Tuesday, May 12th

Today we loaded the bus at 9 to travel south to Giant Bicycles Co. We had McDonald's for breakfast while traveling since we left early. After about a two hour drive we arrived to take our factory tour. It was amazing to see how efficiently the assembly lines were run to produce a mass amount of bicycles per day. It was also really cool to see how the engineers had made so many different bicycles customized for all demographics. There are bicycles made for women, for mountain biking, for street cycling, and for the elderly which includes a little motor. After we finished the tour of Giant we went to a very nice but also interesting lunch where five courses were served on a lazy susan in the middle of a big round table for us. The food was quite different but I tried as much of it as I could. Next, we visited a Saxophone which was run by the family of the man who made the first saxophone in Taiwan. We also got to hear one of the girls play which was unbelievable. Then, we went to a local winery where we took a tour and also had got to taste all the different wines made there. After the winery and visiting a beautiful orchid greenhouse, it was off to the "love motel." Our suite consisted of a huge bed, an indoor pool, a massage table with massaging showerheads above it, a jacuzzi tub, little fish ponds, a massaging recliner, and several couch beds. There was a 45 minute bus ride back to the hotel following our three hour party but afterwards we all planned on going to the bars around the Taipei 101 area. We took the MRT to the bars and not realizing that almost everywhere had a certain dresscode restricting sandals and shorts, we were turned away by two bars and finally wound up at Bar Bados.

Monday May 11th

This morning we had to be on the bus at 10 to go to a town that specializes in pottery. First, we were allowed to shop and buy souvenirs and later we made pottery ourselves. Later, we went to "Great Roots" a mountainside spa with natural springs. After a very relaxing experience, we had to return to Lishe to pick out our favorite of the photo shoot pictures. When we returned to the hotel a group of us walked to buy me a camera because I lost mine and then we went to Patagonia and afterwards explored the department store which was a bore. We finished with an all American meal from Subway which was delicious.

Sunday May 10th

This morning we boarded our private bus at 9am. An hour later we arrived at a mountainside village with a market. It had the most horrendous smell I had ever experienced. Another hour long bus ride later we arrived at the north side coast beach known as Fulong Beach. There we ate a "Chinese lunchbox" which was different. When arriving on the beach we learned from a former App student who is getting his MBA here that they import all the sand to make the beaches. It was beautiful. While on the beach we all got drunk and went swimming then took a nap on the way home. We stopped at a convenience station where I experienced my first Asian toilet AKA a hole in the floor. We took a three hour nap when we got home and planned to go out to the bars afterward but were just too tired so we walked to McDonald's to get food instead.

Saturday May 9th

Jenna and I were left behind right to start for breakfast which was not comforting at all for our first day in a very foreign country. After breakfast we took the MRT (subway) to a shop called Lishe to get our make-up done and dress in Kimonos for pictures. Throughout the day we saw about three Americans all of which may or may not have been European. After getting pictures we visited a temple and gardens in the area. The weather here is incredibly hot and always sunny. We had our first real Chinese meal which was very delicious. After lunch we had mango ice cream which was a very interesting experience. We later traveled to Shilin to visit a museum. We found out that no English is available outside out the city epicenter so we had to rely soley on Dr. Chen to get us there and back home. We also found out while using the public transportation system the Taiwanese children are fascinated with Americans. Every time we pass them they act as if they have seen a ghost. After the museum we went to the famous night market. It seems as if all 4 million people in Taiwan visit this same night market at the same time. On our way home from the market we met a Taiwanese lady who helped us with the subway and also spoke perfect English. She was incredibly nice and made us feel very welcome in the country.

Friday May 8th

Today we departed from Charlotte very early in the morning. After a layover in Dallas we took the 14 hour flight to Tokyo's Narita Airport. Because of the swine flu, all the passengers had to be examined by airport officials and scanned with a thermal camera before getting off the plane. We also had to fill out a health form with all of our travel plans and our health information. Most of the group was cleared to go inside but the other part were forced to remain on the plane because a passenger reported having a cough and a fever recently. We then boarded a JAL plane for Taipei but were held on the runway because of bad weather. We arrived in Taiwan three hours later only for me to get pulled aside by an official examined up and down and have my temperature taken. Quarantine is not where I wanted to be for three days. An hour and a half later we made it to the hotel to find that the rooms were quite nice. Not nearly like American hotel rooms but still nice. However, we are not allowed to drink the water here so we had to brush our teeth with boiling water from a tea machine in our room. The bed feels like a piece of plywood but its perfect after such a long day.

Pre-travel

So...in approximately 24 hours we will be loading a plane in Dallas for the long flight to Tokyo. I'm very excited about the trip even though I know it's going to be incredibly long.