Summer 2012

After two exciting months in Taiwan, I am now finally back in Cornell, and my summer has officially ended. I moved in to my apartment a week ago, but have been pretty busy settling in and getting back into school mode. It was great seeing all my Cornell friends and being back in Ithaca, where it's not always 90+ degrees and super humid.

So I will end my Summer 2012 blog here. It's been an amazing experience and I had a lot of fun keeping track of what I did and where I visited. I'm sure I'll look back to this blog some time in the future and relive all the memories I made in the past few months. Perhaps next summer I will continue where I left off.

Farewell

Friday was the Academic Conference at the National Science Council building. It was boring sitting through so many presentations, but it was nice spending time with TTT-ers. My session ended early, so I joined my friends at the humanities presentation after. Those were so much more interesting and laid back than the engineering ones, but I was still with my friends on the side of the room, just taking photos, chatting, and hanging out.  At night, a bunch of the interns, and some counselors, went to Luxy and all partied together. It was nice seeing everyone together on one of the last nights we'll spend together in Taiwan.

Saturday night was the Awards Night Banquet, also the final time all the interns will be together. The dinner wasn't that great, the performances were okay, the award offerings were boring, but spending time with everyone I met during orientation and during the internship period was great. I felt like throughout the entire night, we all avoided thinking about how it's the final time we'll be together, and just tried to enjoy our time together. It wasn't until the very end, when everyone got up and started taking photos with everyone else, that the thought of not seeing each other again for a long time hit us. I'm definitely gonna miss a lot of the interns I met this summer. From now until the next time we meet again, we will just have to resort to Facebook to stay in touch and reminisce about the times we spent together. Thankfully we all took so many photos this summer and have the TTT DVD to look back on. I believe some day, we will have a reunion again, either back in Taiwan, or elsewhere in the world.

In three more hours I will be on my way to Taoyuan Airport to catch my flight at 8am. I can't believe it's already time to leave Taiwan, and that I've been here for two full months. It feels like orientation was just last week, and that I've only met all these people not too long ago. Today I met up with the handful of TTT-ers who are still in Taiwan, and we hung out at 士林夜市 soaking up our last time seeing each other. We will all be flying to different places, China, the U.S., England, and who knows when is the next time we'll all be together again. It was sad hugging everyone, saying farewells, but I don't believe this is the last time we will all be seeing each other. At least now I know that there's a possibility of having a friend back in Taiwan the next time I come back. So glad I made friends with these wonderful people this summer.

The so-called 'bro' group. Love you guys. 

My ghetto cardboard box. At least it'll be easy to recognize. 

Here's to an Amazing Summer

I am entering the final week of my Taiwan Tech Trek internship, and also the final week staying here in Taiwan. To say the least, my experience in Taiwan this summer has been amazing, made possible by the new places I’ve seen, different lifestyle I’ve experienced, and most importantly, the new friends I’ve met.  My journey in Taiwan started after I left San Francisco on June 20^th. I looked forward to my internship program and the fellow TTT-ers I’ve yet to meet, but I had no idea what was in stored for me. Now after living nearly two months in Taiwan and hanging out with people from all over the world, I can say that this summer has definitely exceeded my expectations.

When I decided to participate in TTT, I was a little indifferent towards the program. I didn’t think it would be very exciting since I have been back to Taiwan so many times before. The week-long orientation kick started this whole program with carefully planned schedules for us. Time flew by too quickly that week. We were too busy making new friends before we all left for different internships in different parts of Taiwan. The long hours on the bus were spent singing karaoke, watching movies, telling first love stories, and chatting with our bus buddies. It was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to all the new friends I met during that week. That goodbye was only temporary. Afterall, we knew we would have a last get-together at the Awards Night Banquet, where the goodbyes will be more permanent.

In a week, we will all be done with our internships, and one by one, we will be flying out of Taiwan back to our respective homes. After eight weeks in the same program, we will finally be returning to our ordinary and routinely lives – college, grad school, or work. The Awards Night Banquet will most likely be the last time all 297 TTT 2012 interns are gathered together. On that night, many tears will be shed, hugs will be given, photos will be taken and emails and phone numbers will be exchanged. It will be a celebration of the all the memories made and friendships formed, and an effort to stay in touch once we are immersed in our busy lives back at home.

It feels like my trip to Taiwan this summer has been a get-away from the busy and hectic life back in New York and at Cornell. Here in Taiwan, I can forget the stress from school and the expensiveness of everything in New York, and just enjoy my summer in a country that has everything. I am excited to get back on campus and catch up with my college friends, but at the same time I don’t quite feel ready to leave Taiwan yet. There are so many things I need to buy, places I hope to visit, and people I wish to see. With such a limited time, I can only do so much, and whatever I cannot finish will have to wait until the next time I come back to Taiwan.

Thank you to all the people who have made this summer an amazing and unforgettable summer for me. I hope we will all stay in touch after the program is over and when we are back at home. Perhaps our lives will cross again some time in the future.

Far East Movement and 萬里

Friday night was Far East Movement's concert at Luxy. They performed for about an hour, and sang most of their hit songs. I was at the front right, at the foot of the stage, so I got a pretty good view of them. I thought they were pretty good, and I liked the order they played their songs. Unlike some bands, Far East Movement live was pretty much like their recordings. After the concert, I sat on the street corner and chatted with a friend until sunrise. I've always liked late-night conversations because they are more meaningful, and this was no different.

Saturday morning, seven of us left Taipei for 萬里 for a friend's beach house. It was an apartment complex overlooking the northern coast of Taiwan. The apartment was small but cozy, and we all hung out comfortably in the air-conditioned room. We went to the ourdoor pool for about two hours, chatting, playing games and just fooling around. Then we took the bus to 金山老街 and walked around there and ate lunch. There's actually not much to see and do, but there wasn't much to do in the area to begin with. At night, some people went back to Taipei and there were only four of us left. We went to this recreational area where our friend's uncle brought us dinner, and we bowled and played ping pong. My bowling skills have gotten a lot worse since I took bowling gym a year ago.

Sunday, we woke up early, relatively, to go to 女皇頭 in 野柳. The place wasn't all that different from 和平島, except it was larger and had much more tourists. Just from walking in the sun for a few hours, I got a lot darker. Afterwards, we rested at the apartment for a bit and then headed to the beach. Right when we got to the beachfront, it started raining. Since we had to pay to go in, we decided to not go, since it probably wouldn't be as fun anyway. Instead, we went back to the recreational area and played there for another two hours.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. Sadly, this will be the last weekend I will be free in Taiwan. Next weekend is the Awards Night Banquet and Sunday will probably be spent packing for the U.S.

Far East Movement at Luxy.

Far East Movement.

Sandy area at 野柳.

The famous 女皇頭, the rock that's in the shape of a queen's head.

Pavilion of Dreams

I went to the Flower Expo (花博公園) today with seven other people. Specifically, we went to the Pavilion of Dreams (夢想管). The exhibition was near Yuan Shan, and it's part of a large expo with multiple smaller exhibitions. When we first entered, each of us received a "watch" that we can scan at different locations and do interactive activities. First, we scanned our watch at this machine and picked one wish out of five choices: health, education, spiritual, emotion, and career. I chose health, and got to see the flower that resembles me and what I picked. The whole exhibit was pretty dimly lit, and there were a lot of creative stations playing around with lights and shadows. We also entered this 360-degree theater and it showed a film that took us on a journey across the mountains, fields, and finally back to Taipei. I thought the 360-degree view was really cool; everywhere I turned I saw something new. At the end, we got a certificate with our flower on it, one different from the flower at the beginning of the exhibition. It has some Chinese words of wisdom on it, but I've still yet to decipher the Chinese meaning.

After the exhibit, most of us parted ways, and I went to 鼎泰豐 with three other people. I thought it was just alright, but I guess it's a must to try it in Taiwan. 

One of the exhibitions in the Pavilion of Dreams.

Bryan, Amy, Tiffany and I all had different color watches.

My flower resembling health.

Really cool light exhibit.

Group photo outside the Pavilion of Dreams.

鼎泰豐 - 忠孝店.

Waiting to be seated.

小籠包.

平溪放天燈

For last-minute planning, today actually went really well. I met up with a bunch of people from different TTT orientation groups and we took the train to 瑞芳, then a bus to 九份. I've been there before, so I wasn't that excited for it. This time however, I got a rock carved with my name and a fish for Pisces, and I can wear it as a necklace or just hang it up somewhere. We also explored this street off the main 老街, and it was a lot prettier than the more popular street.

Next, we took a cab down to 瑞芳 train station and caught the train to 平溪 to 放天燈 (light lanterns). We first walked around the street area with shops and food stands. The Taiwanese sausage was really good there; the sausage had slits in them and there was garlic in the slits. The fried chicken was also pretty good, but had too many bones. It took forever for the lady to make because there were at least ten different layers of spices, sauces, and toppings. When it got dark, the eight of us got two lanterns, and each of us got to write on one side. The lanterns were wish lanterns. We wrote what we wish for, lit it up, and let it float up into the sky. On mine, I wrote 學習成功 (success in academics), 身體健康 (healthy body), and 天天開心 (happy everyday). We lit both lanterns at the same time and let it float into the night sky. When we looked up a few minutes later, the two of them were still side by side. With ten minutes left until our train, we ran to this store and bought mini lanterns with Chinese sayings on them. We barely caught the train and headed back to Taipei.

It was an eventful day overall with a fun bunch.

My 天燈.

I matched with the 天燈.

Preparing to let it go.

Far East Movement @ Luxy

I'm excited for the Far East Movement at Luxy nightclub next Friday. The ticket was only $1200 NT! From now till Friday, I'll be listening to their music and catch up on their new songs.

Got my tickets at a 7-11.

虎山

Monday after work, after everyone bailed on us, a friend and I hiked up 虎山 in the pre-typhoon weather. Despite the dark clouds and occasional rains, we still went up to see the view of Taipei and the 101 building. It took about 30 minutes to hike midway to a scenic overlook, and maybe another 20 minutes up to the 9-5 peak, the tallest in the area. We only hiked midway because it was getting dark and we wouldn't be able to make it back down before the sun sets. The overlook was called 復興園, and it had an unobstructed view of 101. In the distant, we saw rain clouds moving across the city and covering up the faded sunset. As we were packing up, it started pouring, and the two of us only had my tiny umbrella barely enough for one person. We want to hike up to 9-5 peak some other day when the weather is nicer and get a better view of Taipei. One thing I love about Taiwan is that although I live in a major city like Taipei, it is so convenient and close for me to take a hike or do something outdoorsy. 

I really wish I met the new friends I made this weekend earlier in the program. The past few days have been much more exciting than the first four weeks of my internship. I only have three more weeks left here in Taiwan, so I gotta make the most out of it. 

Dark rain clouds hovering across Taipei.

Family Day

I had a really good time last night at Luxy clubbing with a bunch of people I just met. One of my favorite things about TTT is the opportunity to make new friends. It's harder to meet new people at school when everyone is already in tight-knit groups and hang out with the same people. I wish the freshman year introductions with strangers could be a norm throughout all of college. But anyways, I met a lot of cool people last night, some from TTT and others just friends of friends. It's great to start conversations with people you've just met and discover the differences and similarities you guys share. Finding out more about each other is definitely one of the most interesting parts about meeting new people, and it's a great feeling to stay in touch with them afterwards.

This morning I left my house at 9:00 to go to 三峽 with my grandparents, two uncles and aunt. I kind of felt bad for always going out with friends when I'm back in Taipei, so it was nice to spend a whole day with them. We went to 三峽 to visit the most famous temple in Taiwan, with more than 80 years of planning and construction. Sadly, I don't remember the name of the temple, but it had really detailed stone and wood carvings, the most detailed and culturally-infused in all Taiwan and China. Afterwards, we walked down 老街 in the scorching heat and saw the Japanese-styled and early-Taiwanese-styled houses. We got lunch at a famous 甕仔雞 restaurant. There was so much food we had to pack almost every dish back home. Next, we drove to 大溪 to visit Chiang Kai-Shek's summer vacation house and look at the view across some river. The view wasn't really breathtaking, but it was nice walking through the park and the pre-rain breeze felt comfortable. My uncle then drove to 石門水庫, but the dam wasn't releasing water and we didn't see the fancy water show. I asked him to let me drive, since I was getting bored sitting in the car; I ended up driving the rest of the night. We walked across the dam and the view from up top was pretty amazing. Beautiful skies, clear water below it, and mountains in the background. For a pit stop, we took a break at a coffee shop and had a mid-afternoon snack. Right after we just had our afternoon tea, we headed to Carrefour for dinner. I wasn't hungry at all, in fact, I was still pretty full. So at Carrefour I ate at a sushi place where you take plates off a conveyor belt, and they count how many plates you ate. I only ate four plates and I was stuffed. For the rest of the night, we shopped at Carrefour and another place similar to Carrefour. Ended up getting home at 10:00. It was an exhausting day, but had a great time hanging out with the family.

So my uncle said I can drive his car to go out and explore with friends. I don't have an international license, but the police doesn't do random checks during the day time. So maybe I'll take a day off this week and plan something. Before that, Bryan and I have to finish planning our trip to Kenting next weekend. It's definitely happening, and I'm SO excited!

Creme brulee from the coffee shop!

Fried platter.

Really needed coffee today.

Windsurfing

Today I tried windsurfing for the first time. It's a lot of fun, but also very tiring. It took us about 45 minutes just to assemble the sail, tie the appropriate knots, and get all the equipment ready. Then the grad student who has windsurfed before demonstrated to us while me and another grad student went out on kayaks. It didn't look so hard watching someone else windsurf, but it was really hard when I tried at first. There's an extra rudder added to the board so it was much steadier than a regular surf board. The sail rests on top of the water, and I had to pull on a string to lift the sail up. Once it's up, I had to maintain my balance and hold on the the sail, without being blown off the board. When a wind came and hit the sail, the sail either gets pushed away from me or towards me, and the pressure was really strong. I fell a lot just trying to get the sail up, and once it was up, I couldn't keep my balance for too long. After many attempts, I finally got a few successful runs. The direction of my sail was just right and the wind blew me forward. I was going so fast I saw the water splitting apart at the tip of the board. Felt so accomplished. Eventually I got the hang of it, but still couldn't figure out how to adjust the sail to control the board's direction. I'm going to windsurf again tomorrow afternoon, so maybe I can work on that.

Taken with my phone. Me trying hard to maintain my balance without the rudder.

Cliff Diving

Yesterday I met a pretty athletic grad student from the lab next door and he invited me to go 跳海, cliff diving, with him and his friends this morning. We left NTOU at 6 am and rode motorcycles to a rocky area in 潮境. First we had to climb down from the road area and trek through rocky areas to get to the edge near the water. The rocks weren't that high, and the cliff wasn't very tall either, probably 1 or 2 stories. But we were at the edge of the shoreline and there were big waves coming in from the sea. There was a stump piled up at the highest point, and we jumped off from there into the ocean. The water was deep enough and actually pretty clear. One of the jumps I tried head first, after seeing someone else jump first. Pretty scary. While swimming in the ocean, I saw a school of fish swimming and crabs crawling through the reefs. The grad student and I swam towards a rock about 50 meters away and looked at the sea creatures along the way. Then we decided to attempt a swim towards a building-like structure in the middle of the ocean further away. It didn't look that far from the cliff, but when we were actually in the water swimming, we realized how far it was. Halfway through our swim, we looked at each other, and decided to swim back. The waves got bigger and bigger the further out we swam and it also got windier. Better to swim back before it got too dangerous.

Now I'm so exhausted from swimming in the ocean. Takes a lot of effort and energy to swim in open water.

Stump we jumped off of. 

The structure we tried swimming towards. It's a tough journey. 

Sunset

As I was leaving work today to eat, I saw the sunset through the window and it was beautiful. Fortunately I had my camera with me and took a few shots.

I only have 4 more weekends left in Taiwan and I feel like I haven't done enough yet. I was talking with another TTT intern earlier today, and we both felt like we need to plan more trips and more events in the last four weeks in Taiwan. Right now, we're planning a small-scale trip to Peng Hu in two weeks. I also plan on traveling back to Taipei more often on a week night because there's more stuff to do there. Got to make the most of this summer in Taiwan.

Sunset from the window of my work building.

和平島

Last time I went to 和平島 with my uncle, my Nikon ran out of battery after a few shots. This time around, my camera was fully charged and the island wasn't as hot. Went there on my way back to NTOU from Taipei with Jennifer and Tammy. The rock formations there were very cool, shaped by the waves constantly crashing into them. The flat rocks where we walked on had very orderly perpendicular cracks through them - like a tofu. 和平島 offered very unique landscape scenes to photograph, with the yellow rocks, rocks by the sea, waves, mountains and clouds in the sky. Today's weather was also very unpredictable. It was sunny for the whole day, but there were periodic drizzles. The dark clouds were further away, but the wind was so strong that it brought the rain over to the sunny areas. I was also able to capture the sunset and the reflection off the water. One of the downside of 和平島 was the sea cockroaches crawling on the rocks. Nasty.

Shoreline with Keelung Island in the background. 

Felt great dipping my feet in the water. 

One of the many rainbows I saw today. 

Beautiful. 

Lots of people doing different activities on the island. 

Tofu-shaped rocks.

Caught the sunset. 

Clubbing and 烏來

Clubbing last night at Room 18 was really good. Met a lot of fellow TTT interns and counselors and had a great time with everyone there. I would say clubs in Taiwan are better than clubs in the U.S. The music and DJ were pretty good; it was actually a white person DJing. Everything in Room 18 looked very clean and neat, and the dance floor was big enough for everyone there. At one point, cops came in and checked everyone's ID and it took about half hour until they were done making sure everyone was at least 18 years old. Last night was the longest I've ever partied. We arrived at Room 18 at 10:30 and stayed until it closed at 4:30. By the time we left the club the sky was just beginning to get brighter. We had to take a cab because the MRT and buses don't run that early, and then I walked the rest of the way and got home at 5:30 in the morning.

I went to sleep at 6:00, and woke up at 9:30 to go to 烏來 with Jonathan. It was awful at first, because I was super tired from just three and half hours of sleep. At 烏來 we got lunch at a random restaurant and tried finding the waterfalls there, but failed. Ended up at a shoreline and took some photos there. The place is actually pretty small and there's not much to do there. Most people go there for hot springs, so there wasn't much left for us to do since we didn't want to go to hot springs. On the way back, we took the bus directly from 烏來 to Taipei Station, and I had a really satisfying nap on the hour-long bus ride. 

Pretty view from the shoreline. 

Really comfortable dipping my feet in the cold water.

Bridges were decorated with aboriginal people's designs.

Suspension bridge. 

Keelung Bar

Went out to the city area in Keelung today with Jennifer. We got some food for our stomach before getting beer at 7-11 and hitting up a bar in the area. We didn't know any drink names in Chinese, so we asked the bartender to recommend us something and then ordered something that sounded good. Ended up with Kahlua and a random grapefruit drink that didn't have any taste of alcohol in it at all. Oh wells... Tonight makes me kind of miss college life. I can't wait till tomorrow when I go clubbing in Taipei. Gonna be out till like 4 or 5 in the morning.

I need to take advantage of Taiwan in the few weeks I have left here.

Mango-flavored beer. Sweet taste, and then a weird bitter beer after taste. Not good.

Power hour for 20 minutes until we ran out. 

Music Pub.

Kahlua.

Kahlua and some grapefruit drink.

Random Observations

I've been living in Taiwan for a month now and I made some random observations:

• Jeremy Lin is huge in Taiwan. People here talk about him all the time. Bookstores sell books about him and have a big poster of him with some linsanity-related phrases such as 'Linpossible' or 'The Lincredible Journey.' There are NYK calendars, with Jeremy Lin as the center person. I saw a kid with a motorcycle helmet with 'New York' and '17' on it. So many people wear his basketball jersey. 
• Guys in Taiwan are whipped. Went out to dinner with the grad students from my lab, and almost all of them held their girlfriends' purses. It's ridiculous.
• People here have really high tolerances for heat. I would be dripping sweat and other people are just beginning to sweat a tiny bit. 
• People aren't scared of cops. Beer on the streets and at the beach. Driving down a one-way street is fine as long as there's no cops. 
• Non-Americans are very interested in American lifestyle/culture. Everyone I met who has never been to the U.S. asks me a bunch of question about what it's like living there. They ask me if college/high school parties actually do exist like depicted in movies, do Asians get bullied, what college is like, driving age, etc...
• A lot of Taiwanese people actually know English. They may not be fluent, but they can get their point across. This guy at 西門町 said 'Come inside,' 'Ice,' 'Good,' to my friends and me trying to get us to eat at his restaurant. This other lady at a tea-leaf place was able to explain how the machines work in fluent English. I was surprised she could speak English considering the tea place was so small.
• Short shorts are okay for guys. Some guys wear shorts as short as girl gym shorts to go jogging or go to the gym. Unacceptable.

That's it for now. Can't think of anything else at the moment. 

Fu Long Beach

One of the best days so far this summer. Bus D planned a trip to Fu Long Beach for the Rock Music Festival and to just hang out at the beach. We met up at Taipei Station and took the hour-and-half train to Fu Long. It took forever. Some of us ended up sitting on the floor of the train because no one was getting off. First thing we got to Fu Long Station was to get Fu Long 便當. After eating our meal in the scorching heat, we went to a 7-11 and bought 15 cans of beer and drank it on the way to the beach. It's so chill in Taiwan; no one cared if we showed beer and drank it in public. Everyone else was doing the same thing too. At the beach, we rented a beach umbrella and all hid under the shade because the parts of the sand that aren't in the shade were burning hot. A few of us went right into the water to cool down. The beach was actually really nice and the sand was really smooth - no broken seashells or disgusting seaweeds. And the water was pretty warm too so it wasn't cold staying in it for a long time. We pretty much stayed in the water all afternoon, with the exception of running back to the umbrella to get more beer. We took the beer cans into the water and drank it there. This only happens in Taiwan. Eventually, almost everyone joined us in the water and we tried flipping people, stacking people into a tower, building pyramids and doing random stuff. At around 4 pm we walked over to the music festival to check it out, but we didn't understand what the bands were singing and it wasn't that much fun. However, TTV, a news channel, asked us to say the Fu Long Festival is awesome to the camera, recorded us and it aired on the evening news. My grandma saw it and told me about it. I've been on TV in Taiwan! Wooh! We took a final dip in the water before changing and heading back to Taipei to eat dinner.

At Taipei we ate at an all-you-can-eat BBQ place. Got so many plates of meat and ate all of it. It was such a satisfying dinner after a whole day in the sun. We left the restaurant at 11:30 and now I'm still so bloated.

Today at the beach and hanging out with people from Bus D, and new friends, was one of the most exciting days yet this summer.

The photos aren't that high quality because they were taken from my phone. Didn't want to risk bringing my D40 to the beach.

Fu Long Beach.

Beach umbrellas for rent.

Just a small portion of our stash...

Music Festival.

Bridge leading into the beach area.

士林夜市

Had a super chill day at work today; half-day I should say. I went to the gym as usual, played basketball with two other interns and a few professors, and then swam. I don't feel so bad because no one from my lab went to work today.

I met up with Jason, Jennifer and Tammy at 士林夜市 and feasted there, since I didn't eat breakfast nor lunch. We were so thankful for the underground food court/night market because of the AC. We got 大腸包小腸, 蝦仁煎, stinky tofu, mango and chocolate/pudding ice, fried milk balls, and 冬瓜青. It was a very satisfying and filling meal. In the non-food section of the night market, we played a game where we bounced ping pong balls into cups. Those cups are so rigged; the ping pong balls kept bouncing out of the cups. Collectively, we earned about 90 points, and we needed 250 points to win a large stuffed animal. However, we still got a prize for participation; one prize for the four of us. We got this gun-looking thing with a boxing glove attached to the end, and when the trigger is pulled the glove punches, except it's super weak.

Afterwards, we took the MRT to 西門町. We walked around for a bit and saw a few street performances. It's hard to see/shop all of 西門町 in such a short time, so we plan on going back next weekend and spend more time there.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. A few other interns and I are going to 貢寮國際海洋音樂祭 (Ho-Hai-Yan Gong Liao Rock Music Festival). It's free music on the beach from a lot of Taiwan's popular bands. It's one of Taiwan's biggest music festivals and luckily this year I have a chance to go!

劍潭 (Jian Tan) MRT Station.

大腸包小腸

Interesting-shaped custard...

This is harder than it looks.

蝦仁煎.

Stinky tofu!

Delicious mango ice.

Chocolate ice with pudding.

Yay for group adventures!