Dreaming of Taiwan

We visited Grape King (no real meaning to the name, as we learned during the presentation), a company that used to make pharmaceuticals but transitioned to energy drinks and supplements and is now primarily focused on supplying things like fermented mushrooms and lactic acid bacteria to other companies.  They also gave us a tour of their facilities, which while fascinating, was difficult to get through because of the smell combined with how hot it was.  I was impressed by the work they do and was also reminded of my chem lab last semester.

After we finished exploring Grape King, we visited Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Park, where the first president of Taiwan is buried.  We walked through the mausoleum which was pretty cool, but also sobering just because you could tell from the Taiwanese people who were there just how important he is to them.  After that, we walked around the park itself some, which was really pretty.  There were hundreds of statues of him.

On the way back to school, we stopped at an old street where we walked around for a bit.  There were a few different stores, and although I didn't buy anything, I did try some hot tofu which was really good and an ice cream sandwich which was also delicious.  I feel like in Taiwan I've had a yearning for ice cream a lot, which isn't surprising I guess because it's so hot!