Our Travels In Japan (and other places): ITRI, Science Park and Sarsparilla

After our whirlwind weekend tour of Taiwan, we were back in class Monday morning, only to be heading out on a field trip to a few sites in the afternoon. Happy birthday to me.... :P After a once again delicious fried rice meal:

I could live on this

it was off the the Science Park Administration Tour. They really have a great, government backed system for industrial start-ups here in Taiwan. I won't bore you with those details (I bored our graders in my paper about it, instead), but I'll post some of the neat things being made in the park

DVDs, HDDs, CDs all contributing to ADD

Our great tour guide, Grace, shows off a solar panel that follows sunlight, thanks to chemicals in tubes on either side that react to the heat of the light.

Speakers that can double as picture frames and still sound good. They have a small subwoofer attached, as well.

Pocket projector. I never did get the specs, but I'm guessing it's no more than 720p, for those who care

Solar cells are now decorative

Afterwards, we went to ITRI, a fascinating place. Unfortunately, no pictures, as most of what we saw is still under development or awaiting patents. Things like speaker paper (speakers embedded in wallpaper), digital torque wrenches, water filtration systems, medical technology (like 50 minute blood tests that require only a drop of blood). Too many things to mention. Check the web site if you are curious.

After we got back, we met up with Dr. Yu, who just arrived the other day with students for the other Taiwan program at FCU. He rounded up the gang and we crammed into a taxi (all 5 of us!) and headed to the Guo Guo restaurant we were at the other day. Same waitress. Funny, she remembered us....This time, we ordered spicy, and it was! Especially after the broth had boiled down a bit. We tried all the different meats this time. I wasn't thrilled with the lamb, but then, I'm not a big lamb fan. The rest was awesome.

Me, BreeAnn, Andrew, Erik, Dr. Yu

After stuffing ourselves, we walked back to campus and stopped at Andrew's lab, where even at 9:30PM, everyone was still there working....if playing World of Warcraft is working...

"The Gang" with Mark and Frank (I hope I got their English names correct!)

The CYCU students knew Dr. Yu from earlier trips, so we talked for a while, before moving on the the local hotspot, 7-11 for a more relaxed time before curfew (at 38, the thought of a curfew is rather amusing, especially since I'm usually asleep by then at home)

Tuesday AM: Sean is paying for not having a moment to relax for over a week. I'm barely functional, and struggling to stay awake in lecture, which is bad, since it's OUR professor giving the lecture!

Dr. Yu in action. Electrical Generators 101 and green energy technology

So, at break, I ran to the vending machine and got....."sarsparilla"

Not quite root beer, not quite ginger ale, not quite good.

It worked. The sugar and caffeine kept me going until lunch, which was an adventure today. We went to a "special" place today (which is what they've said every day). This one, however, was unique. There was no ordering. The owner, a middle-aged woman, came over and started speaking to the CYCU students, who were very obviously regulars. She looked at me, pointed at me and said "You. Kung Pow Chicken.", looked and Dilla and Gading, who went with us, and said "Beef and rice" and left. I was afraid if I disagreed, I'd be out on the street.