This has been an eventful trip. While in Taipei the students were introduced to the complexities of Taiwan's democracy. They met people from different sides of the political spectrum and learned about the meaning of "Green" and "Blue" politics. I will post pictures and more discussion of the meetings when I have speedier internet access.

Following the meetings and briefings in Taipei we left for an around island tour. We started by visiting the Jung-Tai Monastery in Puli and then went to Sun Moon Lake in the middle of the island. We spent the night in Puli. We followed this with a visit to the Aboriginal Culture Park and then spent the evening in Taichung. This morning we left Taichung and visited Lukang, an old port city in western Taiwan known for its Mazu Temples. As one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, a visit to Lukang gives a nice introduction to the multiple cultural influences in Taiwan, including Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese.

We are currently at an altitude of about 7500 feet on Alishan, (Ali Mountain) in the western range of mountains in Taiwan. We took a two hour hike through the forest this evening before dinner. Along the way we got to see some beautiful, enormous red cyprus trees indigenous to the area. Many of the trees are over 1000 years old and the largest has a circumference of 23 meters. Unfortunately most of these trees were cut down by the Japanese during the colonial era, and their valued timber shipped back to Japan.

We will get up very early tomorrow morning and ride the alpine train up the mountain to view the sunrise over Taiwan's highest peak, Yushan (Jade Mountain). Jade Mountain is approximately 4000 meters. Following the sunrise we will head down to Tainan and visit the Siraya Indigenous community and the Khau-pi Presbyterian Church. The Siraya people are going to greet us with an introduction to their history and land, and treat us to a traditional lunch. The Minister of the church is a fascinating man who is doing impressive service work in the community. We will travel down to Kaohsiung tomorrow evening. Kaohsiung is Taiwan's second largest city, and the largest port.