Day 6 - Eastern Taiwan Excursion

On Day 6 we went to visit one of the aboriginal tribes that still resides on the east coast of Taiwan. We were treated to some great singing and dancing as they celebrated their heritage of Taiwan and there appreciation for their country. After they performed their show we had lunch at their facility and we spent some time shopping their various products.

On the way to the tribe we came across a luanch point for hang gliders that was pretty neat. It must take somes serious internal fortitude to make that first jump.

Day 6 ended with our return to the hostel in Taipei and anticipation for our "free-day" in Taipei. A bunch of us decided to make one more run out on the town and went to the Longshun Buddist temple and it was well worth it. This temple was gigantic and it has the most intricate carvings all over every square inch. There were dragons and phoenix and all kinds of great images. The place smelled of incense like you would not believe. I also found it very comforting that cats have a symbolic status in the temples and they are allowed to raom at will, I believe they may even be considered revered since I saw some folks gathering around a particularly regal looking black cat at one point. We also went to the Longshun night-market and this market was definitely a bit darker than the previous ones we went to. This is where we saw such foods as snake soup for sale - you could even pick out your snake right in the walkway.