First of all, I would like to thank all the adults and scouts for making this a memorable trip. For many, this was their first jamboree and a new and exciting experience.

I was not at ease at first when I met the other members from the other troops. However as each troop meeting came and went, I became more confident in talking with the other scouts from different troops. Especially after the practice campout, I came to know the other scouts very well. However, I think the best bonding experience was during the two weeks we spent together, sweating in the Taiwan heat.

On the first day, everyone arrived at the airport and checked in without any problems. However, when we reached security, one of our scouts, Jason, tripped all the detectors by his disposable cameras. The flight was very long and everyone got lots of sleep and many rounds of refreshments. When we stepped out of the airport, it was so hot and humid that our glasses steamed up. Everyone was happy to step into the air-conditionded bus, which was decorated with colorful curtains and neon lights like you see in the disco club.

First, we visited the Dragon and Tiger temples, animals of troop 452 and 453. As Chinese tradition goes, it is bad luck to enter through the tiger’s mouth, so we had to enter the Dragon and exit through the Tiger. There were many interesting pictures painted on the wall inside the temple. It showed 36 ways to show filial piety to parents and 18 punishments in 10 courts of hell. There were several floors with winding staircases which led to the top of the temple. Afterwards, we were taken to the Confucius Temple. At night, we traveled to the famous Kenting National Park resort area and saw the fire ignited by the natural gas underground. The night sky was so beautiful with many bright stars shining. There were throngs of people walking around on the streets shopping and eating. We experienced the night market for the first time and it was great even though we did not buy much from the street vendor other than “Fried dumpling” (Shen Jian Bao). Our hostel was in a century old Chinese complex structure with tile roof, red door with screenend windows and with courtyard.

After a breakfast of congee and a few condiments, we drove until we stopped at Nixon Rock near the sea which resembled President Nixon’s nose. There was a rest stop at a scenic location and a suspension bridge. We were able to dodge the bridge-crossing fee and took several pictures.At the next temple, we witnessed the fastest paper money burner in the world. It was something very spectacular as we watched the wind from the furnace acting like a money counter that flipped and sucked in the paper money. For lunch, we went to a famous comedian’s restaurant, which served organic food. Unfortunatley there were so many flies that everyone spent most of the time swapping flies and ate very little. The adult table got a nice fried chicken called “hand-ripped chicken”, brought in by mistake. The service was horrible and we all left very unhappy. Later the parents bought baked yam and barbecued sausages and guava from a nearby market. Guess what? Jason ended up with ants in his fruit. Near one town, every scout enjoyed a scenic bike ride with only a few casulties. Back on the bus Gordon killed 14 flies with a double kill! That’s a record!

At Chihpen, we stayed at a nice hotel with hot springs, free internet, and free buffet breakfast in the morning. I heard that there were three separate hot spring pools at the hotel, one is red color scented by flowers, one is filled with herbal medicine and the third was regular hot jacuzi. Too bad that all the scouts stayed in the room and did not go down to the pool except the parents. Next day, at a rest stop everyone bought some refreshing ice cream with some strange flavors including salty meat flavor. Next stop was a nice beach. After lunch and a short hike we wound up at the Caves of the Eight Immortals. Everyone posed in front of a row of buddas. and we saw a giant spider. Next we passed by the Tropic of Cancer marker and took a “quick picture.” Under a bridge, there were many people rafting in the river below. Sometimes the road was very narrow but the cars still attempted to pass.

One day we visited Taroko National Park with tall mountain peaks and sheer cliffs that are very similar to Grand Canyon. There was a scary incident while driving uphill there. The road was very narrow with one way only in many sections. Our bus encountered an incoming car while going uphill on one of these one way section. Our driver had to backup all the way to the edge of the gorge to let the other car to get through. It was hair-raising and everyone stood and leaned on one side of the bus to watch. Our tall tour bus almost touched the railing seperating us from the potential fall to the deep cliff. But we were saved with our driver’s excellent driving skills.

Next day, we got up early to avoid the dangerous typhoon. We changed our schedule and visited “Taipei 101” a day earlier. The elevator was extremely fast and took us 80 floors in 37 seconds. Outside the 89th floor, it was not very windy but very scary to look down. It was very similar to the Empire State Building. On the bottom floors there were many dessigner shops. Afterwards, we went to Dr. Sun Yet San and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Halls and took some pictures. Then we went to Lung Shan Temple with a lot of people praying with burning incenses. At night we walked to the Shilin night market. Everyone tasted the cheap and delicious Yen Soo Ji. Other scouts also purchased stinky tofu and oily pork. We walked around the night market and saw a very interesting lighter and we bought a FAT marker.

In the morning we visited the Martyrs’ Shrine with the guards who never blink… or so they said. We stared at their eyes and they seemed to blink many times. We watched the guards changing shift. We had Mongolian BBQ for lunch. Everyone had seconds and thirds of meat. After the delicious meal and shaved ice desert, we drove to the Sun Moon Lake with very peaceful scenery. Xi Yo Ji temple was nearby and we went on top and took more pictures. Our hotel was very good except there were many large cockroaches and moths on the dirty floor.

After another breakfast of congee, we tasted some tea at a special Alishan Tea Shop. We tried Olong and Gao Shan tea, sunflower seeds, and preserved plums. Someone from our bus… fell in love with the tea girl… Hui Shan.. but before anything happened, we visited Ali Shan Forest Area. We saw the Little and Big Sister Lakes, The Three Brothers, and the Dragon and Phoenix. Our bus driver was kind enough to drive back to the teahouse and after that there was chaos. Jason gave the tea girl his business card and then sang Qing Fei De Yi. When Jason ran back, he slipped and fell. He gave her several hugs and even received her uncle’s phone number. We also stopped by to see the temple that got crumpled during the last big Earthquake. After the dramatic incident, we visited another Tropic of Cancer marker. Inside, we found what we believe is the world’s smallest bathroom. After a nice dinner and a soda chugging contest, some scouts ventured the city night but all the stores were closed and we came back empty-handed.

On our final day of touring, we first visited the Dutch palaces... We toured the memorial of Lord Gochiko who drove the Dutch from Taiwan. There, we prayed to the God of Literature and saw some cannons.

On the first day of camping, we were sent to stay at an elementary school because of the wet ground. We met our Canadian friends and many others from around the world. At night it was very crowded and hot without any air conditioning.

After getting up early and cleaning our classroom, we received some very cool looking orange rubber boots. We took a tour bus back to the campgrounds and began to move our luggage to our campsite. Our campsite was very far away and had no shade at all. Everyone was sweating like monkeys. Ben got a small case of heat dehydration but he was ok. The staff helped us to set up the canopies… or was it that we helped the staff??? YK, Jon, Jason, Terry, and I helped to move the bamboo sticks and became very tired until our reinforcements arrived from camp. We immediately got to work on our gateway but were stopped when a thunderstorm hit. The thunder was very loud and it poured heavily. There was still a ceremony with drums, a marching band, and a flag team …. At night there was another ceremony but we all left early…

After our first night in camp, we began the activities. Our first one was a game that was similar to follow the leader. Afterwards there was an activity named, I am Picasso, where we had to draw a picture blindfolded. One of the groups chose a pirate while the other group chose to draw Jimmy. After going back for lunch we went to activities for community service. We first did a skit based on one of the scout laws and how to serve and clean the elderly. In one of the portapoties we saw the largest piece of feces in the world… We visited and thanked scouts for mangoes and traded patches. Afterwards we marched to the girl scouts camp but many of them were dancing. Gordon “had nice conversations with” several girls. We tried to visit the Japanese and Korean scouts but they were already sleeping. We met a scout named Jason and he became a good friend with Jon.

The next day we had fun rock climbing and rappelling. Almost everyone had no problem getting up and down the courses. After going to the medical center with YK to get his Sasuke legs we went to an activity with an electric scooter. We worked a little more on our gateway and prepared for International Night. We watched many interesting performances. We received an encore after our performance but we didn’t perform anything afterwards.

Early next morning, we finally erected our gateway, the Golden Gate Bridge. We performed a puppet activity using Star Wars. There was also an activity with juggling and a jumping game. After lunch we took a tour bus to a museum. We tried different candies and some sugar cane. We saw many water lilies. After getting back, we stayed at the sub-camp campfire. Most of the “skits” were very boring and scouts took turns taking showers. We talked most of the time and went to sleep.

In the morning there was a short ceremony in our sub-camp and we received one award. After a “tasty” curry, we had to demolish our beautiful gateway. We prepared for closing ceremony with our two songs, long de chuan ren and show me the meaning of being lonely. The camp liked both of our songs though the applause wasn’t as loud as the response on the international night.

After a long night, everyone packed up and tidied up the campsite. We received our honor bracelets and Alex earned an award for being the most spirited scout. At the mini-market we signed many shirts and met many new people. afterwards we boarded our bus and went our separate ways. I went to the CKS airport and flew home with my family. At the SFO airport, someone… had to throw away their bread and then got pulled over to the security check with the FDA agricultural department to throw away one piece of bread…AI YO!!! Guess who?

This Jamboree was a great success. The scouts made new friends and experienced many new things. These two weeks and the months before will forever be in our memories.