Mr. Ma and Mr. Downer on the Twelfth Floor of Ma's Campaign HQ (photo from IDU's news article)

An excerpt from the Latest IDU News:

The IDU representatives, together with a delegation from the International Young Democrat Union (IYDU), were the first international representatives to meet president-elect Ma Ying-jeou after his election victory was known. The IDU/IYDU delegation met Mr Ma immediately before he made his acceptance speech to a cheering crowd of jubilant Taipei citizens outside the KMT headquarters.

Well, for now, all you guys have to know is that IDU is the group we were accompanying during the whole elections. So this means--yes, you are right--we were there when it all occurred. And definitely, there's one heck of a story to it! But, I still have to wait until I receive all of the exclusive pictures, finish the report for National Policy Foundation, check on accounting numbers, to finally get to the story telling part.

Stay tuned. I promise it will be exciting!

My friend Kimi--my roommate, a friend since elementary school, and also a member of the "Tainan Gang"--went traveling by himself during the elections and took these pictures.

You can see the rest at this site.

btw, after I finish a brief report for the National Policy Foundation (our sponser), I'll be able to start sorting out all the photos we have and post some article about this election.

First of all, as the 2008 Presidential Election Observation trip comes to an end, I would like to thank all the guests I met during the past few days: Alexander Downer, Eirik Moen, David Amess, Ramon Barros, Randy Bumps from the IDU; Jens Damm from Germany; David Hayes from the UK; Dick Gupwell from Belgium; Kerry Dumbaugh from the US; Chih-Chieh Chou from NCKU, Taiwan. You all gave us a wonderful experience--and certainly tons of good stories to tell! (which is what I'll doing in the following blogs )

I would also like to thank all the partners who helped out--I couldn't have accomplished any task without them: Wei-Chia Lee, Su, Andy, Sarah and her boyfriend. You all were great! I guess we can really call ourselves the "Tainan Gang" now!

Last but not least, I would like to thank Vicky and Chia-An for their support from the Central Command, which is located somewhere mobile in Taipei. They gave us everything--money, support, jokes, etc (anything you can think of).

I'll be uploading some of the photos I got (and some from other cameras ) at this site.

The clock is ticking: 24 hour countdown to the Presidential Election.

Tomorrow is also the day we put our plans into execution. Starting from 8:00, I'll be accommodating guests--most of them are from IDU--from all over the world . At 14:00 our group will leaving for Tainan; thus, starting our election observations. In addition, I'm looking forward to meeting the guest assigned to me: Mr. Alexander Downer. I hope he enjoys the trip!

For the 2008 Presidential Election Observations, I will be escorting Mr. Alexander Downer. Here are some additional information on him.

Schedules and details are still under coordination and planning. This will be a bigger project--compared with the Legislative Elections--with more VIPs and escorts. I hope it will be successful!