Author: ccosby

6/3

Final full day with everyone 🙁 Jay and Deon are leaving tomorrow (6/4) so we had to make the most of today. Spent another long day on the bus just chatting and enjoying the view of Taiwan’s east coast landscape. We visited the “Far Far Away” village where we got to create our own essential oils that were unique to us. Supposedly, our personality could be determined based on the essential oils we chose for our final product. But by that logic, it means that Fubing has a nasty personality, Jay is tiny and weak, and Noni will make it through customs successfully. I also got to see a monkey cross the road which made my day. Jesse told us not to feed them anything but I was almost tempted so that I could see one. Eventually, we arrived at our current hotel and visited the night market. The place was great until it started pouring buckets on us. Luckily, Jay and I won a couple more plushies and booked it back to the hotel with Noni, Ellie, and Sophie. 

I’m honestly surprised we made it through the whole trip without any issues, though I did almost get locked out of one of the hotels (the gate was closing while I was still outside at 11:45 pm). But overall, the trip was a huge success and it was such a pleasure to get to know everyone. To commemorate the closing of our trip, Jay and I released a song that I hope you will all listen to. Go to his blog post to check out the song.

~Cael Cosby

05/28/2023

We left Taipei this morning and spent most of the day on the bus. It was such a relaxing day where we shared quality conversations and played road trip games. At the beginning of our drive, Professor Deon and I reflected on the things we learned over the past few days with a focus on the aquaponic farm. There were so many interesting things about organic farming and sustainable aquaponic systems that stood out to us, but a lot of the experience continued to spur more questions about applications and upscaling these systems. We reflected on possible research project ideas about establishing aquaponics around the world, one being a comparative analysis between eco-tourism aquaponics (those that a sustainable but also generate more profit from visitors) vs self-sufficient, non-ecotourist aquaponics (possibly in European locations like the Netherlands). 

We had one quick restroom stop before noon which gave us some time to stretch our legs. We found this small outdoor arcade with claw machines and a little trolley for babies. I really wanted a ride so I popped in 30 yuan and rode the little 30 feet circle. Unfortunately, I had to get off mid-ride because I found out I weighed a little more than capacity (the weight limit was 75 pounds). After gambling away the rest of my change to the claw machines, we hopped back on the bus.

By lunchtime, we arrived at the performance arts center. The main activity of our day was watching the Legacy Dance. Jay and I, through our genius minds and sneakiness, managed to snag some open seats in a better viewing location. Despite the slow start of the show (mostly because of the lack of music and sound), I really enjoyed the dance routines and symbolic elements of the performance. My favorite part was the second part which showcased the immigration across the seas from China to Taiwan.  I found it extremely impressive how the central figure held a large sheet that represented the ocean but was fighting back against the downward pulls of the other performers, all while being held up by two others. 

Overall, the day on the bus was great for building relationships with each other and we saw lots of beautiful scenery from farmland to forests to unique hillsides. To top it all off, our travel agent, Jesse, gave each of us gifts.

~Cael Cosby