The Roving Reporter

Our first Taiwanese train...

Posted by: Amy Reiter

Wednesday, March 7, 2007 6:03 PM

Yesterday was the first full day our group had in Taiwan. They gave us a morning off from activities, so a few of us took a walk to the Love River, a focal point of the city. There, we saw a man doing tai chi, an ornate red and yellow temple and about a dozen stray dogs.

Back at the hotel, our group was met by members of two Rotary clubs. Turns out there are 71 Rotary clubs in this district -- and I think we're meeting all of them. We went to a fantastic lunch, a vegetarian buffet with about 10 kinds of tofu and dishes I'd never before seen at a Chinese restaurant. And another different thing: there was no rice, white or otherwise. I've seen rice around, but it seems like an afterthought rather than a counterpart to every dish.

Then we went to the Kaohsiung's museum of history, where we learned how during the Japanese rule in the early 20th century, the Japanese were determined to turn Kaohsiung into an international port city, and Taiwan into Japan's agricultural base. I'm not sure yet about the agriculture, but Kaohsiung's one of the top 6 ports in the world. One day soon we're going to tour the port. I also learned that the Taiwanese legal system is modeled on the U.S. system, and is completely separate from the Chinese legal system.

Next, we went to the former British Consulate, a more Colonial-looking building high on a hill. The view was really cool -- mountains and a river and an ocean -- my East Central Illinois topography radar was off the map! I'll download some pictures in my next post.

After a walk, we had dinner at a restaurant where they give you a big bowl of broth and then you pick food to put in your soup from a little toy train carrying tiny bowls of vegetables and stuff past your area. It was fun, and a little girl a few seats down seemed to enjoy taking stuff from the train more than eating it, judging by the (literally) foot high pile of stuff in front of her.

Then back to the hotel and to sleep. We were all zonked.

Today we're seeing a radio station and elementary school, among other places. There's an itinerary down to the minute, so I'd better hurry up and get going.

Amy

Phrase of the day
Zai jian = goodbye

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