Taiwan Election Day : ShouShan Martyrs’ Shrine in Kaohsiung

There’s something symbolic in where I spent my Taiwan election day. High up on the ShouShan mountain overlooking the sea and Kaohsiung city was the Martyrs’ Shrine :

From its imposing, majestic and scenic location at the southern foot of Shoushan, Kaohsiung City’s Martyrs’ Shrine overlooks Kaohsiung Harbor and the city districts in the distance. A luxuriant growth of flowers and trees wind up the foot of Shoushan, forming a beautiful landscape and the favorite leisure spot of the city residents. [...]

Everywhere, in Tainan and Kaohsiung, everything was dead quiet. After a long morning-noon meeting I took the train down south the train was almost completely empty. The weather was great, clear blue skies, sun and wind, so ShouShan mountain’s Martyrs’ Shrine was a good spot for contemplating what the Taiwanese were going through during that day.

Taiwan’s heading in a whole new different direction, at least that’s what everybody keeps telling me from both sides. In my outsider perspective, it doesn’t matter who you support, I think the Taiwanese people have shown maturity in the way this election was held, in conducting a sensitive political discussion about the essence of who they are and with a vote percentage Israel could only dream of. These results mean something, and I’m sure everybody will spend the next few months understanding what exactly that something is. I’ll leave it to the knowledgeable folks to discuss themselves to exhaustion. Me? I think the Taiwanese will keep surprising us for the better. I have great faith in the people here.