Day 3!!!

Today we went to the Bureau of National Health Insurance. This trip was particularly interesting to me because I have never seen the administrative side of health care. Personally, I am very interested in seeing how the NHI works in Taiwan. At the Bureau, we were welcomed with fresh coffee and pineapple cakes, as well as small gifts! We got to meet the different executive members of the Bureau and were treated to a  presentation on the NHI and how it works. It was fascinating to meet and hear from the senior executive officer, who gave us very clear and detailed answers to all of our questions.

We then parted our ways for lunch and I ended up getting Mos Burger, which was delicious, but quite pricey.

Later in the day, the group met up again for lecture at TMU. We were treated to a lecture on traditional Chinese medicine by David Edstall. Mr. Edstall was very... eccentric!!! He was very passionate about Chinese medicine because of his past encounters and failures with western medicine. It was interesting to see a Caucasian man so intrigued by eastern medicine that he chose to live in Taiwan to pursue it! Mr. Edstall gave us a very informative lecture and then proceeded to teach us how to meditate and relax. It was definitely nice to do some breathing exercises after such a long day of work!

Later that night, we decided to try out some Indian food at a place called Dazzling, located near our hotel. The food was definitely not real Indian food! The curry tasted like Japanese curry instead of Indian curry. Overall, the food was sub par, slightly expensive, and disappointing. But I still think that it was worth trying because now I can say that I've tried Indian food in Taipei!