Scores of people waving banners at the airport denounced the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan, while others waited for hours at other points to catch a glimpse of him and to greet him.

At the airport, one of the banners carried by the protesters read "Tibet, Taiwan belong to same China." The Dalai Lama, accompanied by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, went from the arrival terminal at the airport to the Taiwan High Speed Rail Station to board a bullet train that was specially assigned to take him to the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

At the station, he was greeted by followers of Tibetan Buddhism who offered him "hada" as a blessing.

About one hour later, the Dalai Lama, along with Chen Chu and members of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto representative office of the Tibetan government in exile in Taiwan, arrived in Kaohsiung around 1 a.m.

The Dalai Lama was warmly greeted at Zuoying Station by a huge crowd that had been waiting there long before he arrived. People waved "hada" and shouted the Tibetan greeting "zhaxidele." At around 1: 15 a.m., the Dalai Lama arrived at his hotel where another huge crowd was waiting, but he was whisked into the hotel and to his room by a side door.

Cheng Shun-lu, a devout follower of Tibetan Buddhism, said he and his family had been waiting in the hotel lobby for over three hours in hopes of seeing the Dalai Lama again in person. Cheng said he visited Dharamsala last year and met with the Dalai Lama.

Other followers, holding "hada, " wept in the lobby. They said although they did not have an opportunity to speak with the Dalai Lama, they could feel his kindness and mercy.

The Dalai Lama, invited by the heads of seven southern Taiwan cities and counties that are known as strongholds of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party, is scheduled to visit Siaolin Village in Kaohsiung County to pray for victims of Typhoon Morakot Monday morning. Siaolin was one of the villages that suffered the worst devastation in the storm earlier this month.

He will also give Dharma sermons for typhoon victims in several other battered areas.

An international news conference by the Dalai Lama that was scheduled for Monday morning in Kaohsiung City was canceled before his arrival.

His itinerary includes delivering a speech and presiding over a prayer ceremony at Kaohsiung Arena for typhoon victims on Sept. 1 and meeting with Cardinal Shan Kuo-hsi of the Roman Catholic Church at a Kaohsiung hotel on Sept. 2.

The six-day visit is the Dalai Lama's third to Taiwan. He first visited Taiwan in 1997 and again in 2001.

China has strongly denounced the trip but has avoided blaming President Ma Ying-jeou, who gave the final approval for the Dalai Lama's visit. Instead, Beijing has accused the opposition Democratic Progressive Party of sabotaging warming cross-Taiwan Strait ties by inviting someone China brands as a "separatist." (By Deborah Kuo)