On the day we went to the temple, we stopped by a fishing port for lunch, where we serendipitously ran into my other cousins (I have a ridiculously fortuitous record of randomly running into people I know where I’m not really expecting them) at the restaurant we happened to pick. I really sympathize with vegetarians. Watching my lunch thrashing vigorously in the net that has just lifted it out of the tank made me feel horribly guilty. My cousin told me I wasn’t allowed to become vegetarian that day, since after all, I’ve been coughing and running goopiness.
Then we all drove to Danshuei together and I had the chance to visit the private school which was founded by missionary George McKay (pronounced Mc-I by the people I know here). Presbyterian missionaries had a large impact on my family– my grandmother and grand-aunt went to a Presbyterian girl’s school (my mother tells me my grand-aunt was one of the first girls to have her hair cut short in those days, as well as get an education thanks to my great-grandfather’s progressive views), and my grandfather was quite involved with the Presbyterian church and the first YMCA in Taiwan.
Banyan tree tangle.
“Aboriginal house”– no mortar between the stones.
A bit of Althea University through the iron fence.
Down a steep hill in Danshuei– we passed two wedding photo shoots as we walked down to Fort San Domingo.
Note the many flags lining the entrance way to the fort– it was built by the Spanish, taken by the Dutch, and used as a consular office by the British. It’s a squarish building.
This is my attempt at the shot in my guidebook I later realized.
The side we didn’t enter– I find the juxtaposition of the windmill and the red brick arches interesting.
A view of the Danshuei from the fort.
Inside the fort were these little cells with oddly proportioned statues of simulated prisoners inside them. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the sculptor whose work went into the statues so that the could be set in little dark cells where people would really only see their lurking shadow.
Becoming Taiwanese 
If you are interested in the life of George Leslie Mackay, read his book From Far Formosa about his life on the island. Mackay arrived in Taiwan in 1871, and took up missionary activities in Northern Taiwan, while James Maxwell, William Campbell, Thomas Barclay, and Hugh Ritchie remained in Southern Taiwan. These five were extraordinarily dedicated missionaries (Maxwell, Mackay, Campbell, and Barclay in particular; Ritchie fell into ill health and died at age 39), who labored in setting up churches, hospitals, and colleges, who ministered the poor and sick, who translated the Bible into Taiwanese, and whose good works endure to this day.
Thanks for the recommendation!