Taiwan and Japan trip ^^

Bye bye JCMU, bye bye Hikone! (23/5/09)

2009-05-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

We are leaving tomorrow morning back to Michigan and myself, I want to stay longer! All of us said "Arigatougozaimasu" to JCMU staff and students who has help us out alot during our stay in Japan sincerely. I hope that I can come back to Japan to visit JCMU in the future! Here is a brief summary for today

One sad news is that my laptop is broken. The screen is a blend of white, pink and black. I really don’t know what happened to it, I never smash or drop it anywhere!
Our last scenic spot in Hikone, Japan is Hikone Castle.

Arriving here early, we had time to try Octopus cake, which is very delicious to me.

Back to the castle, this is a very beautiful place. For the first time in my life, I get to observe Japanese architecture with my own eyes. The landscape around this castle gives me a sense of calmness. I also read about the history of the Hikone Castle more online. I learn that its construction was begun in 1603, by Ii Naokatsu, son of the former lord, Ii Naomasa, but was not completed until 1622. Naokatsu's lands had been taken from him in the interval by the Tokugawa shogunate, and when his brother Naotake assumed control of Omi Province, he was able to complete the castle by collecting stones from the former Sawayama Castle. When the Meiji period began in 1868, many castles were scheduled to be dismantled and only a request from the emperor himself, touring the area, kept Hikone Castle intact. Today it remains one of the oldest original-construction castles in Japan. This is a brief history of the Castle.

We were so lucky to meet Hikonyan today and took a group picture with him.

We had lunch with two JCMU staff and received our certificates from JCMU. We also share memories through the trip with the professors and other students. Mine were my first time riding a bike and water rafting.

We spent a night at AP Hotel in Osaka. Everybody was wearing a mask due to the swine flu outbreak in here so I am a little afraid. I took out the mask to wear it but it was not comfy because I couldn't breath.

Monzer, Ellina, Suyash, Fatima and I discovered Osaka area near the airport at night. In Osaka, there were more crowded than Hikone at night. People are out on the street a lot. We have to wake up early tomorrow to fly to Tokyo so we need to get back soon.

During this trip, I lost my jacket, lost 1000NT, my laptop is broken...But still, I still enjoy this trip a lot. It is really memorable to me when I learn two new cultures, visit new places, make good friendship, build more strength in me and trying different things. It has helped broadening my mind and gaining my knowledge.

Once again,
Thank you, Xiaxia ni and Arigatougozaimasu!

Last day in Hikone (22/5/09)

2009-05-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

We visited Motomachi Toyota plant in Nagoya and here, we are not allowed to take pictures. Motomachi plant is fore manufacturing Crown, Mark X and Estima model of Toyota. I remember a fact that 80 percent of government tax collect from Toyota. This is a very big name in car industry and I think this is where the Japanese car industry started. I got to see how they put a car together at welding and assembly stage, as they have different process from stamping to welding, painting to assembly.

Japanese line-production system is more specific in term of compartmentalization. Every part of a Japanese car was made very careful. Japanese carmakers focus more on quality over quantity and they also have a high technology. Then we also came to Toyota museum where a car showroom of all models of Toyota and Lexus’s car. We took a lot of picture here in the Lexus

After the Nagoya trip to Toyota plant, we came back to JCMU. Some of us decided to go out to eat sushi as it was the last night in Hikone. It was my first time eating at a sushi train where we pick the plate we want, we can order some more ourselves. It was 90yen per plate (2 pieces of sushi) which is quite cheap compare to some Japanese restaurant that I have dinned in. The food was delicious!

I love trying new food and I was so happy to try “Nato” even though it was the most difficult dish I ever ate. It is a fermented bean and quite sticky and a little bit stinky. It sticks right at the throat and quite hard to swallow. I tried to finish the two pieced of nato sushi even though I don’t like it at all because if I throw of the food, I feel that I disrespect the culture. And in my culture, it is rude to leave food behind so I always try to finish my plates as much as possible.

We went to play bowling after dinner. We had a lot of fun. It has been years since my last bowling game and I had a lowest score in 2 games. I was a little bit upset. I think I need to practice more on my skills and play with my friend next time in the States. I hope that if I keep on practicing, I would score higher.

Here in Hikone, I tried to ride the bike when hanging out with others at night yesterday. I was scared at the beginning because I don’t ride it fluently. Our friend’s house was a little far from JCMU but I made it. I was so happy that I did. If I wasn’t on this trip, I would never think that I can ride a bike outside the house honestly. I am glad that I make a small difference!

1 day exploring Hikone (21/5/09)

2009-05-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

Our Osaka field trip was cancelled due to some cases of swine flu in Osaka and Kobe that many schools and colleges are closed for a few weeks. We supposed to visit American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, attend business presentation by two prominent executives and attend a lecture about Japanese-style management by Professor Maeda. This was a very interesting schedule to me to learn more about Japan’s economic but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it.

However, the Shiga Prefecture government had arranged us an alternative to visit Hikone Chamber of Commerce and visit Hikone old down shopping area which were really interesting too.

Hikonyan is a famous character of Hikone. It wears the Samurai’s hat and looks really cute. No wonder why I see this character everywhere and they have stuff animal, mobile phone’s chain, key chain….in this Hikonyan. I will get a stuff animal of Hikonyan as a souvenir from Hikone hehe.

We visited a over 200 years old Japanese hotel and went to a place where we can put on Samurai’s clothes.

I remember learning about their heroic warrior code longtime ago in history class. The Samurai was the elite warriors in ancient Japan. They fought in battles for the shogun and emperor of Japan in modern times. The samurai based their philosophy on heroism. All samurai trained vigorously in numerous styles of martial arts. Bushido was their way of life. Samurais never accept defeat. They chose to perform their famous samurai ritual of cutting their own stomachs if they ever face defeat. Most people think of samurai as only warriors, but they were actually the elite with very high education level.

We also visited a Japanese artist’s house, his name is Toshiro Odagaki. I love all of his Hikone’s landscape paintings which were placed at JCMU. Odagaki and his wife are so kind and friendly, they prepared us a lot of Japanese food and tea. The artist demonstrated some skills using black ink and I had a chance to try drawing a frog.

One day in Kyoto (19/5/09)

2009-05-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today, we had a trip to Kyoto. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory card in my laptop :( Anyway, this is a big city in Japan and it is known as a Geisha town where you can see Geisha on the street but unluckily, we didn't meet Geisha outside. It was never like what I imagine or saw through television and magazine. Everything is so crowded. People was walking on the street next to each other and things moved so fast. Business signs were everywhere. I felt so compressed in such environment.

We visited Nijo Castle - this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2003. We had to take our shoes of and wear bare feet, they don't have slippers as in JCMU. Nijo Castle is an example of the early Edo period and the Momoyama culture in Japan because they have Edo period building design, lavish paintings and carvings.

After this, we took the bus to Rokuon-ji temple - the Golden Pavilion. This is also inscribed as World Cutural Heritage in 1994.

We had a quick dinner in order to catch the train at 7:14pm to see the Geisha show at Gion corner. The program contained tea ceremony, koto music, flower arrangement, kyogen, kyomai and bunraku.

Tea ceremony is the tradition of tasting tea which was originated in Cha in the 8th century and was bought to Japan by Zen Buddhists priests at the end of the Heian Period. They used it to present drowsiness during their long hours of meditation.

Koto music is the 13 stringed instrument which was imported from China about 1,300 years ago. We have this Koto in Vietnam too.

Flower Arrangement shows appreciation of flowers when people put flowers in bottle or vases since the 6th century. I really love using flowers to decorate my house in Vietnam.

Bunraku is the puppet play by three people. They are so skillful using their hands to control the puppet as it is a real human.

Kyomai is Kyoto dance style of Geisha. They usually attract people with their beaty, colorful costume and gorgeous staging.

Kyogen is an Ancient Comic play. I didn't understand why some people were laughing until I read the brochure.

First Monday in Hikone (18/5/09)

2009-05-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

The first morning in Hikone, Japan was great. I feel refresh because I had a good sleep last night at JCMU dorm. This is a really quiet and peaceful area. In the orientation, Ms Szhuchia san went over the rules and all important points while staying at JCMU.

I remember sorting out the trash to Burnable and Non-burnable. Burnable is food, paper, stuffed animal, clothes, leaves, bones, bag, shoes…and also plastics that cannot be cleaned easily or has a strong smell after rinsing it has to be thrown away as burnable. Non-burnable is Styrofoam and soft plastics such as plastic wrap, drink label. Food container such as cups for yogurt, noodles have to be washed before throwing away. They have separate recycle box for plastic bottles and cans. I know that Japanese government concerns a lot about recycling which is a very good way of saving energy. I rarely see trash can on the street in Japan and even in Taiwan. But the roads are so clean amazingly! I think that people usually keep trash in their bags before getting rid of them in the right place.

After the orientation and welcome ceremony with all JCMU staff, students and representatives from all public Michigan universities, we had a tour around the campus guided by JCMU students. I was so excited to learn Japanese! The class was tough and it requires a fast reflex. Almost all of us were nervous and struggle a little at the beginning.

I think Japanese is very difficult to learn as all the scripted languages. Its character is similar to Chinese due to cultural diffusion, but the pronunciation is a little bit different. Japanese people pronounce their words with strong emphasis at the end of the sentence, which sometimes make me feel like they are yelling at me. I did not know that Japanese has a dozen of different dialects. My Japanese friend told me that the main distinction in Japanese accents is between Tokyo-type and Kyoto-Osaka-type, but I can’t really distinguish. Japanese vowels are pure, but compressed instead of rounded. I notice that Japanese people sometimes speak very fast.

Each of us was given a bike and a helmet to ride around the city when staying at JCMU. To be honest, I was not confident when riding a bike outside on the street, that’s why I went on a cab with Ellina, Levi and his baby to downtown Hikone to have lunch and do some grocery shopping. Kevin – JCMU student took us to a ramen noodle shop to try. The ramen was great!

In the afternoon, we attended the welcome concert and reception by a famous Japanese pianist and a trumpeter. They brought us a nice rhythm through popular songs such as the rhapsody in blue, my way, deep river, beagles holiday, musashi’s theme…and biwako shukoka, this is the theme song for Shiga prefecture and everybody knows how to sing it.

In the reception, I had a chance to meet and talk to the artist to created a beautiful sculpture of a girl placed at JCMU.

After that, my friends and I walked around lake Biwa and two of the Japanese students who live there made us some “Okonomiyaki” and they are really delicious!

Meeting old friends and having a haircut! (16/5/09)

2009-05-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today was out last day in Taiwan so I didn’t want to waste my time. I only have 4 hours of sleep because I went back to the hotel early morning. Monzer, Ellina and I hung out with our old Taiwanese friends who used to go to UM-Flint last years as exchange students. We went to eat at Koko restaurant and the food was great!

We had a chance to see the Deaflympics parade on the street. Everybody was out on the street to watch the presentation

I had a haircut at Zoom - a Taiwanese hair salon in the afternoon. I didn’t go to American’s hair salon because I prefer Asian styles.

After that, I went to Taipei City Hall area to walk around, enjoy the atmosphere for the last night.

It’s time to say goodbye to my old friends. I was so happy to see them in their home country but time was too short. We all know that goodbye time is always sad…but keep in touch, I will see you guys again in the future!

Coming back to Taipei (15/5/09)

2009-05-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Leaving the resort, we arrived at Lu-Ye Height. Here, we can see the whole view of the valley where the tribe’s people work and live as there are houses, different kinds of plants and trees.

After that, we went to see Bunun Tribe and watched their performances.

There was a Bunun tribe singer who can sing so well, her voice is very clear, high-pitch and strong. We had a group picture with her:

We found a dead super huge beetle and took a picture with it:

I bought some souvenirs here because they look very pretty and a lot are hand-made. After having lunch, we went to see Kuanfu sugar plant and Amei Tribe museum. Each of the tribe has different costume which is very unique.

I enjoyed visiting different tribes because their language and culture is very different from the majority. In Vietnam, we have over 54 different tribes. They are known as ethnic minorities which are mostly the hill tribes of center and northern Vietnam. I notice some similarities from the costume and language.

We got back to the hotel at around 8:30pm. I was a little bit tired but I told my new Taiwanese friends that I am going hang out with them on Friday night. We decided to meet at the train station near the hotel because I don’t have a phone and it is really crowd at the Main Station. We went clubbing at Pasoul, I heard that it is really famous in Taipei among the teenagers. In the States, I am under drinking age but in Taiwan and most of other Asian countries, I am okay to go.

When being with my new Taiwanese friends at Pasoul, I had a lot of fun. We played drinking games with dices when you have to guess the total number of the dices and have to drink when your predicted number is higher than the actual one. I had a chance to practice saying numbers in Chinese as I always love learning numbers in different languages. I know numbers in Vietnamese, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Thai and Japanese. Those new friends also taught me some other Chinese words and phrases such as: what are you doing, where are you going, I’m hungry, it’s cold….

There are some differences between American and Taiwanese clubs. In American, I went to 18up club that I have been to, we don’t have to book the table before coming in but here, if you don’t book the table in the morning, you will not have the table which means you can’t enter the club. I also see a difference in the way Taiwanese people dance in club and the bartenders in Pasoul is so fast and skillful in mixing drinks. The price is 800NT for girls and 1000NT for guys which covers the table and drinks. This is all you can drink so I think the price is reasonable.

I had a great time with them in the club. The club closes at 4am and I was going to get a taxi back to the hotel as the MRT starts working again at 6am. But I see my Taiwanese friends were going to wait for the train to go home so I decided to wait with them. Not only my friends but a lot of the teenagers were waiting too. They all sit outside the club on the stairs and some were in McDonald’s waiting like us. It was my first time seeing these teenagers at my age or older waiting outside for the bus. I asked them how much it costs for the taxi to go back to the hotel. They told me it is about 700NT and you have to pay extra because it is late at night and it only cost 25NT to go by the MRT. This is a huge difference between cab and the MRT. This 700NT is a lot to them and they don’t want to spend this on taxi, which does make sense to me. Therefore, I waited with them for another 2 hours.

This is the rice with sausage I bought on the street to try because I heard that a lot of people like it

We chatted a lot to make time flies faster. I told them what I have learned about American culture as an international student living there. They asked me whether I like to live in Vietnam or in Michigan, and my answer was that I prefer to live in my home country. I also told them that I really love Taipei and I was so glad to have good friends like them. This is going to be the last time I see them before leaving Taipei, but for sure, I will go back.

First time water rafting and biking on the street! (14/5/09)

2009-05-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

Today was my first time doing water rafting at Xiuguluan River Rafting. After the lesion, wear float jacket and helmet, waterproof shoe and we were ready to go!

Luckily, I put on sunscreen because we had to stay on the water for around 3 hours under heavy sun. I wish I wore long pant and shirt because I did get tan. We did a great job rafting over the fast current and I actually enjoy it more than the steady one. I was going to fell into the water but I was holding the rope tightly so I was okay.

First highlight for today was Dr. Peng’s camera was found by Bob luckily because it was going to be buried under the mud.

We did some firework after dinner at the resort

Second highlight for today that it was my first time do biking outside on the street around Kuansan Park. We also had a chance to try the sauna and bath tub filled with Chinese medicine. It was really hot and we all got red after the bath.

Frist day of Eastern Taiwan Excursion (13/5/09)

2009-05-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

We went on a three days excursion in Hualien, Eastern Taiwan. It takes about 2 hours to get their by the express train from Taipei to Hualien. On the train, we can see Pacific Ocean and mountainous views which are gorgeous.

After having lunch, we went to see Taroko National Park or Taroko Gorge. This is where torrents of river waters cut through the marble and granite over the years which create a beautiful, narrow ravine with waterfalls, complete with a misty mountain top. There are subtropical forests surround the gorge that enhances them to be more fresh and stunning.

Our first scenic spot was the Central Cross-Island Highway which was destroyed by the earthquake in 1999.

Then we arrived at Shakadang Trail where we had to hike about 40 minutes. This trail is built along the river cliff and travelers can easily observe the plants and rocks when they hike. There are some spots for ecologists to do research.

It was tough to hike and climb up the highest rock with flip-flop like me as it is very slippery and I made it.

After that we visited the Tunnel of Nine Turns trail and all visitors had to put on the helmet to protect their heads from falling rocks.

The view was awesome when you are in the middle of the mountain; you can look down to the deep chasm. The next spot is the Swallow Grotto. I didn’t see this one because I fell as sleep when I was on the bus and when I opened my eyes, everyone had left.

After this, we went to see Eternal Spring Shrine. This Eternal Spring Shrine was built to honor the 450 workers who died during the construction of Taiwan’s Central Cross-Island Highway in the 1950s. Our last stop was the sea side of Pacific Ocean. I didn’t go down to the sea because it is so windy and at that time, I am afraid of getting a cold.

We arrived at the hotel at around 6pm and decided to discover Hualien city at night. I was with other students to find McDonald’s or other places to eat dinner using the map given by the receptionist. We all stopped at 7 Eleven to buy some stuff when when we (me and Ellina) got out, everybody was left except Suyash. He told us he didn’t see other people when he got out also. So we decided to go back to the hotel because none of us had the map. One the way back, we stopped at a place where we see some pretty girls sitting outside. Suyash thought it was a bar so he wanted to go and check it out. It was so funny that when we came in, they said that girls, me and Ellina couldn’t get it and it costs around 8,000NT for a girl with free drinks for Suyash. We guess it is a guy entertainment place and they all look very creepy.

After getting a map from the hotel, the direction showed by the receptionists and Dr. Median, we started our trip. Ellina wanted to find the laundry place as Dr. Median said just go straight. We went straight and didn’t look at the map carefully. After finding the laundry place, we asked people on the street about McDonald’s and they told us to keep straight. We was walking on a very dark street and didn’t see any McDonald’s after around 40 minutes. We decided to ask some young Taiwanese sitting in a restaurant to help us. Finally, we made our way to McDonald’s in over 1 hour tiredly. We were a little bit upset because other people didn’t wait for us when we are clueless about the direction in this city.

Sitting at McDonald’s, I looked at the map again, tried to read the street’s labels and figured out that we walked way too far. We have gone through a big curve instead of a short line. We found out that McDonald’s is very close to the hotel and we should have turned right when we got out from the hotel. Anyway, we got back to the hotel using the short way safety. We were freaked out when walking for so long and couldn’t find McDonald’s and the street and people were looking at us like we are from a different planet. However, we enjoyed a long walking journey afterward even though it was tiring and I was so hungry at that time. I think it’s good to get lost because from there, figuring out the rite way back is a challenge that we all want to get through.

Another day in Taipei (12/5/2009)

2009-05-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

This morning, we attended a lecture on Economic Development in Taiwan by Professor Chen of economic department at National Taipei University. We learned more about Taiwan’s Economic that Taiwan is a developed country and is one of High Performance Asian Economies. According to the data in 2007, Taiwan has a high GDP growth rate of 5.7%, low inflation of 1.8% and low unemployment rate of 3.9%. Here is the summary of some other things I have learned in the lecture:

GDP per capita equals GDP divides by the number of population. The reasons that make GDP per capita is so important are because this is the best single indicator for welfare measure and the people in the country with a high GDP per capita usually enjoy a better life. Differs to the US, Taiwan relies more on foreign demand as trade is very important to small open economy. Taiwan exports are higher than imports because they sell more to the foreigners than they buy from them. They have a high trade surplus and their trade partners include USA, China, Europe, Japan and others. The strategy for economic growth is import substituting where industrialization was a trade policy adopted by many low and middle income countries before the 1980s. The policy aimed to encourage domestic industries by limiting imports. Therefore, this will raises tariff or impose quota on imported goods. Normally their prices can be double the original ones after tax.

Moreover, I know that a lot of goods are made in Taiwan such as dry food, candies, clothes, electronics …Some of the highly recognized global brands have their products manufacturing in Asia, Africa or South America. They need to minimize manufacturing cost for raw materials and labors. This is why nowadays, we have a lot of multi-national companies, they try to globalize. By investing oversea in developing countries, they have the benefit of lowering material and labor cost and also spread out their names on the globe.

We received our certificates from National Taipei University:

After having lunch at McDonald’s, we visited the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei. This is a non-profit and non-partisan business organization in order to promote the interests of international business in the Republic of China.

Over 50 years, AmCham has become the largest and the most effective business organization in Taiwan. Their mission is that the cooperation itself “fosters the development of investment and trade between the United States and Taiwan, and it seeks to enhance Taiwan's economic environment by promoting the adoption of international business standards in the areas of legislation, regulations, and enforcement." Some of the core values including Private Enterprise, Rule of Law, Free Trade, Ethical & Responsible Business Practices, Transparency and the Free Flow of Information. In addition, their objectives are “to represent AmCham's diverse membership on issues of common interest, to provide a forum for networking and access to information, to serve as a trusted and influential advocate with government, to encourage civic-minded participation in the greater Taiwan community and to promote the Chamber's core values.”

In the afternoon, we visited Tamsui Campus of Tamkang University where many of my old Taiwanese friends attend college. This is a very nice university with a numerous of students including locals and international. All of us attended a lecture on “management” instructed by professor Jeng-yan Tsai with the students from Tamkang University. We were divided to 8 different groups and together, we discussed and answered the questions. My group has 5 Taiwanese students and 1 Brazilian one. It was very tough while communicating with them in English and they didn’t want to work on the questions so the Brazilian boy and I worked on the assignment. We wrote out all the answers but my group didn’t have to present. I think teamwork at that time wasn’t successful because some people didn’t want to contribute and interact with others.

After class, I went on a campus tour with Monzer and Ellina guided by some Tamkang University’s students. There were 5 of them and they were all very nice and enthusiastic. They showed us around the campus, the gym area, the garden and also the circle’s spot where you can hear the echo of your voice. Later in the evening, we went to Tamsui River Area to try some Taiwanese snacks. They are all so yummy such as the fried chicken, brown sugar cake, fried mushroom, plum juice, brown chewy egg…! I ate every single thing they showed as I always love food and trying new things. I enjoyed today a lot because I have a chance to blend myself deeper in Taiwanese culture and make good new friends.

A new week in Taipei has started (11/5/09)

2009-05-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

I woke up early today and prepared for National Taipei University, Hsinchu Science Park and Elite Semiconductor company visits in business dress. All of us had a chance to watch some martial arts performances including San Da Self-defeat style, to learn Chinese calligraphy and a lecture on inventory management in Taiwan’s high tech firms. I like the martial arts performance because they showed us how to use an umbrella; a Coke can to be weapons for self-defense – which is extremely interesting to me as a girl.

Calligraphy is a type of visual art which uses black ink and a brush (at different sizes). I think we have calligraphy in most of scripted languages including Chinese, Japanese, ancient Vietnamese, Hindi and Arabic. I remember seeing a calligraphy artwork created by a Chinese artist which is quite different to the original one. I didn’t have a problem writing calligraphy because I can paint using brush and know how to control the brush stroke.

I really love attending cultural classes like this as I think that it is necessary to learn and respect all different cultures when we live in a multi-cultural environment. It is up to each individual to decide whether he or she should appreciate diversity in a global context, but I think a wise person will know that he must be tolerant toward other cultural values in order for humanities to exist in harmony. Understand about other cultures will help people to behave properly across cultural boundaries. No one can run a successful business today without knowing how to interact with different people from different culture or different race. This is essentially important to us as business students. Globalization led to cultural diffusion. People who resist that trend of diffusion will be left behind.

In the afternoon, we visited Hsinchu Science Park - one of the world’s most significant areas for semiconductor manufacturing. It was established to introduce high-tech industries, promote the upgrading of Taiwanese industries and balance regional development which all leads to national economic development. We watched the power point presentation on this Science Park and a tour to its small museum by a representative there. I was amazed by her English, which is very fluently spoken. The presentation was about the history, environment, services, industries, integrated circuits, computers and peripherals, telecommunication, optoelectronic, precision machinery, biotechnology and investments. This is a multinational science park which has branches in 4 different continent including Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

One of the three branches in Asia is in Hanoi – the capital of Vietnam but I have never heard of it. It makes me curious and I have looked through the link http://vietnam.nsc.gov.tw of Science and Technology Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. This is the liaison office of the National Science Council of Taiwan in Vietnam which were established on July, 2004, the division is currently headed by Dr. Wang Yu-lung and it provides services across ASEAN countries.

First Sunday in Taipei (10/5/2009)

2009-05-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

Excitingly, we have arrived in Taipei last night after a long flight. This morning, we had a quick breakfast at Mos Burger. This fast-food brand is very famous in Taiwan. I wonder whether Taiwanese people prefer Mos Burger, KFC, Pizza Hut, 7 Eleven or Mc Donald’s – a famous name worldwide. I see that the food in 7 Eleven is pretty cheap but not as fresh as others. After breakfast, we walked to Chiang Kai-Chek Memorial Hall MRT station to take the train to Taipei 101 – the tallest building in the world.

The train system here is amazing and convenient; you can get to all the places with a very affordable price. We get on the red line train to go to Taipei Main Station and then change to the blue line toward Nangang – the last station. After 6 stops, we arrived at Taipei City Hall station. In Europe, I have tried the Metro system in Paris, in Asia, I have tried the MRT in Thailand, Singapore and this was my first time using the MRT train in Taiwan. They are pretty much similar, from the map – which is very easy to read, the speed – very fast…to the location of each station – easy to access as in downto

wn area. One different thing is that in Taipei, they use sensor plastic like coins which can be reusable compare to other paper tickets. All students enjoyed the train ride a lot. It was crowed at the Main Station because it is the main station that connects to other routes. There were a lot of people on the train, at all ages. All public transportation including train and bus, they have seats for seniors, pregnant women and disable people and we all should yield the seat for these people. That is why most of the time, I always stand on the train and bus, only when there was none of those people needs a seat, then it is my turn.

Due to the late bus schedule at 11:30, we decided to walk to Taipei 101. I have heard of this building as it took over the Shanghai World Financial Center in China(492m), the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpua (452m), Malaysia, Sears Tower (442m), Chicago or the World Trade Center, New York (417m) – which had destroyed by the terrorists in 2001, to be the tallest building recently in Asia and the world. Taipei 101 is 508 meters height and has the fastest elevators at 1,010 meters per minute, which means that it only take 37 seconds from the 5th to the 89th floor. This is super fast comparing to other towers that I have visited. It took around 90 seconds to get to the top of the Petronas Twin Tower and 50 seconds to the top of Eiffel Tower in Paris (325m).

I have read some facts about Taipei 101 which are amazingly interesting. It has the world’s biggest passive wind damper, with a diameter of 5.5 meters, weights 660 metric tons and was made at a cost of NT$132 million. It also has earthquake resistance, wind resistance, fire safety facilities…and emergency power supply. When we got to the 89 floor, each of us was given pre-recorded voice guides in English so we can discover the views from the top ourselves. We had lunch at the food court in Taipei 101 and drank bubble tea – my favorite drink ever! I wish there was bubble tea shop in Flint!

Later in the afternoon, we took the train and bus to National Palace Museum where has China’s treasures over 5,000 years.

In the evening, we visited Shilin night market. Oh my god, hundreds of people walking down the street. I was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh, a quite busy and crowded city in Vietnam, so I am pretty much used to the atmosphere, environment, culture and food. I already tried the stinky tofu in Hong Kong few years ago and I really like it. They have a unique smell which is not appealing to some people but the tofu itself is very yummy to me.

One highlight for today was that Suyash got lost when we were at Taipei 101 because he went through the elevator to go back down without noticing that he could not get back up. The second one was that “we” – Ellina, Fatima, Lauren and Monzer and myself, we got lost on the way back after arriving at our station. We got out at gate number 5 instead of 1. As a small change makes a big difference, it took us nearly an hour to get back to our hotel but the good things was we discovered more about the area where we live and we feel more confident when walking on Taipei street.

Gettin' ready for the trip tomorrow!!!!

2009-05-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Oh my god, time flies so fast! I remember watching the Taiwanese movie and Japanese manga, learning about their cultures in the orientation meetings last months and this time tomorrow i will be on the plane. I am so excited that I'm gonna be in Taiwan in about 2 days and Japan in 10 days.

I have started packing up and get ready for the trip. I learn some useful phrases in both Taiwanese and Japanese from the manual and online such as: hello, bye, how are you, thank you, numbers... I think this is some easy words that I can speak in normal conversations. I also read through the brochures that I got on the sight-seeing places that I am going to visit in order to know more about them before being there.

I have been to Taiwan but just transited at the airport, stayed in Narita - Japan for one night, transited also. So I can't wait to visit them again, to see other new places, can't wait to learn new cultures and make new friends. This is going to be a great trip for myself and other people.

I believe that all of us are going to have lots of fun and experiences from this coming trip!