Project Week 2016 // Spring in Taiwan // Day 1

As the sun rose on the temperate morning of the 17th of April, a handful of students and teachers of CIS Hangzhou started on the long-winded quest to the quaint island(s) of Taiwan.

In a nutshell, the lengthy journey involved a series of delays and various mediums of transport over half a day. It started with a drive to the airport, a flight to the port city Xiamen, then a slightly nauseating and soporific ferry ride to the island of Kinmen. Upon our late arrival, we took another bus to our bed & breakfast in the village of Zhushan (珠山). The whole village was rife with historic value and rustic charm, right along with a bevy of grazing animals and feathered friends. The bed and breakfast itself was a traditional house that was modified from a small school to a residential area, but it retained its name, Headmaster’s Home (校长的家), and each room was named after a grade and class. Albeit the walls were thin, the beds were uncomfortably moist, and the Wi Fi was weak to nonexistent, it was pleasant.

After settling in and receiving gifts from Ms. Hsieh’s father that we were very thankful for, and evening had descended, we went to the nearby former Department for the Chief General (总兵署) now converted to a small museum. There was a colossal weathered Banyan tree (榕树) in the courtyard, very lifelike models of officials and prisoners, and luminous plump lanterns swaying in the courtyard drizzle.

We slept mutely as the sounds of chattering creatures filled the night.