JEDDAH, 29 March 2004 — Saudi Arabia’s big cities have surprised a delegation of 20 Taiwanese high school students, who are here on the last leg of their visit.
“What has really impressed us is the quiet across the Kingdom,” Wei-Chun Chang, a 10th grade student, said during a reception hosted to the group by Chin-Ray Liu, director general of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Jeddah, last night.
The students, all boys, who have come under a cultural exchange program promoted by the foreign affairs ministries of both countries, earlier visited Riyadh and Dammam. Aside from interacting with students and faculty members at universities, schools and other educational institutions, the group toured museums and souks. They found the Kingdom Mall in Riyadh “very interesting” and took a tour around Dammam’s Corniche, Saudi Aramco and the King Fahd Causeway.
“A Saudi student group will visit Taiwan in return,” Liu said, adding the exchange program suffered a setback after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States.
“I knew the Kingdom only as an oil-rich country before coming here. But now my impressions of the country are different and changed for the better,” said Wei-Yen Chen, another student. “We would love to come back again and spend more time here,” said Tzu-Hsin Huang, another student.
The group, was selected after a competitive test that included skills in English, singing, drama and leadership. They return home tomorrow.
