The Roving Reporter

When in Taiwan...

Posted by: Amy Reiter

Friday, March 9, 2007 7:28 AM

"When in Taiwan, drink the asparagus." That's what my teammate Paminder Parmar said, and I think it's pretty accurate of everything we're doing. He was referring to a drink he had when we visited a pipe factory - not smoking pipes, but acres of steel pipes that came from/are going to the Kaohsiung Harbor.

Anyway, we're "drinking the asparagus" all the time. Everything's new and different, from the foods and the way they're served to the etiquette to the sounds of the language.
I'm trying to take the attitude of "try everything at least a little." OK, everything vegetarian anyway.

So I've tried lots of new vegetables and foods that I don't recognize. I've started bowing a little each time I'm introduced to someone. I'm handing everyone a business card with two hands (I really didn't bring enough of these) and receiving the cards with two hands as well. Everyone does the card thing. Even at restaurants, sometimes the owner will bring cards to the table and give one to everyone with a little bow.

The food thing is a big deal too. Based on my three days of Taiwanese experience, this blog might well become The Food Diaries of Kaohsiung. Meals take hours, and 12 different dishes can easily be served. For the first few meals, I had no idea how everyone around me could be so thin and eat so much. Now I've decided it's the type of food they eat. Forget portion control. Eat soups and vegetables and fish - constantly. There's even a night market, where people can go and eat just about any protein you can think of anytime after dinner and before breakfast.

Other than food and business cards, the last two days have been craziness. We've had such a packed schedule, I'm trying to reflect and absorb at the same time. We've been to a special education center, where adults with developmental disabilities live and work; an elementary school where the students welcomed us with a dance complete with dragon costumes; the tallest building in Kaohsiung, where the elevator dropped 600 meters a minute (I don't really get how far that is, but I know my stomach didn't go the 79 floors quite that fast).

We've also toured the Kaohsiung Harbor by boat, motoring past about 15 miles of docks, and checked out Best Radio station, where DJ Allen showed us around and filled us in on the cool pop bands of Taiwan. Somebody named Gary is the latest. Tomorrow we'll see a science and technology museum, then meet with members of four Rotary clubs.

Today I tried tofu with mahogany sauce. I thought mahogany was a tree. I'm still not sure what I ate. What's the strangest food you've ever tried?

Amy

Word of the day:
Xie xie = thank you.

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