Briefly, I ended up leaving Taipei a couple hours after my last blog for a Buddhist monastery in the mountains; that's where I've been for the last couple of weeks.
Actually, I did go to the monastery at Shihtoushan (Lion's Head mountain), via train and bus, about a couple hours south of Taipei. From where the bus dropped me off, I had a fairly steep hike up the mountain with my backpack on, and by the time I got to the monastery, I was soaked. I was hoping that I would be staying in an ascetic dorm for pilgrims, but by the time I got there, I didn't mind that the monastery had hotel accommodations for tourists. I only spent one night there and took the train back to Kaohsiung the next morning. My Dad was back from Hong Kong and he and my mom and I rented a car for the next three days. I got to drive with the rest of the crazed lunatics!
We drove across the island to the east side and visited an prehistoric musem and a hot spring. We also visited Taroko Gorge, a pretty amazing national park on the east coast.
Last weekend we went to Lukang, a historic city in central Taiwan, where I got to witness a ceremony involving the deceased. It would raise eyebrows in the States.
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