Experiencing Taiwan 2010 - Day 1

Day 1 - Main activity area: Chung Li

Yea! The first and foremost thing to write about is the moment of excitement during the plane departed from Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) and when it landed at Tao Yuan International Airport, Taiwan! It was that familiar excitement again! I think you will think that how ODD is Zhen Ron how the hell he can be excited with that? - It's me SO? :P

It was Airbus A330 model. It was not that "polite" in a way Airasia served their customer - Hui Hui. She eats vegetarian food. We requested them to switch the food to something that she is able to consume. The stewardess replied: "I' m sorry. We are not able to switch it as it isn't written there any vegetarian food on your booking itinerary." "!", they should be more flexible in term of serving the vast bunch of customer. Swithing the item of food is just a small matter it wont ruin the whole food supply. "(

We landed at Taoyuan International Airport (Terminal 2) after 4++ hours flight. There was 2 people from Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) welcomed us. We then boarded a hired couch. Sitting inside the bus, my eye sight was drawn towards the greenish farming ground alongside the roads. It's so similar with the rural area or outskirt area of mainland China. There are box-like building structures or dwellings in middle of no way and surrounded by vast area of green(paddy field) and were drawn with hidden border line... Simply relaxing view~

Simply relaxing view

A structure surrounded with paddy field

I found out something interesting too, though it is a light industrial area yet the building structure is somehow distinguishable compared to Malaysian's. The ground floor or lower floors are either constructed with concrete or brick masonry skinned with tiles but not painted while the 1st floor or upper floors were of rigid container boxes! Simply ugly and not compatible yet economical and fast to construct. I wonder how they furnished the interior of it. The thing is who cares if the people living inside does not care about the appearance of their structures. Mr. Teoh told us that the perception of capitalism is high and the people here not really concern about the way of presenting their building as long as it serves the function, I think the bunch of modern movement architects - Mies Van der Rogh, Le Corbusier, Frank Llyod Wright were nodding their heads now. Indeed, it is true that as long as the structures are functional to its occupants. It serves his needs.

Several container boxes topped on the structure

We checked in at Park Hotel, Chung Li City, Tao Yuan. I think it's a 2-star hotel. The room is nice with panorama of the Chung Li City skyline (lowrise). After checked in, we took a short nap and get prepared for outing~ We went to CYCU campus area (exterior) 大学城 for dinner. It is a night market with food vendors at both side of the road. Just similar with Taman Connaught's night market on Wednesday weekly. CYCU night market is more spacious since they allowed scooters and few cars to pass through. The food is tasty and eye-catching. I had redbean pancake红豆饼 + banana milk juice + sting Tofu(1 piece)臭豆腐 + Watermelon Juice + Local Luk-Luk卤味 + Salty chicken咸黍鸡. Another thing is there are abundant of "正妹" (pretty girls) flooded the whole area. :)

The same night after eating, we went to school of CYCU Landscape Architecture, of course with the companion of two CYCU students - Ah Zhi 阿志 and Dou Hua 豆花. Though their classrooms or studios are not air-conditioned yet they are completed and fully equipped - A personal studio working space for each of them. What about UCSI~? I didnt deny the advancement made so far yet just "minutely" hope for a faster pace of development hope our UCSI University can be as equipped as theirs. Hence, providing a better learning and study environment. We are always looking for advancement and improvement. I always believe change for the better. :)