My Taiwan trip.

It's been awhile since my last blog post. I have been busy these days that my therapeutic activity, blogging like this, has been put aside. It dawned on me when I saw the date in the my last post - it's been two weeks. The last entry was on May 9.

Well, on May 11-15, I was in Taiwan. I went with a group of technical people for university visits: National Sun Yat Sen University, Kaoshiung University of Applied Sciences, and Cheng Shiu University - all in Kaoshiung, Taiwan.

On Day 1, we went to the National Sun Yat Sen University - a huge university near the coast. This we did right after a few minutes of unloading at our hotel. What impressed me with NSYSU is their electric power saving strategy. It was as simple as requiring the students to take the stairs instead of the elevator. And the students do not complain. This made me recall the faces of our students back home and their complaints when the elevator in our school gets malfunctioned.

The NSYSU Campus. The building behind is the Library.

After this first university visit, we had our first night market shopping. Since I forgot to bring some shirts for this trip, I bought two shirts for myself and one blouse. My comapnions got some souvenirs for their loved ones. What I loved with this night market were the authentic Taiwanese food and stuff sold all over the street. I did not try any of the food though :-(

At the KUAS campus, in front of its Library.

Our Day 2 in Kaoshiung was the most memorable one for almost all of us. In the morning, we visited National Kaoshiung University of Applied Sciences. After that, we had lunch at the traditional Taiwanese restaurant. Then we went back to our hotel to change for an island-hopping activity. Indeed we went to another island by boat, and that boat ride lasted for about three minutes. Yes, you read it right - three minutes! What was funny was that we

were geared for an island tour thinking that we would dip in a white beach water.

However we were in for a great suprise -we would be biking our way to the lighthouse to watch the sunset! And there we we went! We biked and hiked to the lighthouse! We biked and hiked to the sunset!

Hiking to the lighthouse!

And since I am petite, I would't want to go on a kid's bike; so I biked in tandem with our Taiwanese host. So did my other two female companions. The experience was indeed awesome!

After biking, we proceeded for our second night market experience. This night market, which was different from the first one, sold some western-inspired stuff. Hence, it did not appeal to many of us. The stuff there can be found in our own 168 and Divisoria mall here in Manila.

Day 3 was the most fantastic! I was fascinated by the latest technologies at Cheng Shiu University. When we got there, we were greeted by men in coat and tie. It was such a formal occasion. Then we were toured all over the campus most especially to their IT and engineering laboratory. Then, the MOU signing between our school and CSU ensued, which was appropriately followed by a sumptuous lunch.

At CSU, after our Library visit.

In the afternoon, we went to the supermarket to grab some Taiwanese delicacies for our loved ones back home.

Looking back, I was amazed at how the CSU students seriously take their studies of the English language. Their Language Training Center was superb! I'd like our English Resource Center here to be like that!

Picture-taking under the rain in Taipei.

Rainy Taipei was the highlight of our Day 4 in Taiwan. Taipei is five-hour bus ride and two-and-a-half bullet train ride from Kaoshiung. In order to give ourselves an experience, we got on the bus going to Taipei and a bullet train ride on our way back to Kaoshiung. It was indeed fun for us in Taipei though the sun hid the whole day. For most of us, walking under the rain in raincoat and umbrella is an experience that we do not have in Manila.

Walking under the rain in Taipei.

So we basked into the experience of walking, train ride, gondola ride and walking again. My pedometer that day told me that we walked for a total of 14 kilometers! Whew!

It was a lazy Sunday morning for us on Day 5. We got up a bit later than the previous days, and we packed our things to be ready for our flight back home in the evening.

Packing for home.

At 12 noon, we were picked up by Peithe, our indefatigable tour guide and brought us to have lunch in a small resto that serve delicious duck meal. But what I liked most of our Day 5 was the trip to "bagsakan", where I got two trinkets and two beautiful bags! Thank you, Peithe! This "bagsakan" trip made my Taiwan trip complete.

All in all, our Taiwan trip was both successful and enjoyable. But its real success can only be measured by the research output that our university can produce as a result of this five-day Taiwan exposure trip.