Location | Taipei

It’s been a year since I’ve been back to Taipei, so I’m finally back and I’m so happy!! Other than that, let’s talk about one of the best weeks I’ve had in a long time.

So, on Sunday last week I went to Kaohsiung to start orientation for the Taiwan Tech Trek (TTT). Seriously, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time. Let’s go day by day…

Sunday, June 26, 2005
So I arrive by Train in Kaohsiung to find tons of people waiting in front of the 7-11 for the TTT to take us to the Ambassador Hotel. So I ended up talking to a girl named Carrie (and later on the bus also to John and Eric… to be mentioned more later). We get to the hotel which is REALLY NICE. I end up in room 903 and my roommate’s name is Diana. Anyway, I’m in group 9, bus C. Oh, I found Jonny there and we actually were down waiting for the bus, and then we disappeared, missed the first bus, had to wait for the second one and finally got to National Sun Yat Sen University (NSYSU) where I met the rest of my group (or most of the rest of my group). There’s Stella, our group leader who is a student at NSYSU. Then Karen, Angel, Chi, Ray, Martin, Tiffany, Esther, and James. So anyway, we get an orientation about NSYSU and about the program and some information about health in Taiwan. We all get shuffled off to eat dinner and do some ice breakers. The dinner was outside (so hot!) but we got to see the sun set and also enjoy a nice, I guess, Hawaiian style dinner. Anyway, we listened to some speeches, played 2 truths and a lie and then went back to the hotel, where I just slept (waah too tired).

Monday, June 27, 2005
First we had a lecture on Taiwan and kind of some of its history. (It was really boring cuz the lecturer was so dull). Then we had a Celebrity Panel with Dr. Perry Shieh and Philip Wu. Those were both interesting. Perry and Philip ended up chilling with us later. Anyway, we went to lunch, and then to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering to listen to another lecture. Finally we went to Yuan-Heng Temple, which was really nice. Very traditional Buddhist temple – no incense!! (Well I guess its like my grandparent’s temple). Afterwards, we had dinner and then we listened to 2 more celebrity panels. I had broken my cell phone (oops, wrong access code and I broke the sim card, but luckily it was fixed). So I went to this shopping district with a bunch of the girls, James, Perry and Philip and our tour guides. That was a lot of fun.

Buddhist Temple

Tuesday, June 28, 2005
First, a Taiwanese lesson, Lunch, Celebrity Panel, and a Harbor Tour, then Dinner. I was super dehydrated on the ship, and almost felt like throwing up, luckily I got water when we got the shore. Too bad the shore smelled like the island of poop (rotten fish). This was just a bad day cuz I felt horrible. Very under the weather. When we got back to the hotel I went to Family Mart with Diana (my roommate) and bought a ton of stuff. Then I went back to the room, did my laundry, and then went to sleep.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
We had a mandarin lesson and then a speech on foreign policy. I agreed with the speech, but it does seem very one-sided (cuz they’re dpp promoted speeches), so a lot of people had issues with the speeches. We went to lunch, then off to Sandimen Aboriginal Cultural Park. There we got to see a cute show of the aboriginals and their dances. We also got to participate. Then we went and saw a musical instrument presentation of the Thao tribe. We got Thao tattoos on our faces too (pictures to be seen soon). Afterwards we went off to the Caesar Park Hotel in Kenting. We had to do interviews at dinner though, which took FOREVER. Luckily we still went out to their night market and looked at all the little trinkets. Then I just sleeeppttt.

Aboriginal Park

Thursday, June 30, 2005
So we ended up going on a walking tour (yes in the heat) at Kenting. We walked around the forest. I even climbed into a 500 year old tree. Then we saw a tree that looked like there were planks growing out of it.

National Rainforest

Anyway, after that we didn’t have time to see anymore of the park, so we went to lunch, then to the Aquarium. There I played in the water (so much fun!!!) and then we took lots of picture and my butt ended up soaked cuz… SOME PEOPLE (*glare*) like to splash other people. Anyway, then we went and saw the marine animals. Its cool cuz the tanks are all tunnels so you can see all the fish all around you. Soo niceee! We got to see a Beluga poop (ok, that wasn’t exciting). I got a cute keychain at the gift shop. Then we walked around the Taiwan fish part, didn’t go see the beluga show (too crowded). I got to touch a sea urchin… I screamed tho. It recoiled… when I touched it and the fact that it looks like one of those dog chew toys, yet it moves, freaks the crap out of me. Oh, I got to see penguins too!!! I <3 penguies, they’re so cute. I remember, that was my favorite display at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and its always been one of my favorite things. After the Aquarium, we came back to Kaohsiung, had dinner, and then we were in the Splendor Hotel. Which is ONE OF THE NICEST HOTELS I’ve ever stayed in (almost as nice as the one in Luxembourg… mmm $400/night goodness, thank god for company expense accounts). Anyway, the bathroom had a separate shower and tub. Oh, so I went out to the night market with a bunch of people. I won a cute little duck in the claw games (tho I had to play plenty of other games before I got to the duck). I also got my secret gift for my friend, and I had fun bargaining with the night market people. I’m more excited to bargain in Taipei, more things to bargain for!!! Anyway, so after the night market, we got back and I took a bath (omg, so nice… I haven’t had a bath in sooo long). Then I conked out and went to sleep.

Making Shamu Fly

Friday, July 1, 2005
The next day we went out to Tainan to see the Tainan Science Park. It wasn’t too interesting, but its nice to hear Taiwan is doing so well. I’m not too interested in science stuff (unless its electronics itself). Then we had a tour on our bus of the science park, then off to lunch, then to historical sites around Tainan. It is WAAAYYYY too hot in Tainan. Our tour guide in Tainan had the worst teeth I’ve ever seen (even worse than the black teeth of the waitress in Toronto!). Sometimes I’m glad that I own my lovely spinbrush pro. It makes me feel so … clean and healthy. Anyway, so after that we went off to another site, which was even more hot. Bad idea to wear capris. Everything was sticking to me. Then we came back to the hotel, where I showered and prepared for the goodbye party (by dressing up). The goodbye party was cute, they had traditional instrumental performers. Then we had dinner and a talent show. Our group didn’t do anything for the talent show . We participated in the shrimp eating contest though… tho we didn’t win, it was crazy. Every single meal this past week had shrimp in it!!! So… woohoo for shrimp eating contest. Well, some of our group snuck out early to go get Stella’s gift. We ended up buying a stuff elephant, and later bought a scrapbook and ribbon. James gave us one of his undershirts so we could put a shirt on the elephant that said “9” and “Stella” on it. So she’d always remember our group. Hehehe… I have pics of James wearing the cut off shirt. Well, everyone went to Karaoke (uhh,.. like a whopping 30 people… ) I miss my big and his Jay Chou love and always knowing all the songs. Hehehe… Anyway, back to the point. James and I watched some Wimbledon, then he left and I watched some more, then some MTV (ahhh, MTV is so great here), and then

[Eu-chan is having a heart attack right now, we’ll be back after these messages]

ok, anyway, I just ended up going to sleep.

Saturday, July 2, 2005
So we end up going to Mei-non Hakka Villages near Tainan (or something like that) and we didn’t do much there. They did custom make mugs with our names on them… yay! After that, we went to lunch and then I presented Stella with our elephant gift. It was our last meal together as a group. (Aahhh!! I miss you guys already). Anyway, we all took some pictures and then went our separate ways. Angel and I sat together up to Taipei. Long ride. Finally, I’m in Taipei at my aunt’s house. I’ll talk more about it later in another entry. This is my “short” version of the events. There’s lots of funny stories and nice things to say about TTT and how much I really loved the trip and really appreciated everything that’s happened so far.

TTT Group 9

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]