Images from Taiwan

There were more motorcycles in this city than I had ever seen in my life, and I was glad to be traveling by bus. Two Taiwanese students took me and a friend to the National Palace Museum, where I was fascinated with tiny ivory carvings--so intricate they had to be viewed through a magnifying glass. They brought us to dinner in an underground area where dozens of familes had set up their own little kitchens. Children (8 or 9 years old) were the waiters and waitresses, and not a word of English was spoken. To this day I don't know what I ate, but I rather enjoyed it.

I also spent two days at Toroko Gorge, which is indescribable--even pictures won't do it justice. My hotel room had a view of the Tien Hsian Buddhist Pagoda nestled in the moutains. There were natural hot springs, which were wonderful. We had to leave the moutain in a hurry, though--the police came and told us that construction people (who were working on the winding roads) were going to dynamite the mountain in an hour. If we didn't leave right away, we would have been stuck there for days. Somehow, I don't think I would have minded very much...but we didn't want to miss our plane back to our ship.

NOTE: Click on an image to view it enlarged.

	Colorful Aborginee Dancers, near Taipai, dancing at the marble factory.
	Toroko Gorge--so huge, so magnificent, you really have to be there to appreciate it. Those tiny little specks at the bottom right of the picture are actually people.
	The Grand Hotel in Taipai.
	A movie poster that just cracked me up.
	A beautiful temple in Taipai.

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