We went on a tour of Taiwan's culture. First we visited a temple in Lukang, Taiwan. It was very beautiful. There was a pond with ducks and turtles. The babies were so cute. There was a long walkway around the pond, and I found myself really drawn to the architecture and to the way the gilding really reflected where we were. It was really hot and though, and sitting down after walking around felt great.  

Next we went to another temple. This time it was a Buddhist temple. The temple looked a lot older and had less of a commercial feel to it. It was much less colorful. There were free books, although they were all written in Chinese. The way the books were made reminded me a lot of some of the books I made in a Book Arts class I took at MTSU. I was so glad that I had taken it because I could appreciate them in a different kind of way. I'm not sure whether or not they were hand-made, but the design of one of them is one I remember well.



There was one more temple we visited that was connected to the old street. It was a really nice temple, and more similar to the one before. Although, like the first one, it was a Daoist temple. They also had books and pamphlets. It was really interesting to be able to see the similarities and differences in the temples.

The old street was really long and we didn't have much time to shop because we were running late. I did get to buy something though. I got a figure of Guan Yu, or Kuan Ti,  a god of war. It's really cool. I had to do some research on him afterwards. I also tried a drink made from watermelon juice. It really tasted like straight watermelon juice, which was pretty cool.

After that, we were able to go and paint our own mask. I wanted to make mine red because I've always liked the way they looked. Dr. Jih told me that it looked traditional, which is cool because I've always been interested in the more traditional looks. There were a lot of other masks that looked really cool. Everyone's was good, but they all looked really different. I think it's nice because it reflects how different people are, but everyone is really creative!

The last place we visited was to go around a maze made by the police department. It was really elaborate, with the lights and the mirrors everywhere. It was fun to walk through, and the displays in the middle were really stunning. Overall I had a lot of fun on the trip, but I was really tired by the time it was over.