First Impression Series 1

The mountains rise out of nowhere.
Well, not nowhere, but streets lined with vertical Chinese signs like a giant roulette wheel, then a gap between storefronts reveals a forest rising 1000.' Near the top is an intricate, curling red pagoda with dragons resting on the roof.
I exclaimed about it to my Chinese friend, Christina, and she said, "yeah, it's a temple," the way I would say, "yeah, it's a church." No biggie.
But as the white steeple set in a maple golden valley in Vermont in October is extraordinary, so is the red temple perched on the edge of a mountain in the middle of Taitung.