Sorry -- no pics today. The Internet Cafe doesn't allow USB plugs.

The other day, we were walking on the road to Taidong, and our buddy William (you might remember from previous posts) pulls up next to us again!

It had been a few days since we saw him last. He had dropped us off at a good sleeping spot at a fishing port. We thought that would be the last we'd see of him. This time, he tells us to get in his van, and he'll show us some cool look-out points.

We get in, and he takes us to a few beautiful Pacific look-outs. We had dinner at a vegetarian place, and then find out that he's a monk. He took us up to the hot springs, and talked his manager friend into letting us all in for free. Sweet.

I've learned a lot from him, a fellow traveler and continuous learner. I'll get into some (probably) in another post.

The past two nights, we stayed in Taidong with my father's cousin, so I think that's my uncle. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) He's a cop in town, and we got the executive tour. A co-worker of his took us into the mountains and we saw this art studio where these guys make ceramics.

We also went to sort of a cultural center for one of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan, the Bunun Tribe. It was interesting. I need to do some research, but I think there are a lot of similarities between the way aboriginal tribes all over the world are treated by colonizers. (Also something I'll try to touch on in another post.)

Today, we walked about 15 kilometers, and we got to a pretty dangerous part in the road, so we stopped. The first car I thumbed down picked us up. I guess it's that easy here. It was the Coast Guard. Again, authority over here is real nice.

We're at our stopping point for the night now, Dawu, Taiwan. My uncle treated us to a hotel room for the night. Awful nice of him. We'll be getting a 20-minute ride in the morning to a safer starting point. From there, it'll be a few more days until we reach the tip of Taiwan. We'll be doing a couple days inland until we get there.

It's so chaotic in this Internet "Cafe."