A Day At The Temples

After a hearty Amer-Asian breakfast buffet at the hotel (fried eggs, toast, pea vines, bacon, congee, steamed bread, orange juice, fish, etc...) we headed out to visit the Zhinan Temple complex in the Wanfang area of the city. This complex has some of the oldest Daoist temples in Taiwan. Below are an assortment of pictures I took at the Zhinan Temples

The temples are at the top of a small mountain and the abundant stairs were a mountain all in themselves. Here is Chunnan attaining the summit of the first temple.

While this picture of the waterfalls and statuary is quite interesting, Chunnan tells me that the inclusion of a coin in the statue (the round part being held up by the dragons) is a symbol of commerciality and very out of place in the temple grounds.
We saw several cats and a couple of dogs on the temple grounds. They made themselves at home and had no fear of people, but they were all quite scrawny if not malnourished so it could be that they're subsisting on mousing and handouts from the faithful.
Some architecture that I found interesting and colorful.
After we left the first temple we wandered down a path which opened up to a small park and a marvelous vista of the second temple in the complex.
The approach to the second temple led through a covered walkway lines with paper lanterns.
More interesting and colorful architecture.
The shrine areas in the temples are a stunning and complex mixture of statuary, colorful paintings and tapestries, and offerings of food, flowers, and burning incense. A feast for the senses, for sure.
Leaving temple two and looking back to see the city off in the distance.
The third temple looked a bit worse for wear. It was sparser, not as colorful, and seemed to be undergoing some construction or renovation. Even so, it was lovely and well worth the trek up and down the hills and valleys of the complex to see it.

After the temples we trekked to Taipei Transit's main train station and found a well known restaurant that serves hand-made noodles. The chefs are on display behind a glass wall and we saw them flinging pasta dough around, stretching and folding it until it was the right size and style. Sorry, no pics of that as I was facing the wrong way and I was really tired after all that mountain climbing.

After lunch were took the train to another area of the city to visit Sugar & Spice, a pastry shop with a speciality making nougats. The samples they gave us were quite tasty and Chunnan bought a big box to share with the family.

We're heading to Cher's place for dinner soon. I'm told that Mom has been cooking up a feast all day so it should be another super-tasty and gut-busting meal. :)