Today's ventures take us about a 3-4 hour bus ride away from TaiPei. Our first visit is TBI Industries. TBI is a producer of various lines of drinks in Taiwan and much of Asia. They produce various types of tea drinks, coffee drinks, and fruit &vegetable drinks. While they do not have much of a market in the US, they have a large market in Asia and they are expanding globally. One of the big selliing points of this business is the Cold Aseptic production of their drinks. While this process is not new to countries like the US it is new and a good selling point in Taiwan. Furthermore, this company has gone through many steps, including pass the American FDA standards to produce better quality products for their consumers. Also, TBI uses biotechnology to increase the health value of their drinks. Also, the plant is completely automated to help maintain a completely sterile environment for the production of their drinks. The plant also produces their own bottles on site as well. We were not allowed to take pictures of the plant so I cannot show you how it looked on the inside. It was a very amazing tour though. Also, we were allowed to try the porducts that TBI makes, and let me be the first to say that they are very good. The samples we tried included a weight reducing coffee drink, tomato juice with honey, barley drink, and several types of tea. We also toured their shipping plant as well. Their storage system is absolutely amazing. 
It too is completely automated short of the employees working the forklifts. Companies wishing to place orders from TBI simply send in their order and the system finds their products and sets it out to be loaded on the trucks. After touring the plant, TBI even treated us to lunch. It was a traditional chinese boxed lunch. We only had one other planned stop after this visit and it was the Chung Cheng University or CCU. At CCU we met up with some of the ocal students for a communicative tea party. We got to meet so many new people.
It too is completely automated short of the employees working the forklifts. Companies wishing to place orders from TBI simply send in their order and the system finds their products and sets it out to be loaded on the trucks. After touring the plant, TBI even treated us to lunch. It was a traditional chinese boxed lunch. We only had one other planned stop after this visit and it was the Chung Cheng University or CCU. At CCU we met up with some of the ocal students for a communicative tea party. We got to meet so many new people. 
First and foremost, let me introduce my new friends in order from left to right. On the left we have Cindy, myself (in case you don't know who I am), Nicole (a friend of Cindy's who joined our group because her group member from Appalachian was not present on this day), and to the far right is Ling. After a few brief talks from our professors from Appstate and the cooperating professors from CCU, we all took about an hour to get to know one another over lunch. Needless to say, there was a lot of food. I think I have eaten more in this day than I have in my whole life and the day isn't over yet. Ohh yeah, I almost forgot, I learned the hard way that the sushi was wrapped in plastic. Needless to say everyone got a laugh out of me trying to delicately get the plastic out of my mouth after that ordeal. The funny part is that one of the other students from ASU did the same thing about 5 minutes after I did. So I don't feel like I was the only one to do that. All of these students are majors in the business, accounting, & marketing areas. I learned from them that almost 70% of the university students in Taiwan go on to get their masters. Needless to say all three of these girls are planning to go get their MBA. I hope that they do well. Even though we only got to spend a short time together, it was such a wonderful time to be had by all. After we left the main hall where we were having our meeting we got a tour of CCU. CCU is huge. there is no way anyone could walk from one side to the other. NTU and ASU are both fairly small in comparison to this place. CCU was such a beautiful campus. There is also a legend at CCU. It is said that if you are dating, married, or whatever with someone one and you go over this bridge, the union will be broken.
It is so sad. The locals believe it though, because anyone who was seeing another person wouldn't dare go near the bridge. I guess it can't really have much of an effect on me. The girls in my group all went up and had their picture taken on the bridge with me, because they are all single as well. It is really sad because they are all so sweet. Maybe, someday in the future they will find themselves a good guy. I hope so any way. After our short tour of the campus, it was time to go. Needless to say, I am very sad about having to head back. We did make a stop in the second largest city in Taiwan for dinner (and to miss rush hour traffic). I meant to take some pictures while we were there, but I got so wrapped up in everything that was going on that I forgot. Also, I found my first DDR machine in Taiwan so I had to cut some rug on it. Needless, to say now I can say I have played DDR in two countries. Now I just have to find one in Japan. We later arrived back at the hotel at 10:00om. Not much left of the story of the day after that.
It is so sad. The locals believe it though, because anyone who was seeing another person wouldn't dare go near the bridge. I guess it can't really have much of an effect on me. The girls in my group all went up and had their picture taken on the bridge with me, because they are all single as well. It is really sad because they are all so sweet. Maybe, someday in the future they will find themselves a good guy. I hope so any way. After our short tour of the campus, it was time to go. Needless to say, I am very sad about having to head back. We did make a stop in the second largest city in Taiwan for dinner (and to miss rush hour traffic). I meant to take some pictures while we were there, but I got so wrapped up in everything that was going on that I forgot. Also, I found my first DDR machine in Taiwan so I had to cut some rug on it. Needless, to say now I can say I have played DDR in two countries. Now I just have to find one in Japan. We later arrived back at the hotel at 10:00om. Not much left of the story of the day after that.
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