Spending 2 weeks in Taiwan
Those were the most memorable days of my year 2018. It was my first trip to any foreign country and it ended up beyond my imagination!
Nĭ Hăo Taiwan, Happy Chinese New Year! Keeping the words in my Thank You 2018 blog, here is the blog outlining my experiences of my trip to Taipei, Taiwan during 2–16 June 2018. I was about to post it earlier, but then I thought today is a good day for the same. Please note that this isn’t an article and am not going to tell you about the generic stuff about Taiwan which can be easily found online. This blog is going to my personal experience and is also going to cover the small things which sometimes hides behind the big stuff.
I have divided the blog into several parts, each part encapsulating its unique essence which made this trip worth a look back. I have realized that this blog is super long (even I don’t read such long blogs). Therefore, I’m including the links to different parts, feel free to use it to skip any section. You can also consider just scrolling through the pictures attached. I hope you would like my photography.
Part 1. Taipei Medical University
Part 2. Accommodation and food
Part 3. People of Taiwan (do read if you like meeting new people)
Part 4. Tourist Attractions (had some great pictures to scroll through)
Part 5. Takeaways (would recommend you to definitely read it)
Notes: Except for some group photos, all the other photos are shot by me. (No online sources are being used). Also, all the underlined words are hyperlinks.
Part 1: Taipei Medical University
Reason to visit
My sole reason to visit Taipei was to attend International Honors Program (IHP) 2018 conducted by Taipei Medical University (TMU), Taiwan. It was a two-week study program for Indian Students, consisted of lectures, site visits, lab practice, cultural excursion, and Chinese language course. TMU was kind enough to provide $500 scholarship for selected students based on their application. The scholarship covered our living and program fees along with lunch and breakfast. Thank you TMU!
It had 3 subgroups namely:
- Big Data in Health Care [schedule]
- Brain Science and Bio-imaging [schedule]
- Biomedical Engineering Frontiers in Health Care [schedule]
I was mainly interested in Brain Sciences and Bio-Imaging subgroup which was being conducted by Graduate Institute of Mind Brain and Consciousness (GIMBC), TMU. Unfortunately, this subgroup was open only for 3rd years or above undergraduate students and I being a sophomore at that time wasn’t eligible to attend it. I contacted their program manager, Joy Yeh, and she generously forwarded my application to Prof. Philip Tseng (Associate Prof., Graduate Institute of Mind Brain and Consciousness, TMU and coordinator of IHP brain sciences group) who selected me for the scholarship program after appraising my application. I want to thank Joy and Prof. Philip, without their support, I would have never crossed the eligibility barrier.
Program Experience
I thoroughly enjoyed the program, loved interacting with GIMBC professors and visiting their labs. The program main motivation wasn’t just teaching in the classrooms, TMU also took initiatives to take us to several places. We had visits to their hospitals, Discovery Centre of Taipei and Kuo Yuan Ye Pastry Museum. Joy and other coordinators of TMU International Relations team played a big role in assuring the smooth process of the entire program.
I would like to thank Prof. Philip, Prof. Niall Duncan, Prof. Jihwan Myung and Prof. Tzu-Yu Hsu for introducing us to the vast field of neuroscience. I enjoyed their lectures and loved the efforts made by them to bring the best out of us in those two weeks. Every bit of details provided by the professors was understandable (except one lecture, taken by Prof. Chang-Wei Wu on the topic Sleep and Consciousness which went above my head. Ironically, by the time lecture was over, most of us lost our consciousness and went to deep sleep XD)
We did face problems with small accommodation space and food, but for me, Taipei was so intriguing that everything kinda hid at the back. (I have mentioned the problems with the food in much more detail in later part of this blog).
Chinese Language Course
It was an inevitable subject I never wanted to study, but thanks to Sabrina ma’am, learning the Chinese language was a charm. Her unique ability to playfully engage the whole class made the lectures appealing. I was able to learn basic Chinese successfully and at least am confident that I can learn more. In the last class, we made greeting cards and she also wrote personal wishes for us in our cards. Thank you, Sabrina ma’am.
In Mandarin, younger brother is called as Dìdì. Contrary, Didi is used for elder sister in Hindi.
As I was the youngest among all the participants, everyone started calling me Dìdì. It was indeed a nice way to make fun of me, which I actually enjoyed, and of course, others too! Such entertainment was common in each class. Although we were being taught like a kindergarten student, we had learned more Chinese than what could have been possible given the time constraints.
Project Preparation
Last 3 days of the program went on completing the project component of the course. The project was related to the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I was lucky enough to work with two brilliant minds. Thanks to Anshila and Shubhangini for being good teammates. Our coordinated hard work was paid off when we received appreciation for our work.
The best part was sitting in GIMBC lab for project preparation and just drinking lots of coffee. We didn’t know how to use coffee dispenser and Prof. Philip was generous enough to prepare one for us. He even went till water dispenser just to fill water in coffee dispenser machine for us. Wow, thanks a lot!
Lastly, not to forget playing with modular dummy brain which was fun until we realized it was worth 23.5K NTD (nearly ₹54K). Thank god we didn’t break it.
Freakiest Experience
Imagine, a device which can force your hand to move against your conscious will without even touching your body, just by stimulating your brain… will you be scared?!
That is what Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation can do. In one of their lab, I got the opportunity to try it on myself. Woah! It was crazy and one of the freakiest experience of my life. Well, I’m not a huge horror movie fan, otherwise, I would have got some horrific dreams at night. Technologies like TMS motivates me to pursue neuroscience as my carrier.
Trip Video
Taipei Medical University has made a good video depicting the entire program which can be found here (I do believe that this video could have been a lot better).
I think the amount of fun I had deserves a video of its own. I am sure I will use my 76 GB of videos and photos archive to create a video someday. I had also made vlogs during the trip to facilitate the possibility of the same. I will most probably be making it during this summer or maybe after a few years as a look back video.
Part 2: Accommodation and food
For me, the accommodation was only a place to sleep at night and food was nothing more than energy to be alive. Well, I’m a foodie but am also vegetarian which cuts off many possibilities of getting good food in Taiwan.
We stayed in Formosa 101, arranged by TMU. Long story short, rooms had great human packing efficiency, accommodating 8 people in a single room of size no more than one-third badminton court. I hope it’s a good measure for you to empathize our pain.
Coming to food, you can visit Taiwan if you want to go on dieting (please note that these are my own experiences). Seriously, I lost like 3–4 kgs till the end of the program. My best meal of the day was in the morning, provided by Formosa101 for free, big applause to bread, jam, Nutella with a few pieces of fruits for saving my day. Free lunch provided by TMU was less than my breakfast meal, that too it wasn’t eatable sometimes. Finally, dinner was up to us which I skipped many times because I gave priority to exploring places.
Sitting together in TMU’s building had made some good memories, like together figuring out how to use chopsticks, trying out various combinations of Indian masalas (which we brought from India) with their tasteless boiled food. I wonder if their taste receptors and the corresponding processing area in the brain takes less space compared to an average Indian.
In short, food was the worst part of my trip.
Part 3: People of Taiwan
This is going to be the biggest section of my blog. Taiwanese are amongst the top reasons I had enjoyed my visit. They are friendly, generous and readily helpful. Even if most of the localites can’t speak in English, still their efforts to offer any help are ineffable. Google Maps in Taipei sometimes doesn’t work up to point (like it shows wrong timings and routes for some buses) and at such times turning your head towards localites is the best option.
The first Taiwanese I met
I met this lady who was travelling in flight with her 5-year-old kid. Unlucky enough, I had an aisle seat, but lucky enough, she offered me her window seat without even my appeal (I think she must have read my face… lol). I had a great conversation with her during that long flight. While eating food, I spilled orange juice on my jeans. Instantly she gave me her blanket (provided in the flight) to clean the mess. Meanwhile, she kept my food on her desk so that I could get space to clean my jeans. I agree that anyone would have helped, but her hospitality felt like her reflex action.
Playing Dart in a bar
So I was watching a girl through a glass wall who was playing dart in a bar. The bartender called me inside and asked me if I want to play a game against her. He didn’t even charge me the base money to be able to use any bar facilities. I hesitated but the people around me pushed me to give it a try. As the girl didn’t know English, the bartender asked her for the game on my behalf. While playing, we recorded each other’s throw in my camera, which is a nostalgic proof that I lost the game. Those people were very friendly. I crossed that girl again after a week on the same road and we waved our hand in joy, signifying that we still remembered that day.
Didn’t like the food
So I was exploring the outskirts of Taipei during the evening. I was very hungry but I didn’t have many options as I was little away from the city alone. I entered a very small food shop and ordered some food which turned out to be extremely flavourless for my tongue. I couldn’t eat it after a single bite and was about to leave that place. Sensing my wry face, a customer in the shop recommended me to eat Zongzi (a traditional Chinese dish made up of rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves). He was paying money to the shopkeeper on my behalf but I stopped him… obviously. Due to his obstinacy, I had to buy Zongzi, but I didn’t open the packet right away because there was a high probability that I may not like it again and throwing it in front of that person would surely be disrespectful. I took that packet, ate it later, and liked the taste. Thanks a lot to that random man.
After eating it, I asked a question to myself
“Would I have done the same for a foreigner?” I mean would you pay for a foreigner if they don’t like your country’s food and you can’t see them hungry.
Think deeply.
Especially cooked vegetarian food for us
I was being accompanied by my friend to a pure non-vegetarian restaurant. There, we raised the possibility of getting any vegetarian food. The language barrier made it super difficult to explain to them what vegetarian meant for us. Initially, they rejected any possibility of getting a vegetarian meal but then they asked if it was something related to our religion which we agreed upon. I don’t know how the transformation came, but at the end, they especially cooked and served us this awesome veg curry with rice. It was the best food I had in Taiwan. The curry had a very appealing smell and tasted like an Indian dish.
I was so happy with their service that I immediately posted that pic with a good review of the place on Google maps.
Next day, because of our mouth publicity, some of our friends went to the same place but was unable to make their request for vegetarian food. Luckily, my review of that place came into play, they showed that picture to the chefs and got it prepared. This event made me realize the importance of contributions on maps.
The only time I felt low…
The event filled my eyes with tears. Next paragraph is the description of the same. I have extracted it from my daily diary to preserve the real feelings of that time.
I was near Lungshan Temple walking alone at night, an old woman, probably around her late 60s was selling some chocolates on the road and offered me one. I was a bit reluctant at first as she didn’t know English and I was too lazy to use google translator, also, I was not sure whether it was veg. I denied her offer, but she made enormous efforts using coins to show me that she wanted 20NTD for that chocolate. I looked the chocolate and the price on it was 12NTD. I took out 12NTD from my wallet and used gestures to convey her my call. Quickly, she gave me the chocolate and took those 12NTDs, then she showed me some paper which seemed like a photocopy of an identity card. She pointed on the texts written in Chinese which obviously I couldn’t read. She had an unusual excitement on her face. It was like Santiago (ref.: The Alchemist) finally found his treasure. I could guess that woman was too poor. At such an old age, her efforts were breathtaking. Her expressions changed my mood. I didn’t want to stay at that place anymore. I walked a km alone till the Tamsui River, gazing at the calm river, I realized I could have bought more stuff, maybe another chocolate which she was offering for 45NTD and the price wasn’t mentioned for it on the packet. It made me feel miserable and my eyes became watery.
Her face had a very strong zeal which made all the difference.
I liked that she wasn’t begging as it mostly happens in India. In fact, I couldn’t find any beggars in Taipei. Everyone had enough self-respect and motivation to bring out something good from their faculty. I wish the same for India too.
Tourist attractions
We had plenty of time each day after our regular classes to explore Taipei. I never stayed in the hostel in the evening during all those two weeks. Sometimes I used to start exploring Taipei on my own (I started enjoying solo trips) other times I had my friends. My best times were with my seniors Niraj and Sweta. Special thanks to them for being supportive throughout the trip.
Public transport
Taipei has a good network of public transportation. There aren’t any traffic issues, buses and trains come on time and people stand in a line.
My best experience of using public transport was cycling around Taipei. We cycled for more than an hour, exploring the city and shooting videos on the way.
Temples
Taipei has a lot of beautiful temples and I visited most of the famous ones. I visited temples because of their appealing beauty. I don’t know much about their tradition and beliefs.
In some temples they keep Jiaobei blocks or moon blocks, these are wooden blocks kept in pairs and are tossed after wishing something from God. If both the blocks lands in the correct orientation then it is a signal from God that your wish will be fulfilled soon. A woman who didn’t know English tried hard to explain us the process. I could sense their faith and dedication towards such practices by her efforts. I tried it for fun but the probability went against me.
Taipei 101
Who doesn’t want to visit the top of a place which was once tallest in the world and still has the fastest elevator in the world with a maximum speed of 60 km/h! There is a discount on tickets for the students so don’t forget to carry your id card.
Elephant Mountain
It gives you a better view of the city than Taipei 101 and is free of cost! So maybe you can consider saving you money by skipping Taipei 101, but I won’t recommend it.
I went alone and climbed the entire trail of 1.5 km within 10–15 mins without stopping anywhere in the middle because I didn’t want to miss the sunset. I am not a sports person, after climbing the mountain I was too much exhausted and was coughing hard. After restoring my stability I felt ecstatic joy as my efforts were worth the magnificent scenery.
Yanmingshan National park
This place was very calming and am glad I visited it with my friends and not alone. The only regret I had for this place is that I didn’t climb to the mountain top which was just 1120 meters. Sometimes time rules out all the other possibilities and you can’t do anything.
Yangmingshan Bamboo lake (Zhuzihu): after searching a lot, we found out that there wasn’t any lake, it was just the name of that place *facepalm*. What a tragedy!
Night markets
I went to Shilin, Raohe, Huaxi Street and Linjiang Street Night Market. Maybe a good place for non-vegetarians, but I didn’t find anything intriguing in terms of food. There are good options for buying clothes and you are in an advantage if bargaining is your talent. The best place I found for purchasing clothes was Wufenpu district near Raohe Night Market.
Taipei Zoo
Taipei Zoo is one of the largest zoos in Asia. The story of my visit to the zoo is a little funny. During my first visit, a wrong route landed me back to my starting location and I missed more than half of the zoo. By the time I realized my mistake the time was up, “I missed Penguins”. Before you laugh at my stupidity, I would like to inform you that I was being accompanied by two of my friends (conformity rocks!). I couldn’t digest the fact that I missed penguins and so I went there again after a few days. This time I took a physical map of the zoo and ticked every place and animal I saw on my way. I found every animal given on the map, except kangaroo, which was missing from its spot.
I had uploaded ample photos with a very detailed review of the zoo on Google Maps which can be found here.
Memorial Hall
I had been to National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. I found groups of school students utilizing these spots for extracurricular activities. I met a group who were practising for some drama. Similarly, there were groups doing yoga, dance and exercise. The place was a blend of natural beauty, vast structures and cheerful people.
Coincidentally, Ant-man and the Wasp promotion was going on the day I chose to visit National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. I was able to get a sight of Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly. Yeee!!
Moon bus
It is just a small theme bus parked near Taipei 101. I don’t think anyone mentions about it and am sure you may have missed it if you had gone to Taipei. This simple spot is a good place to chill and relax. The background music played in the bus is very soothing. I felt so peaceful on the bus that I visited it again after a few days. I had searched online for that music but unfortunately couldn’t find anything. If I will ever visit Taipei again, I will definitely record the audio.
*EDIT* : I’m really sorry, the music was available online and I couldn’t find it. I want to thank Prof. Philip for sending me the link to the same, please find it here. That link redirects you to a YouTube video of Moon Bus. I would definitely recommend you to at least listen to that music.
Gondola
I took multiple to and fro gondola rides between all the four stations. A gondola ride is worth the money and time. The best view of the city comes from the last stop, Maokong. The real fun comes when you are in a gondola with a transparent bottom part; you look down and it’s nothing but greenery, that’s the time when you overcome your acrophobia (phobia of heights).
Takeaways
I agree I learned valuable stuff in the field of Neuroscience, I made some good connections with professors, I got to explore a completely different culture, I was too happy throughout the program… but the most important thing is…
Owing to those 14 days, I realized how different I could be if the people around me will give me a chance!
It’s really hard to change yourself when you live in a monotonous environment, removing preconceptions of the community around you is a gradual process. If you really want to bring something out of your hidden self, then you have to change your company. The sudden shift in my social circle let me show my real potential to them. I wasn’t bound by any social bias, it was my choice to be “who I wanted to be”. I never used to make new friends, approach someone, and start conversations on my own, but I did all that in Taiwan. This guy who never went outside India, dauntlessly explored completely new country alone at night, spent some breathless moments with nature, interacted with random people on the road, knowing about their realm and showing them his own… there was a demise of the embarrassment of standing erect in front of the world out there.
I knew, my portrait in their mind will get dissolved in two weeks like it never existed before… so why not perform some experiment!!!
This learning isn’t just particular to this program, anything can transform yourself given you are outside your conventional world. With these words, I would say go meet new people (better to visit some foreign country if you can). You would be able to show them your reality without worrying about their judgement.
Thank You Taiwan for making me realize I can be more than just my existing sketches in people’s mind and Thank You for giving me an opportunity to design a new one.
Final words
I don’t know if TMU is going to conduct IHP again. But if they will, and you are getting a scholarship for it, then it’s a must grab the opportunity. I wish a prosperous life ahead for TMU. I hope they will keep conducting such international programs to foster talent across the globe.
I also wish that someday life would pull one of those movie scenes and I would come across the people I had met during the trip. Won’t it be exciting?!
Thanks for reading it till the end. It was my longest blog ever (4K words). I appreciate you are still here to read this sentence. Thanks a lot. Readers like you are the reason these blogs exist. Please clap and follow me if I have earned your respect.
Ciao!
*EDIT* : Update - TMU is conducting IHP again in summers 2019. Find the application here.
