Getting out of NTU

The first day of out NTU was great.

By getting out of NTU I mean we (eighteen students, two volunteer students, two weeks worth of luggage and one professor) took a mega bus out of Taipei city to tour the East Coast and Central mountain range. I think this program is unique in that besides having lectures about plants and animals in Taiwan, we're going to see them for ourselves.

Being on the bus is apparently the cue for everyone to fall asleep. The journey was about an hour and a half. Enough time to write a bit and enjoy the view on our way to Gold Ecological Park. I would've probably enjoyed this place if I weren't so hot and tired. There wasn't a tour guide, so we got to explore by ourselves. Walking though a Japanese garden and cool (temperature-wise) mining cave was just alright.

Richard always getting into the corners of my pictures...

It often takes some sweat and a long walk to witness a beautiful view.

The rest of our day was spent in Jiufen eating. When I say eating I mean taking samples from almost every stall. I tried octopus, chips, fruit, jelly, peanuts, ice cream and of course the famous Taro Balls. Food here is cheap cheap cheap. For 3 USD you can buy noodles, soup, vegetables, and a main meat dish. Let's all just stay here and eat on the beach until we're happy.

Feed me

The boys fell asleep after eating. I am Vico for the moment.

Skinny yet long street

Staying out of NTU meant no more dorm rooms. Instead, we slept in a hostel. An extremely clean one. I have a feeling that we're going to be well fed on our two week trip. For dinner they gave us our own individual hot pots. SO FULL.

Lovely roommates!

The feeling I got from today was one of being at a camp. Before sleep, we played spoons. I of course wanted to spice up the game and would throw the spoons across the table. Heh heh.

Jimmy had us solve some riddles. He told us some situations in which we could ask YES of NO questions to figure out what happened to create the ending of his story.

Some examples:

1. In a temperate climate there's a pile of sticks, a rotten carrot, a scarf, and buttons.
2. A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bar tender pulls out a gun and the man says, "Thank you."
3. A woman drives her car up to a hotel, parks beside it, and is fined 10,000 USD.

Can you solve them?