Mailani, Jeff, Meagan, Chris and I can truly attest to this statement. We did fall in love with the beautiful island of Taiwan and it's hospitable, generous people. Taiwan is promoting itself as a premier tourist destination. Travel there...you won't be disappointed!
Vocational visits:
Cultural visits:
Other:
It's hard to believe that less than a month ago we were dining on the incredible seafood of Taiwan.
By the ocean in Taiwan
With the aboriginal kids Meagan loved so much
Surprise, Meagan...it's your birthday!
Jill gave her first presentation about Taiwan to students in her son, Zachary's, class. And as you can see, they all like showing the "Victory" sign that we learned in Taiwan. Since then, Jill has given presentations to her co-workers and others at Red Cross, too.
We were invited to a Rotarian's home for dinner in the mountains of Taiwan. The hospitality extended to us was amazing - they prepared many, many dishes and even bought us Coke since they heard our team likes soda.
Performing "The Nebraska Fight Song" was a big hit. We became known for singing this song and including everyone in our "Go Big Red!" chant at the end!
Xie xie (thanks) to our hosts and their friends for an enjoyable evening & dinner!
We saw all kinds of things and people being carried on scooters, including many dogs.
People rode in all kinds of weather, in all kinds of clothing and in all types of shoes. Most people wore helmets, many wore face masks and some wore cloth mitts on their hands like the girl in the picture above (we heard to keep them shaded from the sun and to keep them clean.)
We rode a bullet train, a subway and a boat - all in one morning - on one of our trips to Taipei.
No seats on this subway - just a railing to lean against.
Fun boat ride both ways - we made friends on each trip.
Our team learned about the historical Taiwanese industry of tea when we visited the factory of The World's Mr. Tea.
With all of the automated factories we saw on this business exchange, the tea business appears to still be very labor-intensive, from the ladies who handpick the tea leaves to the people working in this factory that bag the tea and prepare it for shipment.
Superb!
When we visited Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world), we enjoyed walking around the food court and comparing it to American food courts. We found that most fast food restaurants had variations of food for their local customers. McDonald's - called "My Dung Lao" in Mandarin - served green tea. Domino's Pizza offered giant shrimp pizza.
And this submarine sandwich shop offered a fruit sub!
One part of Subway's menu says "Local Favorites."
We found very little fried food in Taiwan, but it appears that KFC fried chicken is gaining popularity there. So, even though it was available, we avoided eating American-style fast food and instead ate local dishes - lots of seafood, pork, noodles and delicious fresh fruit and vegetables.
How cool!
Chris and his iPhone. Our iPhones worked in Taiwan (at least where there was wi-fi), so we all got to Skype and check emails courtesy of Chris. Chris downloaded a neat iphone app for learning Mandarin and I kept my Mandarin and Taiwan notes on my iPhone.
The morning view out to sea from a Taiwan golf course...stunning.
Taiwan (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣), also known as Formosa (from Portuguese (Ilha) Formosa, meaning "beautiful (island)"), is an island located in East Asia off the coast of Mainland China, southwest of the main islands of Japan but directly west of the end of Japan's Ryukyu Islands, and north-northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation. (source: wikipedia.com)
Are these American french fries? Almost - they're fried sweet potatoes sold by a street vendor. Yummy! or in pinyin Mandarin - Howtzuh!
Another street vendor - this time it's a Build-Your-Own-Ice Cream-Bar. The ingredients you see here can be added to your own ice cream, including the phenomenal Taiwan pineapple, lychee and beans (also popular in Hawaiian snow cones/shave ice).
Chicken fingers!
Rotary is a service organization -
A timecapsule for the residents of the city - to be opened around 2060 if I remember correctly. What a fun community idea!
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