Cultural-Orientated Multiple Exchange Model United Nations. What the heck is that?! When I first signed up for the project, I was full of hesitation. Everything seemed shady and nobody, except for the word of a friend's friend's friend, seemed to be able to prove the project was not a hoax. However, it's been 3 days since I last touched down on our sunny shores, and Taiwan proved to be one of my most memorable trips yet. To think I only knew about it on the last day of registration and signed up an hour before it closed...



Though pleasantly surprised by the hospitality of our hosts on the first day, I had not anticipated the extent of their kindness. Imagine- personally making morning calls, sending breakfast to our rooms, accompanying us on our night outings, making sure we're well-fed (its usually either restaurant meals or packet meals from the more popular shops), and sending us all the way back to the airport on the last day... They're incredible.

The delegates who have accompanied me on this journey were great company too! FYI, delegates is the term used for ple who have signed up for this project. I'm a delegate from Singapore. Fun loving bunch of personalities who come from various backgrounds. We've a taiwanese ocarina player; an indonesian who speaks five languages; a japanese whose official name is korean; a malaysian who is the youngest in the group but has one of the sharpest minds; a korean who picked up fluent chinese in just 5 months etc among many others... They a great bunch of ple, and without them the trip wouldn't be what it had become.

Hmmm... highlights of the trip... ( in case i get amnesia..)



Yangmingshang - We went there before the project started, and I loved the view. Totally underestimated the distance of the map (their maps are'nt detailed at all...) and ended up getting really lost... Didn't get to the hotspring we wanted but managed to catch the geyser :)



City tour - a free pass on the MRT system for a day. The night view at Taipei 101 was great! Managed to catch the flag lowering ceremony at CKS museum and the taiwanese ple started getting all patriotic and singing the national anthem lol.. Also realised that shiling night market on weekdays is as crowded as shida night market on weekends... Never go shiling on a weekend if u can help it!



Wedding cum talent time show - it was a mock wedding, but it had the works.. A ten course dinner, red wedding decor, the married couple gg from table to table to take pics.. The setting became less formal after the delegates put up performances on stage for the so called couple. I did a salsa number with a korean gal who used to learn latin and 4 other salsa newbies who only learnt it the night before... Also played in a singaporean script where I became the infamous guy who escaped from the toilet window... Most of the performances were planned only after we reached taiwan and we all had fun staying up late nights to learn and practice. And sleep during the MUN conferences...




MUN conferences - MUN = Model United Nations. The main purpose of the project. Other than learning about how the conference works, I managed to garner lots of little knowledge nuggets ( I represented Maldives, which is a muslim country!!)... We've also lots of fun debating and while the initial part was more solemn and slow moving, it became fun and engaging towards the end after we got the hang of it.


Palace museum - Worth an entry of its own. Its treasures were magnificent!!! A must see if you go taiwan!!



Spring roll workshop - Hmmm... I kinda sympathise with the panel of judges for this one... But they were of extremely good sport, munching down spring rolls as if it was the only food left on Earth. Most of the spring rolls had varying amounts of wasabi in it! In the end the winner was this greenish spring roll with generous slabs of wasabi which won because it campaigned for a green environment. Lots of laughs(from everyone) and tears(from the judges)..



Hualien trip - I loved this trip!!! Great scenery, lots of fun splashing ard in the beach and a small-rapids zone( dunno the proper name...). Had an enjoyable stay at one of Hualien's hotels. The hotel has a really homely feel, and possesses the structure of a tiny village. They had daily performances at night and I absolutely loved the part where we shouted and waited the for the mountains to return our call.



Farewell party - All good things must come to an end. This was pretty standard, with a glamorous buffet dinner and afew performances. The dinner ended with a club atmosphere completed with dancing lights and blaring music.


Karaoke - The last activity before we said our goodbyes... There were about 30 of us gg to sing, and we booked a president suite at Party world ( the size of a shopping center) on the tenth floor. The biggest, and most technological advanced K-room I've ever been to!! They had a really spacious room, 4 mikes, 4 stations to choose ur songs, a gigantic plasma TV and even disco lights to go with your songs!! Slept only an hour that night before leaving Taiwan.

It's been really fun... And the general consensus among delegates is that we're already starting to miss it..

COMEMUN 2008, it's been great.