Landscapes in Taiwan

Introduction:

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to climb Da Xue Mountain with my Taiwanese host family. Before I came to Taiwan, I knew there were mountains, but I never imagined that there were so many or that they were so big. I realized just how big these mountains are during the car ride with my host family. The road was so steep with so many sharp turns that I felt like I was going to be sick. As we moved up the mountain, first in a car and later by foot, we climbed through several different climate zones. Near the top, we moved into a rainforest, but one that is very cold, due to the constant wind and high altitude. It was here that I encountered some of Taiwan's wild animals for the first time. The most interesting was a large monkey that looked like a baboon. It had a bright red face and was covered in a thick fur coat to help it stay warm in the cold environment. They are about the same size as a medium sized dog and can move really fast! While a lot of Taiwanese people got really close to the monkey, I kept my distance. The last time I encountered monkeys while climbing a mountain in Asia, they attacked me! That is an interesting story for another time though! 

What makes this environment special or different?:

What makes this environment special, from my perspective, was how wet and cold it was compared to the rest of Taiwan.

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