Double-Ten Celebration, also known as 雙十國慶日,  is the Independence Day of Taiwan on October 10th. There are many kind of celebrations going on for the whole week long and all over the country.

I'm writing this because, with a great opportunity I had, I got to take part in the celebration under supervision of the Overseas Compatroit Affairs Commission (僑委會), by accommodating some overseas Chinese to the event. This is my first time, and would probably also my last, to take part in the Double-Ten Celebration since I'm leaving Taiwan very soon. I'm really glad that I can enjoy and take part in this national festival.

Even though I've been in Taiwan for five years, but this is my first time to attend an Independence Day Celebration, and the ceremony. And that's why I got too excited before the actual event that I couldn't sleep for days...haha. Though the waiting is suffering, but it worth all when I finally meet my group. There are 34 people in my group, all of them are Chinese from Los Angeles, coming back to take a tour around the island and, of course, to attend the celebration.

This year we hit the biggest number of about 10,000 overseas Chinese coming back to Taiwan compare to around 3000 attendance in recent years. So I'm glad that I only need to take care of a small number of people. (well...34 is still pretty much for me...haha)

On 9th of October, we went to a convention at the Linkou Stadium. It's quite an impressive grand view when you see 10,000 people gathered up in a stadium. That's when you could use the phrase "as tiny as an ant" cos when you looked at the people sitting at the opposite side, you couldn't see their faces. You only knew there's "someone" sitting there. Even when you looked down the stairs, the people were still tiny. So you could imagine how big and how crowded the stadium was.

Though we were a little bit late for the show due to some problems, we still managed to get through the check point. Yes..there were some check points like the custom, with police officer checking the bags and belongings. Well, the President Ma was coming. Eventually, we got in and got to see the shows through the monitors at both side of the stage as the place we sat was almost at the top of the stadium, where you could almost touch the ceiling when you stood up and raised your hand.

Anyway, there were a lot of entertainment and shows going on for 3 hours. As a matter of fact, it didn't impress me that much as the shows were mostly done in a tradition way. I mean, the performance were like lion dance, playing diabalo, singing old folk songs, marching band & honour guard, and things like that. The performance was good, it just ain't my type. The only thing that cought my attention was when President Ma giving the address. Finally I could see the real him, even though it was that far away and he was that tiny..haha.

Actually I was a little bit tired when I woke up the next day, which is exactly 10th of October. I was too excited and worried about what would happen during the ceremony. You know, that was my first time.

I went to the Howard Hotel to fetch them. Due to sickness and tiredness, there were only 23 people going to the ceremony. One thing that surprised me was that they started giving me tips. Wow~that was my first time getting tips and I was even shocked when I received a tip in an amount of NT500. Wow~wow~wow~I could say that that was really a culture shock for me...haha.... Do you know how much they all tipped me overall? It's about NT2500!! That was more than what I could get for my salary for two days. Omg!!

Then we went to the Chiang-Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and walked to the Presidential Palace. Luckily we were early enough to take the front seats. It's pretty funny that the foreign guests' seats were facing the sun and we were not. But it was still a sunny day and we're not allow to bring umbrellas. So you could try to imagine what would happen when we all sat under the sun for four hours. Yes, I'm having decortication now.

But I had to say that the parade and performance were still great. It's interesting to see performance directly. I mean, before this I could only watch performance through tv and papers. Now I got real.

There were marching bands & honour guards, Hakka taditional dance, aborigine dance, cheerleading, military marching and parade. What I liked the most was the air force performance, when 7 military aircraft flew over the sky. Though it only last for a few seconds - long enough to take a snap shot - it's still amazing.

I'm really appreciate to have this kind of opportunity to attend the Double-Ten Celebration. I might not have a chance here in Taiwan anymore, but I think I will go to other countries to watch their Independence Day Ceremony and celebration. I think it worth watching, no matter on tv or live.

Merdeka~! Merdeka~! Merdeka~!

hahaha....