Eel, Ostrich, and Fireworks

The day began with a "traditional" Taiwanese breakfast at Kaori's. This consisted of Gowgee (rice dish) with a whole lot of "bits" to add. Fairy Floss Pork, eel, mackerel, omelette's and a whole lot more..mmmmmm.
We got our own back - we introduced them to Vegemite, they loved it.
Collected in a pretty yellow bus by the RC of Hsin Ying (Julius, Oliver, Big and Little Chen)
Little Chen was our interpreter for the day - been to college in US.
First stop, Liouying Technology Industrial Park . Lots of hi-tech recycling data, from metals to pooh.
Kay, interpreter number 2 joined us here.
Lunch was an absolute highlight - Jianshanpi Resort. Lakeside building, magnificent banquet and a ride on the lake, chasing ducks and monkeys.
Next stop, Tainan County Stadium and Table tennis. A 40,000 thousand seat athletic stadium that is open free to the public- no major events are held here. We then visited the table tennis centre underneath the stadium and played against a past national champion... we almost had his measure! Outside we played a game that is a mix between golf and croquet... hit a ball using a mallet like bat, between a set of witches hat and into a device that resembles the golf hole. We then visited an amazing city park that included a two story platform overlooking a wetland where you can have a massage.
We then attended a RC meeting which was very nice and were warmly welcomed. We then saw some fireworks, but the highlight was getting to see how the horizontal fireworks were made- that's right, they take fireworks into the street and fire them amongst the crowd! About 6 days of preparations and thousands of fireworks, we wish we could of been there to see it go off, apparently it is too dangerous- pfft!

Guns and Drugs

Today was quite an interesting day. James went straight to the Police Bureau and we all headed to the Southern Taiwan Science Park. The Science Park has set up a way of life for its residents where they can live, work and play in a community. The District Governor of the Science Park advised that his primary roles were golf, tennis and swimming.

After leaving, we headed to the Police Bureau to meet up with James. We headed down to the shooting range. After a two minute demonstration of how to shoot a Police issue hand gun, we were fully trained to what we thought was watching someone shoot. This was until they took us into the shooting range and directed us to the cubicles and handed us all a hand gun. After shooting two magazines with the hand guns against the target, the first visit of the day seems a bit bland.

Onto the Rotary Club of Shan-Hua Lan-Hsin Club Meeting, there was a buffet lunch where we could serve our own food that was a pleasant surprise. After the meal, we found out we were the guest speakers. We developed our 5 minute presentation on the spot.

Onwards and upwards we headed to the Biotanico Inc. where they use natural herbs with state of the art technology to produce herbal remedies and supplements. We finally saw a Mass Spectrometer - a very expensive machine. We went to the Orchid Botanical Garden to view the orchids and just wait for it....dinner. When they asked for our order, we got excited that it would be a small meal. A large burner with a pot was brought out with the meal in it and a massive helping of vegetables. A simple meal when we arrive back in Australia is going to seem quite ordinary. It's after 8pm and we finally get to stop for the day.

Welcome Party and Day 1 of Program

Last night we had our official welcome party with special attendance from District Governor and Governor Elect. D3470 outbound team was also there and delivered their presentation which was very interesting. We had our first live presentation which went well and had good feedback. This was then followed by a 10 course (we think- can't keep count) dinner!

One thing we did learn is "one dollar?" two dollar?" "three dollar?" or "four dollar?" which is the level of drinking... four dollar being the equivalent of "bottoms up". This was put into practice with some Taiwanese beer.

Today was our first official program day...

1. Buffet Breakfast- very nice!
2. Visit national park to see rare Black Face Spoon Bill Bird- Too cold and windy so they were not there!

No Spoon Bills :-(

3. Mariculture Research Centre of the Fisheries Research Institute - Very interesting use of technology and its use in food production
4. Lunch at Sinan Village- Banquet of seafood with no less then 12 dishes being served and thoroughly enjoyed

5. Salt Museum- Learnt the process of extracting salt in Taiwan and its many uses in day to day items.. who would of thought there is so much to learn about salt- not just for our fish and chips after-all!

6. Visit to the Bethlehem Foundation

After the salt museum the team proceeded to the school of the Bethlehem Foundation which has been proudly supported by Rotary to assist especially young people 0-6yo with learning disabilities to achieve all they can achieve. We reviewed the mobile out reach van and classrooms where key skills such as physical dexterity are worked on and improved.

7. Dinner at Kaori's home- The mere thought of more food at this stage was a struggle in itself. But we managed to get through some more spectacular food which finished with a 1,000 layer cake- will get the recipe for this... hope we can find someone with enough cooking expertise to cook it!

8. Hotel Check in: Southern Taiwan Science Park- Just checked into our new hotel... amazing accommodation which we could easily get use to!

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Sunday Morning

After a much better night's sleep, we enjoyed another extended buffet breakfast in the hotel.
The hotel that we visited last night is only a block from our hotel, so we decided to walk back and check out the gardens that looked fantastic in the dark last evening.
What an amazing place - waterfall, statues, gardens. A real oasis in an area that has little green space. There was a wedding setting up in the grounds. Amazing flowers and decorations. So much colour!!

Wandered back to the hotel to do some adjustments to our presentation, and to meet later this afternoon with the outgoing team.
Welcome party here at the hotel tonight, then the beginning of the full GSE experience tomorrow.
So far - amazing and fun!!!

Saturday Evening and Dinner

After a "gourmet" lunch at Subway, we spent the afternoon sorting out phone issues and organising souvenirs and gifts. We watched a Chinese game show on TV, (without sub-titles), which was a cultural experience in itself!!

The highlight of the day was dinner at a nearby fabulous hotel, with GSE Chair Bill Tsai, his family and another Rotarian couple as well as an American exchange student, Heidi.
What a fantastic night. 12 course buffet, chopsticks, Taiwanese beer, plum juice, and an array of food that was amazing. We practised our Mandarin, our kangaroo impression and our chopstick skills and passed successfully on all counts. There were a few foods that we were not sure of, but the fresh vegies and produce were amazing.

First night and morning in Tainan.

We arrived into Taiwan safe and well last night at about 8:30am. Small delay at HK airport so between that and the flight meals with the time difference we had 5 meals in one day.

A tired team was greeted by a smiling dozen or so Taiwanese people who quickly organised a group pic and took our luggage towards the car park. We then were driven to our hotel, which is amazing!

After being awake for almost 24 hours, we crashed for the night and woke to see Tainan in day light after our buffet breakfast- very nice!

We have spent the morning wandering the streets and this was an eye opening experience. With no pedestrian walkways and motorists who don't seem to follow the road rules, we were staying wide eyed! There are a lot of scooters, and some questionable building approvals...

Will be having lunch soon (but not at the place we found earlier - see pic below) and tonight we are being taken out for dinner- more to come soon.

Brad.

At the airport

Very early start red eyes already and we haven't yet left the country

All the team made it safely to the airport and survived check in at the airport.

What are we getting ourselves into again???

Brad got the full flight experience with security pulling his bag apart

Approval to leave the country given thank you to Graham Wilson David Ross and David Cook

Plus our amazing families for our send off see you after we cross the equator