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Day 4!!!! We checked out from our hotel in Taipei and visited the  National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine where we witnessed the exchanging of guards :) We learnt that military defence in Taiwan is taken very seriously by the people and the government. It was a long but lovely trip to HuaLien as we went up and down the mountains with the amazing view around us !!! The view of the sea and mountains is seriously beautiful *-*  As we arrived at Hualien, we visited the Dongdamen Night Market and bought a few bags, wallets and food :) The highlight of the day was the stopping on the way to Hualien !!! We were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and refreshing breeze on the mountains :")  I learnt the Taiwanese can speak English quite well yay!!!

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Germerio_Preston_4th Day in Taiwan_Dec 2nd

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Germerio_Preston_4th Day in Taiwan_Dec 2nd

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Today, we checked out of our hotel in Taipei in the North to get on the tour bus for a long trip. We visited the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine, viewing the ceremonial changing of guards, a sight that is unable to be found in Singapore. It lasted for about more than 20 minutes, which we could feel the intensive patience and discipline by the guards. We enjoyed the view and the beautiful structures at the Shrine as well before continuing on the bus. We stopped by Yilan to eat lunch. On the way to Hualian, after lunch, we sang and had fun on the bus, enjoying ourselves as we completed the entire 5 hour bus ride along a scenic route by the ocean. The sea view was amazing, as we enjoyed some quality sleep time.

Next, we went to one of the largest Night Markets in Taiwan, the Dongdamen Night Market that is a merge of 3 Night Markets. There we split into our groups and enjoyed ourselves playing arcade games and having snacks, even buying socks and other clothing. Once again, we enjoyed ourselves walking around, trying different foods that were not at the RaoHe Night Market. The stench of the stinky tofu however, repulsed us slightly and we did not try it.

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Jermaine_Zi Xuan_Nhi_Journey to the East_2 Dec

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Jermaine_Zi Xuan_Nhi_Journey to the East_2 Dec

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The first stop of the day was the National Revoluntionary Martyrs' Shrine which gave us new knowledge on the history of Taiwan. From the trip to the shrine, we got to understand the sacrifices that the soldiers have made for their country which shows their National pride. This is something we Singaporeans can learn from as any amount of contribution to the building of this country is also important. We witnessed the changing of guards which is a long process that is done every hour. We heard that it is not an easy job so kudos to those guards!
Then we went on a long bus ride to Hualien which was fun and memorable due to the noisy people on the bus who kept singing, and the amazing view of the pacific ocean.
Upon reaching Hualien, we headed for the dongdamen night market which had many carnival games! It was fun trying out the street food as well and overall day 4 was a fun but relaxing day

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We have learnt that there are strong feelings among some local Taiwanese that they want to overthrow China one day. The highlight of our day was the Dongdamen Night market. Even though we have experienced countless night markets the previous nights, this was especially special since it had considerably many more arcade-like games included that other markets did not have. We maximised our time there and thoroughly enjoyed many of the games available, some of which brought back childhood memories. Something we did not know about Taiwan before was that there are more Taiwanese than we thought with exceptionally good genes.

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We visited the Martyr's Shrine, where we witnessed the change of guards ceremony. We learnt that the guards were not even allowed to blink when doing their duty, which really shocked us all! Visiting the shrine also gave us a new perspective on the soldiers in Taiwan, as we learnt about the struggles they faced while serving their country. Then, we travelled to Hualien and visited Dongdamen Night Market. This night market was different from Raohe, as there were many game stalls (which we attempted and failed at). The highlight of the day was definitely learning more about the history of Taiwan, and the immense number of struggles and sacrifices made by different parties in order to achieve the peace enjoyed in Taiwan today.

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On the 4th day of our Taiwan trip, we visited the Martyr's Shrine. There we learnt that the soldiers play an important role in Taiwan and they are all greatly respected by the people of Taiwan. This was because the soldiers faced immense challenge and struggled in order to protect Taiwan which gave us the Taiwan we have today. Later on, we started to travel to Hualien on the bus. The bus driver played some Chinese band songs while on the way and even gave us a chance to stop at a tourist attraction which has a wonderful view of the mountains and the sea. When we reached Hualien, we went to the Dongdamen Night Market. The food there were superb (especially the coffin bread) and we had a lot of fun playing the games they had there. Taiwan really showed me how we should appreciate everything in life, especially the soldiers who defend our country. They are the ones who gave us the peace that we have today and we should not take them for granted.

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We learnt about its tensions between china due to a civil war, and it was due to this war that led to a diverse cultures from china in taiwan  (eg. people from sichuan and beijing will have different tastes and thus different types of food).

The best part was the stop at a part of Taroko National Park, which could not have happened without our bus driver who gave us time to stop and appreciate the scenery there. The refreshing sea breeze was a welcoming change after sitting in the bus for quite a while, and the fact that the seawater was so blue was shocking as it would be impossible for such seawater to be found in Singapore.

I never knew that Taiwan’s history was filled with so many twist and turns, like how the defeat of a political party led to the rise of a metropolis.

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1. I have learnt how much Taiwanese people respect those who have fought for their nation. As compared to Singapore, Taiwanese really do put in much more effort in showing their respect for those who have sacrificed themselves. We also observed the changing of guards ceremony at the Shrine and it was definitely an eye opener. They are so organised and so disciplined. They must have put a lot of effort into it.

2. The highlight of the day was the long bus ride and the picturesque views. We really bonded during the bus rides and the views were really picture worthy and they were not a common sight in Singapore, in fact you do not see such views in Singapore.

3. I learnt that Taipei was actually not the center of Taiwan and that the center of Taiwan was all mountains.

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Zi Tao_Xavier_Journey to Hualien_Dec 2nd

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Zi Tao_Xavier_Journey to Hualien_Dec 2nd

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1. We learnt that the Taiwanese people really pay a lot of respect to those who sacrificed themselves for the country, and in the National Revolution Martyrs' Shrine, people pay their respects to the soldiers, and are given the utmost respect for fighting for the country. We witnessed the exchange of the guards which we do not usually see.

2. The highlight of the day is to witness the change of guards and to be able to see the mountains and the blue sea that surrounded us when we travelled to Hualien

3. We learnt that Taiwan are more educated in managing their own responsibilities, like classes clean their respective areas in the school often, unlike in Singapore where we clean it about once or twice every year.

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Zi Tao_Xavier Journey to Hualien_Dec 2nd

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Zi Tao_Xavier Journey to Hualien_Dec 2nd

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The day starts off with us visiting the national revolutionary Martyrs' shrine, where we managed to watch the change over of guards, who had to stand for an extremely long period of time before they could have a change of person taking over them. It was a very serious process and it was definitely interesting to us. Not only that, we learnt how important it was to Taiwan for them to honor and respect the soldiers who fought and died for Taiwan. After which we prepared for the incredibly long journey to Hua lien. ( Yuhao had motion sickness so he WAS NOT looking forward to this at all). Luckily, I survived through the long journey and we soon arrived at the dongdamen night market, which to be honest, was pretty boring as there was not much to enjoy there as compared to the other night markets. I would say, the highlight of the day was actually when we stopped halfway during the journey to enjoy the breathtaking scenery, which was an extremely good place to take photos AND FOR ME TO BREATHE SOME FRESH AIR CAUSE MOTION SICKNESS ISNT FUN :(
The one thing that really took me by surprise is how large Taiwan is, as in Singapore, you don't ever get to have a 4-5 hour long bus journey. Furthermore, we are also very surprised by the rich culture that Taiwan has

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Caiheng
1. Taiwan has been through a lot of and been under the charge of different parties. They take the military section very seriously and people respect the history,.
2. The highlight was to see our band mates got so excited during drive stops especially at 太鲁阁公园 as we were amused by the view of the mountains and the sea.
3. They have a lot of seafood. The locals may get fat very easily.
Taiwanese can speak English quite well and there are many tourists.

Anjali
1. I saw the amount of respect and value they have for their national treasures. We don't see Change of Guards in Singapore as often as Taiwan (honestly I only saw it during funerals)
2. The highlight for me was those sing along session with the band in the bus. It made us come together and we had a lot of fun!
The photo taking sessions were also pretty fun HAHA   esp with my xiaogua yay!
3. This bus trip actually thought me the different geographical aspects of taiwan (Kaitlyn and Jermaine were mentioning them during the bus ride). HAHA
But Taiwan is really pretty, the sea view was really awesome I loved it HAHA

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Today is the day we head out to Hualien. But before that we went to the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine to catch the changing of guards ceremony. We saw the soldier marching in and how they were markings on the floor showing how much they have marched. We saw how the guards changed their duty in style. We learnt that the Shrine was to honor all the soldiers who have fought for taiwan. Really amazing.

Then we headed off to Hualien on a 4 hour bus ride. It gave us the time to rest and further strengthen bonds with one another as we also spent the time singing along the music from the DVD that the bus driver brought(Chinese music performance). The highlight was definitely the amazing scenery we came across on our way to Hualien. Some of the view from the bus was just simply breathtaking.

Up till now we learnt that Taiwan is simply a place of rich culture and history. They have many places such as the shrine and memorial palace that holds enriching information about the country.

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Lance Wu_Ryan Chung_Road to Hualien_2nd Dec

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Lance Wu_Ryan Chung_Road to Hualien_2nd Dec

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Lance:
1. I learnt about the respect and reverence for the people who shaped the nation from the Matyr's shrine.

2. The highlight of the day was the long journey to Hualien on the bus. Despite the long hours, I managed to foster deeper bonds with others that I do not usually talk to including my roommate

3. Firstly, I learnt that the Taiwanese people are warm and hospitable, their rich culture and history and lastly, I learnt about the life of typical Taiwanese student

Ryan:
*Day 4*

1. The Taiwanese history contains many war heroes and people who have contributed greatly to make Taiwan what it is today. As such,  the Taiwanese built such shrines to remember the hard work put into building Taiwan.

2. The highlight of my day was the night market. It was huge, containing stalls which sold delicious food and beverages from different parts of China or local delicacies, had arcade games which were lots of fun and finally had clothes shops that sold good clothes at an affordable price.

3. The Taiwanese are very pro-environment and try their best to recycle as much as possible. They also follow an 'elementary school - junior high - senior high' education system instead of 'primary - secondary - jc/polytechnic/it's/ib' system that Singapore follows.

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Today was the day we checked out and went on our long trip to Hualien, but before our journey, we went to the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine. There we watched the popular "change of guard" ceremony, where we saw guards taking turns to keep watch of the shrine. Here, we learnt more about the shrine as well as the guards that stood still for extremely long lengths of time. We learnt about the struggles and fights the soldiers that laid here had to endure, as well as the importance of honoring those who fought for Taiwan. Afterwards we set off on our incredibly long journey to Hualien. Upon arriving at Hualien, we stopped by Dongdamen Night Market, possibly the largest Night Market in Taiwan. It was rather boring here to be honest as there were not many people and not many things that were interesting on sale, so we would definitely not say it was the highlight of our day. The highlight of our day would be the bus journey as we were able to see the beautiful scenery by the bus, as well as absorb the fresh air by the sea when we stopped in the middle of our journey to take photos. So far, we have learnt a lot about Taiwan, but one fact that really caught our attention would be the sheer size of Taiwan. Looking at maps, we thought that Taiwan was probably around the same size as Singapore as it was still dwarfed by its neighboring countries like Japan and China. However, after going on an almost 5 hour bus journey, we now believe Taiwan is not only HUGE, but in fact much larger than Singapore.

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1)         What have you learnt about Taiwanese culture/history from the cultural tour?

2)         What was the highlight of your day?

3)         We are now midway through the trip. What have you learnt about Taiwan that you did not know previously?