Taipei & Temples

Taipei. This place just get better and better, we are now in our 2nd hostel which is quieter and cleaner than the last. We found a great Indian restaurant last night which may have to be frequented again at some point. Yesterday we booked tickets to Hualien which is on the East Coast but we had to settle for a late train as all available seats were taken.

In the afternoon we explored more of Taipei where there seems endless things to see and do. After 2 days of outdoors stuff it was back to a bit of culture so we headed to the Longshen Temple just a few MRT stops from where we are staying. It's a working temple so no admission fees or rubbish like that ( take note China !! ) What made this place so interesting was the throngs of people just going about their daily lives.

From Longshen we walked to the nearby Qingshen temple. Located between two concrete lumps of buildings this is yet another temple doing it's stuff and not a show piece for the tourists. Great to see. Taiwan seems to be a place where tourists are treated like normal people and not their to be ripped off or exploited. The people are incredibly friendly and really helpful. So far so good.

Longshen Temple Taipei.

Waterfall at the Longshen Temple.

Complete with fish.

Incense burner and worshippers at the Longshen Temple.

Inside the Temple courtyard.

Smoke and colour.

Notice how close the surrounding city is?

Linda appears out from the smoke.... a Genie from the lamp??

A smile on the genies face would have been nice, looks like a grumpy genie '!

Temple roof Dragons.

More worshippers.

More fish !

Temple entrance.

The Qingshen temple, squeezed in on all sides by concrete blocks.

Lanterns at the Qingshen Temple.

Inside the Qingshen temple.

End of Blog, next blog more Taipei.