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

First Post-Pre Departure

We have all been busy over the last couple of months in getting ready for our trip to Taiwan. Our presentation for the Rotary Clubs of District 3470 is now ready and we are looking fine in our new suits! Our itinerary looks very busy and we are excited about the thought that in two weeks time, we will be in Taiwan and refining our chop stick skills.

That's all for now.

Brad.