Our first weekend in Taiwan was eventful, interesting, and exhausting. We drove to the southern part of Taiwan, an approximately four hour long bus ride, to visit Tainan and Kaohsiung. Our first stop in Tainan was their main night market. At this night market all of the students stuck together in a large group in order to try out and share as many dishes as possible. Of all of the dishes I tried that night, the most interesting was 皮蛋 (Century egg), a fermented egg that takes on a gelatinous brown color with a green yolk. As unappetizing as it sounds, it actually tasted fairly good. We also saw an amazingly well trained dog sitting in front of a stand wearing a costume, and it barely moved a muscle the whole time it sat there.

    The next day we visited three historical forts belonging to the Dutch in the Tainan region. The first fort, because it fell apart as time went on, was reconstructed and now looks more oriental than Dutch. The second fort we went to was no longer a structure, but actually a giant, open space with several cannons. There we saw three volunteers in traditional military garb perform a skit displaying the use of the cannons to fend off the foreign invaders. For lunch that day we walked through a market and ate at a restaurant which served a lot of local, delicious seafood. The third fort of the day had an observatory tower with a beautiful view over Tainan city. We then drove to Kaohsiung and saw historical pagodas, a beautiful lake, and a plethora of turtles.

    The next day we visited a massive Buddhist temple compound and the National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung. The temple was massive and very elaborate, which seemed very non-Buddhist to me. What I've learned about Buddhism stresses humility and a simple life, but this compound seemed like Disneyland to me. Although it brings in more interest to Buddhism, I feel it gives off the wrong message. Despite this, it was still a very impressive area with beautiful architecture. The Sun Yat-sen University was one of the most beautiful schools I've ever seen. It's nestled into a mountainside overlooking a bay and the weather is absolutely beautiful. At the end of the tour of our school we walked along the coast which was amazing.

    Later that day we went to the reception of a Taiwanese wedding, which was a really interesting cultural experience. Many things seemed identical to a Western wedding reception except for the dresses. Instead of wearing a single wedding dress, the bride had three separate dresses, including an Oriental style dress. I found it interesting that they try to Westernize the wedding experience, but they still hold on to their traditional clothing. The family of the bride and groom were all very kind to us even though we were very under-dressed and did not know the family.

    Tomorrow we plan on going to the most elaborate temple in Taipei which I am very excited for. So far we've seen many beautiful and elaborate temples, but apparently this is the most grand one of all of them. We also might go to the Raohe night market which would be very fun.