Day 2

The second day was looking to be a fairly easy and fun one. Following breakfast, the entire class sat down and we had our orientation lecture from Dr. Peng. He explained to us some of the history of Taiwan and about some current issues the country is facing. The major issue seems to be whether Taiwan should remain as part of the Republic of China or if they should become independent. The rest of the orientation was used to make sure that everyone understood the requirements for the class. This includes the blog posts, the responsibilities as student in charge, and what was expected from the group lead discussions.

After we finished with the lecture, it was time to head to the Wang Tea Company. The Wang Tea Company is one of the oldest tea manufactures in Taiwan. In fact, they are the 5th one created. They gave us a tour and explained how they make their tea. I think one of the most interesting parts of the process is the part where they are drying the tea leaves. They do this by having the tea over a burning pit. The pit is full of coal and gets extremely hot and can last for over a week before needing to be replaced. We were also brought upstairs to see a kind of sitting area they have where, every Sunday, it is opened to the public and musicians will come in and play to a crowd. We were also treated to some of their oolong tea, which (while I am not a tea drinker) was actually pretty good. After thanking everyone for the tour and the tea, we left the Wang Tea Company.

Some of the instruments used at Wang Tea Company

National Palace Museum

Following a very nice (and tasty) group lunch, we were off to the National Palace Museum. This was a huge museum that had all sorts of historical artifacts. We were given about an hour and half tour of the place and that only lead us through about 3 or 4 different rooms. We were given time on our own to explore the rest of the museum, which included seeing their gift shop as well. I really enjoyed looking at the different bronze artifacts they had in their collection.

The class as we departed the museum

After the museum, we returned back to our hotel, but just for a quick stop. Dr. Peng then told us that, right across the street from our hotel, was the biggest night market in Taipei. Shih-Lin night market. After Dr. Peng informed us of the meeting time for the next day, we were allowed to go explore the night market for the rest of the night. I ended up going with Dr. Laurence, Dr. Peng, Dani, Chris, Laura, and Ray to the food court in the night market. There, I tried two dishes: stinky tofu and an oyster omelet. I really was not a fan of either of these dishes, but I can at least say I tried them now. After trying the food, I explored the night market with a few classmates. The night market reminded me of a carnival  There were a lot of the carnival type games and prizes. Like you could try to pop balloons with darts for stuffed animals, knock cans over with a little bean bag, etc. However, there were also a lot of shops open. Not just little stands either. Bigger names like Adidas had shops open around this night market. I could see why this was the biggest night market in Taipei though. There were people everywhere! I only ended up exploring just a little bit though. I knew tomorrow was going to be a longer day and I decided sleep was needed. Lucky for me though, the night market is open every night, so I'll be able to explore it a bit more on a different night.