Avalon

Taiwan... I'm loving it (Part 1)

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Finally back after two long/short weeks. Not going to give long accounts about the trip, just probably some of the more juicy stuff. Haha. Basically, it was just eat, sleep and play for the two weeks, except that we attended lessons for a few days. The first day really sucked because it felt as though we have already been in Taiwan for five days, in fact it felt strangely as though we are leaving the next day after we have touched down. Haha don't ask me why. It was late afternoon when we landed in Taipei and we were driven to Jin Hua Da Sha for our tea break. It was supposedly lunch but because we all had a heartening meal on the airplane, some of us used the $200 vouchers for other purposeful uses. Our hostel was situated very near Shi Lin Night Market and that night we rushed and tried to cover as much of Shi Lin as we could in that pathetic one hour. (We were grounded after 10 and being the nice little angels we are, we abided by the rules throughout the whole trip)I still remembered how some of the girls complained how little time they were given. They nearly had to swallow their words much later. The second day was normal. Travelled to Hualian on a train. The train reminded me of Bremen, I guess it was just the cubicles and the layout. Ok so maybe all long-distance trains look like that but so what. Anyway, everyone just explored Hualian and I must say that at this juncture, some of us are still experiencing jet lag although there was no difference in time zone... So the fun has not begin.

We spent the third day in this nature reserve in Hualian. The scenery was really beautiful. Then of course it started to get a bit boring when we were brought about to look at picturesque sights that bear great similarity. Imagine looking at the same old mountain folds and lush greenery for like 10 times. Maybe Geogers can at least differentiate the type of rocks a mountain is made up of but for the rest of us with something called a life, we choose to give that a miss and take in the fresh air instead. The girls started brandishing their most formdiable weapon apart from their shrill voices throughout this whole trip- the camera. Yupz. Digital and powered with endless back-up batteries, complete with zooming lens and all... And all sorts of poses come to life. I am almost blinded by the "camera smiles". It is quite obvious those presumably photogenic people (and those who think they are) will get really obsessed with photography throughout the whole trip. No sarcasm intended. Really.

Into the fourth day and finally the academic fever struck. It bore testimony to our main objective of this whole trip, apart from the one known as "have fun" that seems more appropriate with regards to the programme layout we have actually. Firstly, we visited Shi Da Fu Zhong in the morning but onyl managed to stay there rather briefly. We were split into groups and attended classes for only one lesson. Then we were shoved back to the lecture theatre where we had our lunch while having a chat session with the school's student councilors. I don't know about the others but all the warm greetings that we have been tricked into believing all this while probably only existed in the fifth dimension. It was like being trapped in a political environment. The teacher gave a rather nonchalant attitude to our existence and I thought that she must have been muttering to herself how we have wasted her precious teaching time when she made the politically correct decision of allowing one of us to introduce ourselves. Ok maybe she was't that bad. It's just me. But seriously the atmosphere was so uncomfortable I can't wait to dart out of the classroom once the bell rung. The entire day was packed full with two lectures which I shall not elaborate.

More on Bei Yi Nu later...

Envoy of the Stars @ 9:27 PM
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