Taipei day 4 - Hess day 1 - Registration and medical check

It was an early morning this morning, we were up at six am. For breakfast at 7 and registration at 7:40. The Hess people are really slick, everything went smoothly and they have obviously done this many times before. As per the documents procedure, everything was clear, well organised and timed almost to the minute! The intake of teachers must be 40-50 people! English teaching is big business!

Ren Ai hospital... it was not torture

Waiting our turn to be poked and prodded

We were split into 2 groups and herded into a bus to get our medical check up done. The Taiwanese medical systems is fantastic! Very efficient, we saw a doctor who listened to our lungs and heart, then we got weight, height, blood pressure and eyesight tested by a nurse, then had blood taken and finally had a chest X-ray all within the space of about 3 hours! That would take 3 days at home...and this is the public health system!

We got to see the Hess main building and a large temple next to it where they took a group intake photo. And then they took us for lunch. After lunch we took a city tour on a bus with JC telling us all about the sights and history of Taipei and Taiwan.

I swear, if I wasn't there it would fall over! See, it's already leaning!

We stopped at the Dr Sun Yat Sen memorial where there was a much better opportunity to see the Taipei 101. 

Dr Dun Yat Sen Memorial

Sun Yat Sen led the rebellion that overthrew 2000 years of Emperial rule in China. 

Renalda and I at the Memorial

They like their bronze!!

Another stamp for my "passport" ;)

We then went back to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial where we watched the changing of the guard, which we had missed last time. After that, home for a well deserved nap, before going out to gorge ourselves on sushi. The Sushi Express restaurants are too cramped to take photo's and we were like 2 little piggies, trying all the cool things. Guess what they had at a sushi bar?! Veggies on the conveyor! Did I say I love the food in this place yet?

The internet in the hotel is a bit dodgy and I haven't been able to upload any of my posts since the day we arrived, so we came to a Mr Brown coffee shop to use their wifi, which is fantastically fast. We may also have found ourselves a venue to practise our other addiction, dancing. It appears there is a ballroom dancing club across the street from the hotel. It only opens at 9 so we will go check it out now.