Happy Dragonboat Holiday

To summarize the past 3 days, I can only use one simple phrase: Ah, life is wonderful. Every minute of this trip brings its own entertainment, and I love how the best way our team connects is with laughing and humor. Not only is there no fear or even shyness between us anymore, but I can tell we are all completely being ourselves here. It is both freeing and inspiring doing life together and just taking in all that Taiwan has to offer us!

We finished class on Thursday afternoon and headed straight to Taipei city to work the Judo Tournament at the Taipei gymnasium. We will happily be out of a classroom until Tuesday, as our next couple of days focusing mainly on the cultural side of the trip. We had a delightful dinner in the city, one of the many favorite dishes of the night being Peking duck wraps.

After dinner, we headed to Taipei 101, 2 blocks away from the hotel where my parents were staying in. It was quite the landmark to have them meet up with us! Standing firmly at 1,670 feet, Taipei 101 is currently the largest building in the world! At least until the Burj Dubai opens in September. The elevator of this building got us up to the 89^th floor in 37 seconds. My ear popped about 4 times on the way up and back down! It was amazing!

The following morning came a little sooner than comfortable, and we arrived at the National Palace Museum in Taipei in time for a 90 minute tour at 9:20am. Although my preference would be to wander aimlessly and make my own way around a museum, our guide spoke great English and shared so much history with us throughout our tour. The Palace Museum’s claim to fame is its collection of eclectic, imperial treasures from the Sung, Yuan, Ming, and Ch’ing dynasties. The attention to minute detail in each piece of china wear (now I know where that phrase originated) is absolutely amazing. My favorite pieces, however, were the intricate designs in all of the ivory carvings! This culture knew all too well how patience in artwork yields great beauty and majesty.

We spent the afternoon celebrating the national holiday at the International Dragon Boat Festival! Dragon boat races went on throughout the day along the river, while thousands of people watched from the stands. Traditionally, the festival is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year, but we just enjoyed every sight, sound, and smell around us! Well… most of the smells. J We walked around the festival for most of the afternoon, tasting some of Taiwan’s finest market food and dancing (yesssss finally some dancing!) while avoiding stinky tofu the best we could. 

Did I mention my parents got this VIP Taipei treatment and got to spend this amazing day with us? Again, the hospitality and genuine care that our hosts showed to my parents all day truly amazed me! If anyone is travel savvy in Asia it is definitely the two of them, but Alice and Joyce (two NTSU students) were so key in making sure my parents made the most of their two-day stay in Taipei with us. With everything that each day brings during this trip, we are all realizing how much time these students put into planning and facilitating each day.

Before dinner, we visited the Longshan Temple, built in 1738 by Fujianese immigrants. We have seen plenty of these majestic temples from afar as they tower over every building and stand out with the boldest colors and dragon decorations around the roofs. It was great to finally go inside one of these temples, and one of this size! Dinner was at a restaurant in Ximenting, one of the biggest business and entertainment cities in the country. 

After enjoying some mango juice with my creamed rice and hamburger meal at dinner, I said farewell to my parents! They were off the following morning to Kuala Lampur for the remainder of the month. The past two days with them could not have worked out any more perfectly, and I owe all my gratitude to the students at NTSU. In these past days of tours and site-seeing, we have had the best weather here yet! My hope is that it carries on into our weekend in Kenting at the beach!

at the Judo tournament

Taipei night life

National Palace Museum

Cristina, me, Becca, and Katelynn

Mikhail and Aya

... we didn't know these children. :)

we see many funny things

Dragon Boat races