Of course, they were. All 57 of them. For the first time in life the elderly citizens, their mean age 80, rode Taiwan’s bullet train.

It was a treat offered by the Taiwan High Speed Railroad Service (THSRS).

“Gosh,” cried an octogenarian lady happily, “we were at Taichung before our seats were warm!”

They took the bullet train from Taipei. It took a mere 40 minutes to reach their destination.

The THSRS dubbed the run “Happy Train.”

The happy riders had to get off at Wujih and were ferried to the city of Taichung to visit a science museum. For most of them, it was their first-ever — and probably the last — visit to the museum full of scientific wonders.

All of them are residents of the Taipei Municipal Haoran Senior Citizens Home.

“We were all jittery in the morning,” said another lady resident of the home for the old. “It’s raining very heavily,” she went on, “and we were afraid our trip would be canceled because of the rains.”

No cancellation was necessary, unless there was a typhoon.

Chen Chih-chang, Haoran director who organized the trip, thanked the THSRS for giving the elderly a free ride. “We wish to thank the Lungyen Compassionate Foundation for providing incidental expenses and the Rotary Club for ferrying our residents from Wujih to Taichung,” he added.

The elderly citizens all appeared in their Sunday best at 6 a.m. for the trip they had looked forward to for two months.

A few ladies also wore sunglasses, though they were not needed. And jewelry they thought they would have no chance to wear. A couple of old gentlemen put on their best business suits. A few, however, appeared in short pants.

The trip was suggested by a resident a little more than two months ago. Lee Wan-tsai, 84, saw the bullet train for the first time in his life on Tomb Sweeping Day last year. He went back to his hometown of Miaoli to pay visits to the graves of his ancestors.

“You know,” Lee said, “I wanted a ride on the bullet train when I first saw it.”

He thought his fellow residents at the home for the old had the same yearning. “So,” he added, “I told our director a little more than two months ago.”

Chen then made all the necessary arrangements to make his wards’ dream come true.

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