Day 8

We started the day with a visit to the Bureau of Health Promotion which is part of the Department of Health. This organization promotes healthy lifestyles by encouraging many things such as breast feeding, healthy diet and regular exercise, and smoking cessation. We learned mostly about the smoking cessation. Smoking exposure in public areas has been reduced along with the exposure rates in schools, but there is more work that needs to be done. We also talked about the need for a tax on cigarettes, to hopefully make them unaffordable. This is what we were petitioning for last week.

A director of the Bureau of Health Promotion. 

Pig intestines that some people ate for lunch. Not me!

Our next stop was Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital Facility. This included a teaching facility where surgeons from all over the world can come to learn state of the art techniques, a mental health facility, and a hospital. The mental health facility was pretty much a spa equipped with a gym, a movie room, a place for massages, and much more. I think we all would have loved to stay there for a few days. The hospital was beautiful. They built it to look like a hotel so people wouldn't dread coming to stay there. There is shopping and coffee shops to occupy you time while you wait to see the doctor.

 The outside of the hospital

 The lady is demonstrating how light effects how surgeons see during surgery. 

Where doctors come to learn new surgery techniques. 

 The food court at the hospital. They want it to look tropical and relaxing. 

On the way to dinner, we stopped to see another temple and town. 

 Lukang Lung-shan Temple

This is a water well. One side opens to the street and one to a house. This is because the owners of the home want to share their water with poor people.  

Theresa showing off the signs surrounding the entrance to a home. They change these signs every year. 

These people are burning money in honor of one of the Gods. They are burning the money so the God will have it to use. 

Tonight we were treated to dinner by the directors of the hospital that we visited earlier today. They took us to a Japanese restaurant. To be treated to a Japanese restaurant in Taiwan is a high honor. The food consisted mainly of seafood. They kept bringing out more and more courses. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves tonight. 

A boat full of raw fish meat

Beef and Lamb

Bacon wrapped around scallops in a bamboo leaf

Maggie and Theresa enjoying our delicious dinner

My table at dinner

On the bus ride home, we enjoyed some more karaoke. 

Kai singing karaoke

It was a long, but great day. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Day 7

We started the day by visiting China Medical University. They have a Chinese Medicine museum where we learned about some traditional Chinese Medicine. One thing we saw was a huge compass. They use a compass to do things like position their furniture so that they have good feng shui. We also learned a little about acupuncture practices and herbs that are used.

Learning about the compass

 Example of an old pharmacy

Acupuncture Needles

Next, Dr. Seal gave another lecture, this time about violence prevention. He talked about some of the strategies that are being developed to prevent violence in New Orleans. Violence is a huge problem in New Orleans, which ranks number one in the country for homicides. New Orleans is unique in the sense that there are pockets of murders in a few specific neighborhoods. The average person, such as myself, is not at risk of an object of this violence. There is a specific population, black males between the ages of 14-30, that is at risk. Dr. Seal is working within the community to reverse this pattern and make neighborhoods safer. He does face great challenges, such as many people in these neighborhoods have become numb to the violence. To overcome these obstacles, he is building relationships with community members to find out what they need in order to reverse these patterns of violence. I think this lecture was interesting to the Taiwanese students because New Orleans is so different from Taiwan when it comes to violence. Most of the Taiwanese students have never seen a gun or drugs. 

Dr. Seal Lecturing

Next, we learned about acupuncture. A few people from our group were able to try it out.

Nicole tried out acupuncture on a pressure point on her hand which is supposed to affect her oral cavity. 

Theresa had a heat lamp shined on her knees. 

Danielle had suction cups on her arms which is supposed to relax her upper back. 

We concluded our school day with a Tai Chi lesson, which is a type of martial arts. It's much harder than it looks. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this since I was busy learning. 

Tonight for dinner, a small group of us enjoyed a Japanese Hotpot restaurant. It was delicious. They brought us a pot with soy sauce that you put on a burner. Then they bring you vegetables and raw meats and you cook your food yourself and then eat it. This was one of the best meals that I've had since I arrived here. 

So good!

Ping, Carrie, Doris, Nicole, and I

Day 6

Today was another touristy day for us. We started the day by Chung Tai Chan Monastery, which is beautifully situated within the mountains. Here we were able to learn about Buddhism. I personally didn't know a lot going into this experience, so it was interesting to learn about the teaching. Buddhism centers around having a pure mind and controlling your mind- having good zen and karma. We even got to practice meditating. The monastery was beautiful.

Bridge in front of the monastery

Doris and I on a bridge in front of the monastery

Buddha sitting on his baggage that he has let go of

These are Arhats that get rid of the three deadly poisons 

Buddha inside the monastery

Our next stop was at a tea plantation. We could see the rows of tea growing and got to taste some of the tea.

Doris and I at the tea plantation 

Tea plantation

Our next stop was at Sun Moon Lake. It is the largest and most beautiful alpine lake in Taiwan. It was a great view.

 Kim and I at Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake

Our final stop was at the Wen-Wu Temple, which overlooks Sun Moon Lake. 

 Wen-Wu Temple

The temple

Another shot by Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake

Day 5

Today was filled with sightseeing. I'm not exactly sure where we were, but we took a 2.5 hour bus ride to an old village that had a temple. We drove through the mountains, so the bus ride was beautiful. After that we went to another town for lunch. This town had many shops that sold things carved out of wood. After this we went to an old train station to look around. It was a pretty long day with a lot of riding on the bus. Here are some pictures from the day:

They say that rubbing this thing will bring you fortune and riches. Ofcourse, all of us Public Health people were rubbing all over this!

Dr. Chen and Dr. Seal in front of the entrance to the temple

Kim!

Inside the temple

This structure was beside the temple. If I understand correctly, they burn things in here. 

Lunch consisted of a variety of dishes including pork, chicken, shrimp, and squid.

Enjoying lunch

 The town where we visited the train station

 Theresa, Betty, and I are nice and sweaty after climbing the hill to the train station

Beautiful scenery...the mountains make me miss Virginia Tech!

The train station

Tomorrow will be spent doing some more touristy activities including a monastery and a lake!