Hi! Finally I’m back!!! Back from Taiwan after a good 3-week at a foreign place.
The last time I stayed in a foreign country was last year April – 2 weeks in Japan. Time flied while I was in Japan...
I spent my first week in Taichung attending company's global meeting. My first time attending such an international meeting involving colleagues from, not only Taiwan, but also China and USA.
Indeed, I am honoured to have this opportunity although I didn’t contribute much during the meeting. It was quite an intensive meeting, from 8:30 am until 6:00 pm and sometimes 8 or 9 pm, until everybody was exhausted.
The meeting, of course, was held in Mandarin, and I did have some difficulties understanding some of what they said, although I was from Chinese background. Heh! But I did gain something from the meeting.
The next one was scheduled in Oct in KunShan (昆山), China. Not sure if I still have the chance to attend.
The 3-days meeting finally ended on the 1st of June and I guessed everybody was relieved, not only from the meeting, but also from the meals provided by the hotel. Dishes were almost the same and to me, very oily!
The next day I followed my colleagues to visit the top Traditional Medicines manufacturer in Taichung and was impressed by their factory and state-of- the-art equipment, and was warmed by their hospitality.
On 3rd June, I followed my vice-president to Taipei to visit a supplier and enjoyed a lunch treat by the supplier before residing in Leader Hotel in Taipei. That night, we had dinner together inside Taiwan University and walked around that area.
The next day vice-president left for airport early in the morning, leaving me alone in Taipei, and I was supposed to attend a course inside the hotel itself. The course was about entrepreneur management for Chinese entrepreneur from overseas and was organized by
侨务委员会. It was another intensive course lasted for 11 days.
I had to sit in for lectures from 9 o’clock early in the morning. Classes would end at the earliest six something and the latest nine something at night. Lunch break was 1½ hour though.
Before reporting to the course, I was very anxious as to whom my classmates would be and how would they be like. As the course was meant for entrepreneur, most of them would be successful businessmen and entrepreneurs or at the least, managers. Would they be looking down on me?
I was relieved to meet a lady from Penang who is a PA to her managing director on the first day. I immediately requested her to be my roommate. Later on that day I found that most of them, almost half of the class, were from Malaysia. I was even more relieved to have many of them befriended me and taking care of me. I was one of the youngest as most of them were business owners and above 40.
Other than lectures, in the first week, we also went to several kampung areas to have a clearer understanding of their cultures and to pay some successful and renowned corporates a visit. When came into the second week, it was packed by mere classes and they became increasingly boring until most quitted classes. I also felt like going home already.
Overall, I still learned a lot from the course. Compared to those entrepreneurs, what I knew was much lesser and so what I gained was also more. It made me realized it was not easy to be an entrepreneur and it did require a lot of readings, which I did the least. It made me want to read more, although I don’t know if I’d have the persistence. Since primary school, I didn’t find reading that fascinating anymore. But reading does help a person to gain more knowledge and improve personal values.
About Taipei, it was a busy city just like KL. I didn’t explore many places in Taipei. I was more interested in shopping. I was surprised to find that fashions in Taiwan could be cheap too! We went to ShiLin night market (士林夜市) where I bought some cheap skirts. Even cheaper than in Malaysia! There were more varieties and designs were better. I also bought some shoes in a night market (公馆) near to where I stayed. A pair of shoes costed me only around rm42! I also tried some 麻辣臭豆腐. Yummy ~!!
I didn’t really try many tidbits in Taipei because most of our meals were already provided. Other than hotel food, what we ate the most was 便当, bento. Their bento was nicely packed in a hard cardboard and came in varieties. Many different dishes (definitely more than 3) were packed in one bento. It was served with a yogurt drink. I wouldn’t say Taiwanese food was any better or worse but what I hated most was its oiliness. Even vegetables appeared oily and turned down my appetite.
On the last night, I went out with 3 classmates to a night pub located in one of the richest resident areas in Taipei. 2 of them were from Malaysia and one from Thailand. We had some drinks and enjoyed songs from the live band performing on that night. The singers were excellent and their voices were amazingly good. But I was surprised to find Taiwanese rather conservative. Why? Most of them were sitting quietly in their seats and didn’t dance to the music.
Finally the intensive course ended on 16th June and most of us were going back on the next day. Early in the morning we had a breakfast at the hotel’s café and met some classmates. Before we left, I gave a businessman from Paris a goodbye hug. He had been very friendly to me and taking good care of me.
It was such a coincidence that my roommate and I were taking the same flight. So, we, together with the Taiwanese businessman from Thailand (who treated us to the pub yesterday night), departed for the airport together in a taxi. And there, we said bye-bye to Taiwan!
