Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Asia Mega Tour II - Another Side Of Taipei

If our walking tour of the day before had taken us through some of the ultra-modern, upscale parts of Taipei, today's walk in nearly the same area, managed by ourselves, took us to areas that were much less touched by moneyed new development.

The section of Taipei we visited used to be called Bang-ga and was one of the first areas developed by Qing Dynasty Chinese from Fujian Province 270 years ago. Built originally in 1738, the Lungshan Temple is associated with a mother temple in Fujian. Wife and I were taken by both the large number of people visiting not just for tourism but to do devotional respects and its incredible architectural detail.
Entering the Temple

 Inside the Temple grounds

Some examples of the detail work in the temple



 Flowers

Examples of paintings



We went on to a small street that specialized in selling herbs

On the way to another temple we passed houses that were definitely not new, and fancy

Going through local streets


We reached the Banka Qingsha Temple dating from 1856





Finally we ended up at the Bopiliao block, a block of buildings dating from the Qing Dynasty that are now being restored.




Lunch - Scallion pancake and a very good wonton soup
We finally finished our day at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial house

A tranquil oasis surrounded by the city's major train and bus stations
And finally SIGNS OF THE WORLD
I wonder if when your Buddist washing machine dies it is is reincarnated as a toaster oven?





2 comments:

alexis said...

or applications to become Buddhist perhaps?

Tom P said...

Taiwan looks fantastic! Love the pictures.