Day 5 ~ Presidential Palace and the Taipei Zoo

Day 5 began with a visit to the presidential palace near West downtown Taipei.  We weren't able to take photos inside the palace itself, aside from one of the gardens.  We were given a tour and a brief overview of the political history of Taiwan.  The next presidential election will be held in January, next month.  After the presidential palace visit, we spent some time in the surrounding city, the West side of Taipei, exploring different streets specializing in different goods.  One street was filled with shoe stores, another with books, and another was filled with camera stores.  After a bit of shopping, we headed to the Taipei Zoo.  It is outside of the city proper, and set into a valley.  The entire zoo is designed around the jungle theme, with plants everywhere, and the animal pens surrounded by trenches and plants instead of a lot of concrete.  The zoo was very well maintained also.  I was able to see many animals that I have never seen at home which was very exciting.  The pandas were my favorite.

Day 4 ~ Hot Springs and Yang Ming Shan National Park

Day 4 was spent doing research in the zebrafish labs, exploring a national park, and visiting Sulfur hot springs.  We ended the day with more lab work.  The drive to the national park was definitely a unique experience.  The roads here are much narrower than at home, and lane lines seem to be a suggestion more than a rule.  The drivers are very skilled and extremely aggressive.  I was impressed with how deftly they managed to squeeze between cars, buildings, and rocks jutting out of the mountain along the road.  The roads leading up to the state park were extremely windy, but the views out the window more than made up for it.  The state park in itself was filled with small paths, ponds, and waterfalls, all surrounded by flowers and trees.  The effect was beautiful, and intensely green.  A very nice change from all the snow at home.  At the top of one of the mountains, sulfur water was bubbling up out of the mountain, making the whole area smell of rotten eggs.  Aside from the odor, the whole area was also very foggy, and misty with all the rain.  It wasn't the best day for a trip to the state park, but the rain made it an adventure.  It was a fun park to explore.  The hot springs were the perfect end to the day.  With a variety of temperatures and types of features in the pools, it was fun to relax in them.  My favorite pools were the two hottest ones.  They felt so refreshing, and I was finally able to relax after the stress of travel and getting used to a new temporary home.  The hot springs were definitely a highlight of the trip so far.

Day 2 ~ Taipei 101

Yesterday we began the day with research at the Zebrafish lab as well as hiking around the Academica Sinica campus in our free time.  A trail behind the hotel took us up above the campus on a big hill, overlooking the east side of the city.  The landscape is intensely green and lush, which is great to see in December.  At home all we can see is snow.  During the research portion of the morning, we set up chemical treatments and will observe the fish 48 hours post treatment.  After that, we had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  They served us excellent dumplings and pot stickers.  There are very few forks and knives here, everybody uses chopsticks.  That has been difficult for me, but it is a fun challenge and I can tell I am improving.  After a very tasty lunch, we headed to Taipei 101 to see the view from the top as well as the area surrounding it.  The view and the building itself were both beautiful, although it was a bit foggy out so we couldn't see the landscape as well as we'd like.  I was also able to find postcards for my family while there.  The mall surrounding Taipei 101 was filled with extremely expensive and exclusive stores.  It was fun to see the stores, and it was interesting to see that most of the people at the mall weren't buying things, they were walking around like we were.  Very few people were actually making purchases or had shopping bags.  While at the mall, we also met three Taiwanese school girls who stopped us to ask us some questions and video us for an extra credit assignment for school.  They were very friendly, and all wanted to visit America, specifically California.  Dinner was at a local fast food rice place.  The food was great, although the rice was a bit tricky to eat, but that's my ineptitude with chopsticks more than anything else.  We all turned in early last night as we're still all tired from the time change and travel.

Day 3 ~ Lonshang Temple and West Downtonwn

Today was our first day navigating Taipei's public transit system on our own.  As a group we made it to Longshang Temple using the bus and subway system, and were able to explore the area surrounding the temple before meeting up with Dr. Huang.  Our group walked around the narrow alleys and markets surrounding the temple.  The streets were filled with old men, many of the smoking, and many of them homeless.  This was the old, historic part of town, and is also close to what is the red light district of the city during nighttime.  The markets were filled with fresh produce of all varieties, along with a variety of women's clothing.  Seafood was everywhere, as well as a lot of small local restaurants and food vendors.  The temple itself was very ornate and beautiful, with a waterfall and two koi ponds in the main garden.  Inside the temple were different rooms dedicated to different gods; the smaller rooms belonging to the specialty gods.  The largest statues and rooms were reserved for the main gods.  People left food and flowers as offerings to the gods, as well as burned incense.  The gods of fertility, career, academics, and marriage/relationships were surrounded by the most people, mainly women, and offerings.  I didn't notice many men making offerings to any of the gods at the temple.  After visiting the temple, we went to lunch at a noodle place within a four level supermarket.  The meal was very good, especially the sweet potato fries, and shrimp tempura.  I am having an easier time with chopsticks every time I eat.  We also purchased snacks and drinks for our gathering tonight.  Finally, we spent the rest of our day shopping in West Taipei, in the Wanhua and Jhongjheng Districts.  This area was filled with teen and young adult shops, street vendors, and restaurants.  This area of the city was extremely crowded with very narrow streets.

Day 1 ~ Christmas Day

First day in Taiwan!  After 24 hours of travel, it was great to finally be on the ground, and staying there.  A short night of rest was all we had before jumping into exploring and learning about the campus and city.  Academica Sinica is the top research university in Taiwan, and we have the pleasure of using the labs, working with the students there, and staying at the campus.  After exploring the fish labs and the overall campus we used the subway and bus systems to get to east downtown Taipei.  Near Taipei 101, the world's second tallest building, was the bank where we exchanged our US dollars for New Taiwanese Dollars.  We also started off the program with lunch at a hot pot restaurant.  At this restaurant, we were given raw veggies and meats, sauces, and a small pot filled with broth on an inset burner.  We could cook the foods in the broth at our own pace, picking what looked best.  The food was good, albeit unfamiliar.  It will take me some time to get used to it; I will have to get hungry enough, then everything will start looking and tasting good.  After lunch we purchased new SIM cards for our phones while we are in Taiwan so we can be in contact with each other.  Overall, its been a good day, and really cool to see so many new things.  I definitely feel like a foreigner, but I don't feel unsafe as one.  I'm very excited to start shopping and really exploring the stores tomorrow.