_462223407_n.jpg

 photo 969761_10151681832751202_858725422_n.jpg

Especially the ones over the jacuzzi, behind the TV.

 photo 942576_10151681832941202_1201291327_n.jpg

...and as you may note, the jacuzzi is open, so only share this room with friends if you are really tight, like "it's OK to see each other naked" tight. The toilet is also open. It's in another room but there's no door, only a metal bead "curtain" that obscures nothing. I guess some people are into that sort of thing?

One of my friends said "I should book this room and let my kids stay there. They'd love it!"

"You may want to hide the toiletries."

 photo 294244_10151681833241202_619778288_n.jpg

"It's OK, their reading isn't the best!"

(The condoms are "Love Cats" brand from Malaysia. I think they're trying to imply something like two happy kittens with a cartoon heart or whatever, but all I can picture are two randy cats in an alley screeching at 2am. No thanks).

Also, Batman is quite the fan of silk flowers:

 photo 936229_10151681833601202_1473906023_n.jpg

 photo 941532_10151681833686202_1446998508_n.jpg

...just, trust me on the chair.

As I waited for Brendan to arrive, I took a fantastic jacuzzi bath in the really swank bath area, and watched Iron Man (the first one) on the glass-encased TV. I had grabbed a beer from 7-11 so I was all set to go. Iron Man has some funny moments, so at one point I guffawed - and choked on my beer. Obviously I was fine, but it got me thinking: what would the news media say if a foreigner (say, me) were found dead in a jacuzzi from choking on beer in a Batman-themed love hotel room?

Worst way to go...or best way to go??

 photo 293056_10151681834096202_1468186621_n.jpg

Brendan: "I am sure the Taipei Times would report most of the details."

Jenna: "Apple Daily would draw a cartoon showing the scene of the accident."

Brendan: "I think we both know it's inevitable that you're going to end up in the gossip section of a newspaper that routinely prints cartoons of the previous day's horrific murder on the front page."