La La Shan

Welcome to the Mountains
The overnight trip to LaLa Mountain was legendary.  It was great to have a trip with the group together and enjoy some great activities together. 
The drive to the mountain takes about three hours.  One of the students got carsick so we had to take him back to the dorm which added over an hour to the drive.  Thanks buddy.  Once we finally reached our destination, we could immediately tell how different the mountains are from the city.  The air is thinner and less humid.  It was also a little rainy and foggy so their were times when we were literally walking through the clouds. 
The first stop was a village where some of the Native Taiwanese people live.  They served us lunch of fresh whole fish and wild hog.  All the food had great flavors and we ate it straight with our hands.  After lunch we made a traditional dessert where you pound sticky rice into a thick paste and dip it in black sugar.  Very fun and delish.  After eating, people took turns singing songs from their native country.  Because we have such a diverse group, we heard songs from Taiwan, Vietnam, Kurdistan, Brazil, and India.  Next we took a tour of their christian church where Esther and Danny played some classical music in the sanctuary.  Finally, we toured the Elementary school where K-6 attend.  The school really focused on the local region.  They are extremely in tune with the nature around them.  They study local bugs and insects, grow local vegetation, and even have a lily pad pond to raise tadpoles.   I would have loved to go to school there.  Dr. Jih explained that because they are an aboriginal group, they receive more governmental funding which allows the school to do all it does and have such a low student to teacher ratio. 
Finally it was dinner time and we had a traditional Taiwanese dinner.  This is the 4th time I've been to a restaurant like this.  There is all you can eat rice, and then they bring out lots of dishes that are served family style.  Some of the common dishes are a whole fish, whole cooked shrimp, day lily soup, goat, bamboo, mushrooms, cabbage, roast duck or chicken, and lots more.  One of the difficult things to get used to is that the Taiwanese don't always have a drink with their meal.  Sometimes you get a small cup of tea, but whenever i would ask Dr. Jih if we could order a drink, he would say, "That's what your soup is for." haha. 
After dinner we all loaded up on snacks and went back to our rooms which were really awesome. It was amazing to get to sleep on a real mattress.  This was the only night that the girls and guys got to hang out past 11pm and get to know each other better.  I invented a sumo wrestling game that I'm thinking about bringing to the states. 
The next morning we woke up to have a traditional breakfast...but me and Becky had to have some real food so the cook make us toast, fried eggs, and peanut butter.  It's a good thing too because next we took a 10K trek across the mountain.  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  The main attraction of the LaLaShan nature preserve is the old trees.  They are giant trees ranging from 400-2800 years of age.   Literally some of the trees were around in 800BC which is unreal.  The United States has only been a country for more than 200 years so that tree was 14 times older than the USA.  WOW!!  Although there was a steep incline for the majority of the hike, the trails and stairs made it safe and easy to navigate. 
Some of the most interesting parts of the mountain is that the main crop is peaches.  There are peach stands everywhere.  The mountain is also home to a species of monkeys which love to eat peaches, so while we think monkeys are awesome, the farmers don't love them so much.  The peaches are delicious and quite expensive.  Along with just fresh produce, they make a variety of peach products.  One i tried was peach honey tea which was delicious.  The peach wine and liquor is a little on the strong side.

Hot or Not!!!

Things about Taiwan that are Amazeballs:
1. Bubble Tea - Tea that has these little chewy balls at the bottom made of sweet tofu.  so rad.
2. Night Market- You can buy everything here! Yeah, love it. 
3. People - The people here are so kind and will bend over backwards to make sure you get the full experience.  I seriously owe so many people but they won't ever allow me to pay them back. 
4. Adorable kids - Everyone here is gorgeous in general but the kids are cheek pinching adorable.  Especially if they are little nugget chubby faces.  PS - they are scared of giant blonde chicks. 
5. Skin protection - Guys and girls alike work hard to keep their skin white.  They wear sunblock, longsleeves, carry umbrellas, and even use skin whitening creams.  I know the reason isn't just to be healthy but i'm sure it's why most asians look so young!! 
6. Prices - Wow the cost of living here is amazing.  From what we have learned, most people save 40% of their income, pay for their kids college, and can still afford to live comfortably.  You can have an amazing multi course meal in a restaurant for around $4. 
7. Style - Everyone here dresses so cute.  There are a lot of bows, leggings, dresses, hats, giant glasses, floral prints, scrunchies, lace, and hilarious t-shirts.  Guys even carry murses. 

Things I could def live without:
1. Floor Toilets!!!  I don't get this.  Last time I went to Lowe's, toilets were like $40.  Why would you subject yourself to this mess?
2. Driving.  If you have road rage, don't come here.  Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way so you nearly get hit by a car or moped on a daily basis.  Also, no one stops unless there's a redlight. 
3. Humidity - It gets hot in the summer in the south, but you could cut through the air here with a butter knife. I think there is about 5% oxygen in the air. 
4. Stinky Tofu - This is hilarious to the Taiwanese...i guess they're used to the smell.  This is a real street food and it smells like ass. 
5. Wifi - All the FREE wifi here requires a login and password....ugh...where would i get this??
6. Sizes - It's really hard to find sizes in clothes other than small and extra small.  Not that I think you should cater to obesity like we do in America...but come on!!
7. The Bed Situation - Mattresses here a like a chunky comforter.  Not to sound like a brat, but you spend 1/3 of your life sleeping, why not go all out on a mattress??? 

Misc. Can't decide what I think of this stuff.  It could go either way.
1. Masks - Most of the time when people where a mask it's for good reason, they are sick and don't want others to catch it or they don't want to breathe in the exhaust from cars and mopeds.  It's still kinda hard to get used to though.
2. Health Inspection - There are some restaurants and other establishments that would not pass health codes in the US of A but we still ate there..and the food was good.

Night Market Syndrome

So most cities in Taiwan have a night market.  This is when people open up their stands in front of the normal stores in the street and sell food, clothes, souvenirs, accessories, just about everything you can think of.  It opens around 5pm every single day.  Being the shopaholics we are, Becky and I frequent the night market every single night until the very last second when we have to get back to our dorm for curfew at 11pm.  (PS - the night market is directly behind our dorm so it's a little too accessible.) 

Last night we were walking back to the dorm after dinner when Becky, who has a BS in microbiology so she's a legit scientist discovers the phenomenon of "Night Market Syndrome".  It's the urge you feel every night right before bed to go buy something, no matter what it is.  You must make a money transaction before you are locked into your dorm.  Becky's fix is a milkshake from Tip of the Iceberg, a dessert stand by our dorm, and Cosmed, and drugstore we also frequent.  Mine is usually any accessory with a bow or some black tea. 

Even if you don't need anything or couldn't possibly eat or drink another gram of food, you have the strongest urge to go buy something.  You'll find any excuse to make your way over to the night market to go buy something.  You find yourself digging through people's conversations, waiting for any chance to suggest visiting the night market. 

Examples:

Person #1 - "I bought my girlfriend a bracelet in Taipei 101.  What do you think of it?"

Me - "I need to buy some more souvenirs for my family.  I'm going into this shop real quick."

Person #2 - "Does anyone have plans tomorrow?"
Becky - "Hey do you want to go get a watermelon drink...I think I'm gonna go get one. Yeah I'm going." 

We're not sure what kind of treatment would work best for this illness.  Once we leave Taiwan, it will obviously be harder to find the types of goodies we have grown accustomed to here, and especially at such low prices.  I'm thinking about checking myself into rehab when we land in Nashville so I don't end up going broke or gaining another 50 lbs once i get home and am not confined to my home at 11 every night.  

I'm sure case studies and much more research will need to be done before this issue can be cured for good.  Good luck everyone.   

Fun Little Saturday

Saturday we visited some great landmarks in Taipei including the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, and Freedom square. 
The National Palace Museum was interesting because it showed art that is exclusive to Chinese Culture.  One of the wierdest things in the museum that is also probably the most famoust is the Jade Cabbage which is bok choy made out of solid Jade. 

From the museum, we headed over to Taipei 101 which is the tallest skyskraper in Taiwan.  It's over 101 stories tall.  Inside is a full mall that has every designer you can think of (just about).  I was able to land some Dolce & Gabanna flats for 60% off.  Best day so far. <3  Some of up bought tickets and rode the elevator to the top.  The elevator took us up to the 88th floor where there was a 360 inside observatory.  The elevator went so fast that my ears popped.  It only took about 40 seconds to go up more than 80 stories.  From the inside observatory, we took the stairs up to the 91st floor where there is an outside observatory.   This was a lot more fun.  There was a great breeze so we were able to stay up there a while and take tons of pics.  After all the shopping and site seeing, we finally ended up at Freedom Square. 

This is a great area with tons of asian style architecture and landscaping.  There were tons of locals and tourists walking around.  This is the square a lot of people go to to watch the countdown and fireworks at Taipei 101 just like Americans do at Times Square. 

Presentation for A Whole New Mind

Field Trips!!

Tuesday we went to Taipei and toured the Taipei Rapid Transit Co. and the Traffic Control Center.  Between the two, they control the metro system, buses, trains, bike rentals, ferries, parking systems, everything having to do with transportation in Taipei.  It was really interesting how smooth everything runs, and how dedicated they are to lowering their carbon footprint.  On the videos we watched, they said about 45% of all citizens use public transportation to get around.  That's amazing!  I would totally take the bus to work but it would take about 90 minutes each way, and really not be any cheaper than paying for gas..so if you ask me that's not a great system.
Here's a more detailed account of this field trip if you're REALLY interested in public transportation.  http://bachungli.pbworks.com/Classwork#

We also visited some other places like Taipei's tallest (or maybe longest) bridge called the Valentine's Bridge.  The legend says that if you walk over it with your significant other, you will break up.  How romantic.  Here's my lovely artsy shot of the bridge. We went to a really large night market and also for a ferry ride.  My favorite part: seeing the Turkish Ice Cream man.  He was all big and sweaty and was singing and serving up ice cream from a long stick.  Then Danny, our Taiwan guide and amazing cat says, "Oh yes, that is Turkish ice cream man, he will do tricks for you". So sweet. 

Anywho, Today we visited Hsinshu Science park which is kinda like Silicon Valley in California.  It's like an all inclusive city where all the businesses are high tech companies.  This park alone developed over $27 billion on revenue last year, which was actually a 20% drop from the previous year due to the economy.  All the industries there fall into 6 categories:

• Integrated Circuits
• Computers and Peripherals
• Telecommunications
• Optoelectronic
• Precision Machinery
• Biotechnology

Some of the companies you might recognize are Acer, Logitech, and Dupont.  The reason the city of Hsinchu was chosen over other areas is because of the universities which also call the city home.  These universities filter graduates into the companies.  Most awesome thing developed there: the computer chip that was created for Furbies. 

First Impressions

The first impression of Taiwan is that the people here couldn't be nicer or more helpful.  I'm learning a lot about hospitality...and I thought the southerners were supposed to be hospitable.  We've been included and invited to outings with our classmates and people we met at the Chungli Toastmasters club.  Last night we went to a Bowling Alley, Arcade, Batting cages, and Restaurant with a group of 20 made up of MTSU, PSU, CYCU, and Toastmasters.  Not only did they drive us around so we wouldn't have to pay for a taxi, but they kept buying us arcade tokens so we could play all the games we wanted.  On the right is the photo of our group at the restaurant.  There were over a dozen different dishes for us to try. 

Some other funny things i noticed is there is a 7 Eleven on EVERY corner.  They aren't gas stations, just convenient stores.  Other than the random McDonald's or Burger King, the American influence is a little more subtle.  Most of the music is imported from the US, and the majority of people's clothes have English writing on them but Chinese is definitely the most prevalent.  The photo on the left is one of my favorites.  It took us a few minutes to figure out this is a movie theatre.  All the posters look almost hand painted instead of the standard movie posters we're used to.  See if you can figure out which movies they are advertising.  As a Mass Communications major, I am trying to relate experiences here back to communications and the media. I still need a research paper topic!! 

All in all it has been a good trip.  The heat and humidity are out of this world uncomfortable.  You're are drenched in sweat from the moment you step outside.  I've had trouble with communication.  I didn't bring a laptop...my cell phone broke....I can't figure out how to use my phone cards....and i can't find wifi for my ipod very often. Other than that....things are good. It's just a very different culture but all the obstacles are worth the reward. 

Check it out, we all have matching polo's! haha

Taiwan Idol

I hope I get to meet this kid.  He sings better than Whitney Houston.