RCPV International Service Visit to Taiwan
A great annual fellowship with sister club RC Tyan Chung
admin, Siow Hong, Lay Yeong
Visit To Sister Club of Tyan Chung from 24th to 27th June 2008
On 24th of June 2008, President Ian Homer led a delegation from RCPV to visit our Sister Club of Tyan Chung in Taiwan. The members consisted of AG Lawrence Tan, Rtn Vincent Lau, Rtn See Lay Yeong and Rtn Lee Siow Hong.
We were received by our Sister Club Rotarian members at TaoYuen International Airport, Taipei. We were presented with a bouquet of flowers each by PP Ortho, Rtn Adidas and President Puma and took a 40-minute high-speed train journey to TaiChung. It was a new experience for most of us onboard the newly commissioned high-speed train that traveled at a speed of more than 300 km per hour. The train journey was extremely comfortable, quiet and enjoyable.
Upon reaching TaiChung, we were treated to a sumptuous meal of typical Taiwanese exotic food which included the infamous fermented taufu, chicken feet and pig innards together with freshly brewed one day old “Taiwan Beer”. We retired for the night to our cozy, unique Taiwanese motel with Jacuzzi bath to refresh our tired bodies after traveling a long way from home and later dozed off with a 100-channels TV and the comfort of the specially designed bed.
Next morning, we were invited to Rtn Adidas’ factory for a short visit and had tea. This is a very large scale material color-dyeing factory, which mainly produces for leading brands like Adidas. Thereafter we were invited to a Family Aid Centre which specially catered for single parents and special children to attend a graduation ceremony of four special children who were marginalized by society and were also expelled from their school. This was the special project undertaken by Rotary Club of Tyan Chung in collaboration with many agencies to teach these children, to provide them with shelter and bring them back into the mainstream of society. The four children graduated from their respective level with certificates and prizes from teachers, legislator, mayor and headmasters. It was indeed a very touching moment for all the attendees.
In the evening, we were invited to the installation ceremony and dinner of Rotary Club of Tyan Chung. It was an excellent ceremony with almost 400 participants including their District Governor, mayor, members of the legislative committee etc. Five other Rotary Clubs also attended the ceremony to witness the installation of the new President, Mr Tea. Our outgoing President, Ian Homer gave a speech in Chinese to congratulate President Tea and we were treated with Taiwanese hospitality of a 12- course Chinese cuisine plus 4-piece band, liquor and endless “Kan Pei” and photo taking. We adjourned to a karaoke session with more local food and drinks and were entertained with Hokkien songs from Rotarians and their Anns till the wee hours.
On 26th morning, the Rotarians of Tyan Chung chartered a coach to bring us down south to Kaoshiung (高雄) and were again treated with all types of food on board the coach till we reached the destination. We visited the biggest shopping mall (DreamMall) in the city of Kaoshiung, the southern-most city of Taiwan. It is also a port city of Taiwan. We visited the port of Kaoshiung onboard a cruise and were greeted with a spectacular view of what was once the 3rd busiest port in Asia. We viewed gigantic container ships, colossal cranes, warships, cruisers and port facilities which were something that we would not have experienced in our own country. It is a lifetime experience to be in a port to witness the operations of containers loading and unloading onto big ships.
We had the chance to taste the very authentic Taiwanese street foods in the popular Liu He (六合) Street in Kaoshiung city. We were again overwhelmed by the varieties of street food and also the hospitality of our sister club members like Tea, Puma, Broker, Toichi and others. We left Kaoshiung with a bloated stomach to Tyan Chung unsuspecting that there was another session ahead to greet us. We were pulled to a van driven by Rtn Toy that brought us to a highland overlooking the town of Yuen Lin (园林) and scenery of the high speed rail for a late night coffee session and more food again. We only managed to retire to our motel after midnight with bags of local lychee and peaches.
On the 27th Morning, we were invited to the house of Rtn Idea for lunch and were treated with famous local delicacies from Yuen Lin like cold chicken feet, pork rice and dessert. It was the last delicious lunch from Taiwanese hospitality before we adjourned to train station for our journey to Taipei. We were sent off by an entourage of our sister members in Taichung Railway Station.
We spent another two more days admiring the lives and scenery of Taipei city. We visited the Mao Kung (猫空) Mountain by cable car and enjoyed the tea session high up in the mountain overlooking Taipei city. Needless to say, the captivating night lives of Taipei city and night markets (西门丁，华西街) with exotic merchandise were part of our itinerary before we left Taipei with a tired body and literally heavier body due to overeating.
*Report by: Rotarian Lee Siow Hong
|
