Trips

Sun Moon Lake

This is a very popular lake with many things surrounding a beautiful lake. This was a full day trip that we took to experience more of the Asian culture.

Chung Tai Chan Monastery

This is a Buddhist monastery that is very large and has its own community inside the monastery itself. Our tour guide was a Monk herself and it was very interesting seeing everything. we could only take pictures on the first floor of the monastery, but upstairs was even more Beautiful and very relaxing for meditation!

 

 

Front Gate to the Monastery

So beautiful-the grounds around the temple was so cool too!

 

 

This is your view before you walk through the 20+ feet tall doors!

The temple took 7 years to build, very fast for the size of the temple!

 

This is your first sight when you walk through the doors, BUDDA!

This God is the god for children and families! Fat and playful!

 

This is another God as you walk towards the back of the temple, a very relaxing position for meditation. This god was also upstairs, and was even more beautiful surrounded by white and gold.

I captured this picture at the perfect second, with nobody in the way! This was in the side wing of the temple, everything about the room just is so beautiful!

I captured this picture as we left the temple, showing the top of the Monastery surrounded by clouds. I really like this picture. They say at night the temple lights up to show people the way to pray to the gods.

 

Hugo Tea Farm

This tea farm was a tea farm where I was able to make my own tea!!!!! We made our own tea and also taste tested some of their teas that they make at there tea farm. The black tea was very good and I loved to be able to 'mush' up the tea leaves as the first step to making the tea.

 

The sign of the building as you enter the tea farm.

 

 

This was the tea tasting area, where we learned the proper way to tea drinking.

 

 

The Bus rides are always fun, chit chatting it up!!!!

These baskets are what we roll our tea leaves in. You have to roll your tea leaves until they turn into vine type things, and then you put them in the oven an dry them out, then you wait for  a couple of weeks and wa-la, you have your tea to drink.

Me-rolling tea leaves....

The Lake Itself

 

So I decided that one vegetable that I love that they do not have in the states is BAMBOO! I love bamboo, it tastes really good and Mom wants a bamboo floor, well I want a bamboo dinner!!!!

This is one of the many fruit stands. OMG I love fruit so much, and they have so much fresh fruit here it is unbelievable!

This is the tour boat that we took to tour the lake. It was a little musty and cold this day.

This is the lake, would probably be more beautiful without the clouds, but I still think it is very romantic!

 

 

Gaomei Wetland

This is a large area of wetlands on the western shore of Taiwan. It goes on what seems like forever. It is really cool, and very romantic, a very good spot to just sit and think or walk in ankle deep water with your significant other.

 

I loved seeing these people almost look like ghosts or statues in the distance. The wetlands were very cool and wet and windy!

 



This was a crab that I saw, there are a lot of crabs and oysters in the wetlands, main animals in the wetlands. 

A couple of cool birds were walking around in the wetlands, very cool looking and probably looking for those crabs to eat!

This is another cool bird that I was able to spot.

I really like this picture, a winding boardwalk into literally nothing!

My feet in the wetlands, never was more than ankle deep water for miles!

Proof I was here!

Jora and Brandy posing for a picture in the water. They are a couple of my friends who also went on this trip.

Many local people go out and dig in the mud like kids for crabs and oysters to eat.

 

These are a couple of trips that I went on and experienced the culture of Taiwan. I loved everyone of these trips and it was cool to see all the different things that they have here that we do not have back in the states. I hope to be showing you more of my adventures soon, but for now....

 

Signing out,

Michael Reed

 

 

In the City

Well going into the city is an experience in itself. The city is very westernized and has a lot of modern conveniences. I love going into the city to find new shops and to explore more places. It is a lot of fun!

Spiderman: There movie theatres show almost all American Movies.

I found an Asian Bear to take a picture with!

This man is doing traditional top-spinning in the park

 

I love this Van, I have no clue what it is but looks FBI type of van

This building is one of their Mall's they have in the city I am staying at.

 

This is looking out into the city on top of a building on campus.

They have a lot of little markets and tents set up everywhere, so I love to just look through them and shop for different stuff here and there. These shops were at an art museum in town.

This is one of the Christian Churches I found while walking around in town. I went inside and it look a lot like a regular Christian church, smaller than most, and they also had an English Mass.

 

This was on one of the buses with some people in our group going out to experience the town with some help from some awesome Students from Providence University.

 

Experiencing the town is very fun and I love going out with everyone to do so. We wonder much and we explore greatly! The City of Taichung is very cool and I am glad I get to experience the Asian Culture with great friends in a great city, in a great Country!

 

I am tired after a long day so as always...

Signing out,

Michael Reed

 

Providence University

The Campus is very beautiful here. There is a lot of plants and vegetation around campus, with modern buildings and beautiful landscaping. There was a lot of student life on campus and it is very fun to be on campus. The one down fall is one of the guys dorms is off campus, as of course this is where I am living.

 

This is a shot looking at a large pavilion on Campus

 

Most of the buildings have large signs in both Chinese and English.

 

They have fountains and statues and other really cool flower gardens all over campus.

 

Really cool murals on the buildings on Campus.

 

 

There were really cool campus events going on all over campus. The campus seems to be alive and full of life. I love going to these festivals, they are really fun, even if I do not know what they are saying. When people see us walking they will switch to speak in English to get our attention, it is really cool and everyone is so very friendly. 

A bunch of booths set up on a campus street for some festival. It was really fun to walk through.

A group of students holding up signs in Chinese, I honestly have no clue what this was all about, but it was a lot of fun just to stand and listen to them speak Chinese and run around and do their activity they were doing in a pavilion on campus!

This is a really cool amp-theater on campus, where if you stand in the middle on the platform it will echo.

 

This was one of the many beautiful little flower gardens to just sit and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather of Taiwan! All of you should be jealous of our summer weather I am experiencing in March!

 

This was one of the groups performing at a culture festival held on campus.  

 

These dances they were performing were all very cool and I loved watching them, they were so cool and I loved being able to just watch all the different things happening around campus in a different culture!

 

I can tell that they do use humor in their dances, because they are college students!

 

This is the website to Providence University if you want to find out more information about the college.

http://www.pu.edu.tw/english/

 

So far I am loving my experience here in Taiwan at Providence University. The University is very welcoming and helpful in every way. Our coordinators are the best in every way as well, I consider them my friends and they teach me something new everyday about their culture and in the process they learn about the American Culture.

 

Signing out,

Michael Reed

 

 

First Experiences

The First Days

 

I did not feel a 'culture shock' when I arrived in Taiwan. It is VERY similar in ways of America. They LOVE American food, cloths, styles, so they have all of that, but then they have their own unique culture within the 'Western Culture' of their own.

 

They do have some Fast food restaurants we have, such as McDonalds, and KFC, and many more, but they also have a very cheep and unique food of their own.

This was my first meal, which is a large portion size, along with yes my drink is Coke. The deal breaker is that this meal cost only $3.00 in US Dollars.

 

I think that the food here is great, many vegetables. I was telling some of my Asian friends I have here how it is so hard to eat healthy and so expensive in America and they were in awe. The food is really good and very cheep over here.

 

One thing I was not excited about what having the same size room as I do in Wayne, but have to share it with 3 other people. It is very tight, but we get our own bathroom, which is nice in a way. As you can see below, there is a western toilet and then a sink. Right in the middle of it is the shower head, so when you shower the entire bathroom gets wet!

 

Different Bathroom than I am used to.

 

My room looking in, left side is 4 desks next to each other, and right side is 4 twin size beds.

 

A very new experience I did not really experience yet is the 'squat toilet'

These seem to be very popular here, but when a 3D toilet is around, I make sure to use it.

 

 

I traveled to my first night market and it reminded me of a fair/carnival. It had a lot of different foods to try and sweets to eat, and games to play. It was a smaller one close to campus, but really fun and unique to the Asian culture!

 

LEGAL DRINKING AGE: 18 

 

I experienced my first Shot the other day, it was a pre-made one in a 7Eleven Shop. It was sweet with a tang, and warm to my tummy!

 

 

There is a story behind this bird: The morning before I took this picture I was in a Chinese Language class and I learned how to say bird in Chinese. Niao=Bird (pronounced Neow, like Meow with an N) So what happened was, me and my friends went walking and saw a bird in a cage, we walked up to it, and it started "Neowing" No joke, I thought this was the funniest thing ever! 

 

This was a mini temple/worship place along the side of one of the streets. It was the first one I saw and walked into, it was very cool with a lot of designs and religion tied into it. It was very fun to experience.

 

My Friend Hannah and her friend taking a selfie!

This is one of the regular crowded streets in Taiwan. It is crazy. People drive crazy and there are no sidewalks, so you have to walk in the street with crazy drivers to visit all of the different shops and food stands all along the Market streets!

 

I am an official student at Providence University in Taiwan!

 

The first couple of days in Taiwan was full of a lot of new experiences and a lot of good times with new and old friends! I love my faculty advisor Dr. Ellis, and am already annoyed with certain students that obviously came here just to drink, but I am having a good time with my friends! 

 

I cannot wait for more fun experiences!

Signing out,

Michael Reed