2015 Biking with President Pan: A Spring Tour on Wheels to Tamsui

On May 9^th, 2015, nearly 100 SCU international students pedaled with President Wei-Ta Pan and other staff members in another biking tour, one of the major events held by the Office of International and Cross-Strait Academic Exchange each semester particularly for students from the overseas. Busy as he is, President Pan would always keep his promise and make time for this bike ride with students every semester as a tradition, leading international students to enjor the best coastal scenery in northern Taiwan.

On that sunny morning, 140 bikes started out from Waishuangshi Campus, going along Linxi Road through Zhishan Park, all the way towards Tamsui along the riverside bike lane. Participants consisted of exchange students from Japan, Korea, Germany, Poland and mainland China, some mainland Chinese degree-program students and local student volunteers, as well as an Iraqi student who just arrived a few days ago. Professor Jiao Zhiyong from Capital University of Economics and Business saw this meaningful event as a help for mutual communication between students across the Straits and a proof of Soochow University’s great care to international students. 

The long line of riders proceeded along the coast towards Tamsui against the bright sunlight and the gentle breeze while enjoying the fresh air and the views of beautiful mountains and waters, which quite a few students stopped to take photos or selfies of. During a short break at Guandu Riverside Park, students had some rest and took pictures with President Pan, who later introduced to students some featured wetland animals and plants such as mudskippers, fiddler crabs and kandeliasn in the mangrove before the luncheon at Asia Pacific Hotel in Tamsui.

Although exhausted, students still managed to finish a distance of 30 kilometers of cycling, and felt content with this feat made possible by its organizers: the Office of International and Cross-Strait Academic Exchange, Office of Military Instruction, Environmental Safety, Sanitation, and General Management Division, as well as Health and Counseling Center. Each student who completed the 30-km bike ride was granted a certificate to mark a precious memory in a summer-time weekend in Taiwan.