Taiwan Adventures, V

Sunday

After a long sleep, I woke up to some stiff quads and to some knees that protested at even the thought of stairs. My original thought before hiking in Gold Ecological Park was to go today down to Taroko Gorge and have another 20 km or so of hiking. My body was not in favour of this option, so instead I decided to head north along the MRT to the end of the line in Danshui, where the old colonial forces were stationed.

I had read in my Lonely Planet that there was a Canadian missionary who came to Taiwan at the end of the 19th century who practised medicine and introduced western educational practises to the island. The travel guide hails this man, Dr. Mackay, a one of the pivotal players in modernising Taiwan. This must be true, because as I walked toward the San Domingo Fort--the colonial bastion used by pretty much every foreign power who had a presence in this country, ending with the British by WWII--I passed by a large sculpted bust of the Presbyterian Doctor in the middle of the town square, below which was a plaque extolling Dr. Mackay for all of the great things that he had done for Taiwan. Further along the road to the fort were his hospital and Taiwan's first Presbyterian church (perhaps also the country's first protestant--and maybe even the first Christian--church), both reverently preserved historical sites.

The fort was really nothing to write home about: a small, red-brick cube sitting at the top of a look-out hill over the Danshui Bay, strategically placed to observe naval traffic. Beside the fort was the former British Consulate's office & quarters--a building erected in very much the British style, complete with the red bricks & the royal symbols.

Up the hill, however, from the fort was Alethia University, which I originally thought was the fort, owing to the gothic vaulting windows that I attribute to Spanish architecture. It turns out, though, that Alethia (alethia is the Greek word for "truth") University is the modern extension of Taiwan's first post-secondary institution, founded by Dr. Mackay in 1882: Oxford College. Oxford College received its name from Oxfordshire (I assume in Ontario), the place from which Dr. Mackay came in Canada.

Reading about the history of Dr. Mackay's work a hundred and twenty five years ago stirred my heart within me & made my soul leap for joy in very much the same way that hiking in the mountains yesterday made my soul rejoice and worship God as I walked through & took pleasure in the beauty of His creation--a feeling that I haven't felt in a long, long time. The stirring of my soul was brought about because I know that Dr. George Leslie Mackay's work 125 years ago has brought life--both physical & eternal--to people in this country. It reminded me that even if we don't see the results of our work, God still can take our efforts and use them to advance His kingdom. The work of Mackay and other missionaries like him in this country are why you see one Christian cross for every three 7-11 signs (and there are, says Lonely Planet, over 7,000 7-11s here) and why the spiritual feeling of this country I _so_ much less oppressive and dark as compared to the spiritual environment in Thailand. After seeing how much the Taiwanese people respected Dr. Mackay, I was compelled to give thanks to God and worship Him for bringing life to this country through His servants.

After visiting Danshui, I began retracing my path back south, and then went a bit further than my usual station to go check out another Taiwanese historical figure: former president/dictator Chiang Kai Shek and his massive monument. The monument itself is huge & imposing, giving off a feeling of oppressive authority, which discordantly contrasts the ginormous statue of the former leader inside the main hall, where the president has been immortalised with a big grin on his face. In the basement of the monument is a small museum containing random artifacts related to the late president, including a couple of Cadillacs that weighed 7 tons each and were 6 feet wide--one of them was even bullet-proof.

At the same site as the memorial were the national theatre & the national concert hall--both huge Chinese palatial buildings decked out with red and yellow roofs. In the shared central square, some hip hop groups were practising as was a marching band. I didn't stay for too much longer, as my feet were beginning to remind me that yesterday's hike was long.

Tomorrow, if my quads are still sore, I'm considering a dip in some hot springs, which will be a good use of the day, as the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms.