Dear friends,
This past weekend, I went with my host family to Alishan Mountain in Central Taiwan. Last week and this week are special weeks that the cherry blossoms bloom, flowers given to Taiwan by Japan as a gift. We woke up at 6am and drove four and a half hours to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. There were SO many people there! The blooming of the cherry blossoms is a very special event and it attracts lots of tourists from all over Taiwan.

At Alishan, we also saw lots of gigantic trees. The picture to the left is a red cypress about 2,000 years old! When we went to Alishan, the weather was fantastic, clear skies and very warm. We hiked the trails up the mountain and then came back down on the train. Most people took the train up, but the line was too long at the bottom of the mountain so we decided to just walk up.

Be sure to check out photos here! There are lots of jumping photos of me and my host family.