Taiwan Reflection

Taiwan was the first Asian country I have visited.  It was similar to what I expected in many ways.  A few things that I was surprised about were I thought there would be more religious buildings and the cleanliness of the city of Taipei.  I thought I would see and learn more about the different religions.  I was not sure if talking about religion was taboo.  Li was the only person to explain how they used the incense and bowed to make a wish to the gods.  There was little to no trash on the streets and not a lot of vandalism.  Everyone simply takes their trash with them.  There is also no eating or drinking on the trains or you will get a fine.  This was sometimes hard to remember.  You could not even chew gum.

The big companies we visited were very clean and newer.  People were dressed in mostly fashionable clothing, but I was shocked that the younger women wore extremely short skirts and many wore high heels.  The corporate culture for most was to give back to the community and always putting quality first.  Quality control was key in every company we visited.  Visiting the companies really made me understand the importance of being bilingual.  I wish I would have paid more attention in Spanish class and may consider trying to learn a new language now that I am done with school.  It will be a challenge seeing that I had over a week to try and learn Chinese and I still only know a few short phrases.  It does not help that Chinese is a tonal language.  Japanese maybe a little easier.  A lot of the street signs were also in multiple languages.  The number of people who could speak a little English was very high.  It is almost required in school to learn English now. 

I was happily surprised that I was able to find food that I liked.  Many places had pictures to pick from or English menus.  A few of the nights we went out with Dr. Peng and Dr. Laurence to the night markets.  They would order random things for us to try and not be stuck having to eat the whole thing if we didn’t like it.  I did not try stinky tofu based on everyone’s expressions.  I will be happy to never smell stinky tofu ever again.  I did try many oyster and squid things.  Squid balls were my favorite odd food so far.  Most of the noodle dishes and dumplings were good.  The desserts were not very sweet, but the ice cream and frappes were delicious.  Another weird thing was that at the hotel we were served salad for breakfast every morning which I liked. 

My first two days using public bathrooms were not fun.  The first time I was not aware that they usually had one normal (western) toilet at the end of the row and had to squat.  The second time the only normal stall did not have a door.  It is not easy.

I only saw a handful of GM cars the whole time.  I did see a GM dealership directly across from HTC which looked nice and new.  Most dealerships in the city were small store fronts with no lot and only a few cars on display.  Taxies were about 80% Toyota and the other 20% either Nissan or Mitsubishi.

An interesting things were that any time you buy something your receipt has a lottery ticket number on it.  If your number is called during the national drawing you could win.  At most places you could donate your receipt to a charity.  It is all a strange concept.  I was also surprised not to see a ton of orchids.  I only saw potted ones, not any wild ones. 

During one of the tours I got a mosquito bite.  Many others had multiple bites.  The bite did not hurt or itch the first day, it was only a small bump.  As the days pasted it grew in size and became red, but still did not itch but was a little painful.  The mosquitoes here are black and white and a little larger then back home.

Overall I really liked Taiwan, the people and all the experiences we had.  My favorite company visit was a tie between Giant and HTC.  Learning about both companies was very enjoyable.  The presenters really loved their work and could answer all of our questions.  My favorite cultural activity was the lantern experience.  It is something everyone should experience.  I enjoyed all of the university visits.  The people here were fun and easy to talk with.