Off to Hualien and another warm greeting

Again goodbyes are hard after making more great friends. They dropped us off at the train station to take the train to Hualien. Again like magic a new person (Jimmy) turned up to make sure we had a safe journey for the hour long ride along the coast with scenic mountains on one side and the pacific ocean on the other. When we arrive at the train platform there were 20 Rotarians holding a welcome banner waving a warm greeting before that train even stopped. We then visited a Tzu Chi university and hospital. Incredible work by the Tzu Chi selfless leader Cheung Yen to provide health care and schooling for the needy and disaster relief around the world even though she has never left Taiwan because she is afraid to fly. Then off to a rotary club meeting where we did a presentation. Dinner at the Parkview hotel for RI rep and the 63 donors who each contributed $10,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation this past year.Saturday morning we stopped at a stone museum to see the works of Chang Hui then off to the district conference for 3490. We were ushered into 3-4000 people yelling and waving at us like rock stars, quite something to experience. I had to get up and speak about our team and thanked them for being such great hosts. A private dinner was arranged for us then of course we sang karaoke before we headed home.