Local Temples

After attending the wedding banquet on Sunday (13th Dec) I returned to my apartment and met up with Zach, Gaz and Renee. We decided to explore the surrounding area a little. The first temple we went to was one on the outskirts of Nantou, on the road towards Fengyuan. The second is in Fengyuan. Then we went to Taichung, had dinner at Chilli's where I had an awesome salad and then we watched the new Twilight movie 'New Moon'. I really enjoyed it. I think it was much better than the first movie. Mind you, I am easily entertained to anything with vampires in it :D and werewolves!

Here are a couple of pictures of the first temple we went to. It is a Buddhist temple. The gardens were meticulously maintained. The atmoshpere was so peaceful! I intend to go there regularly...especially during the week in the mornings. It is a great incentive to get up early, if I can go and relax somewhere like that :)















There were two pillars. One either side of the entrance. They are depicting...in all honesty, I don't know what of.






In-lay on the floor before the main entrance to the temple.








There was another temple area. You climbed the stairs to an area that had a couple of tables and seats. The views were spectacular.




View from the top.


Pagoda nearby.







The temple at Fengyan.


A picture of a diagram of the temple.


Main square of the temple (Pink in the diagram).


This is a close up of the incense pot. This was taken of the pot which is in the upstairs temple area (Blue in the diagram).


Dragon pillars. These were upstairs too (Blue in the diagram).


This is a beautiful pheonix carving, it was part of the railing upstairs. Pretty spectacular stuff for non-essential decoration!


This seems to be a central feature of the temple. It is in the second area (once you walk through the first main square)on the ground floor. (Blue area, groundfloor).


This is slightly blurry picture of an original foundation pillar stone. The temple is over three hundred years old. The joints are all dovetail, so no nails, screws or anything like that. (Pink area, diagram).


The man in the temple was really helpful. He couldn't speak English but we still understood what he was saying. He told us about the joints and the age of the temple, and pointed out the pillar stones. Cool stuff :D it's amazing what you can understand...tis a shame I can't reply properly.

Also, the temple had little bits and bobs you could take. So I took a couple of Buddha lucky knot tastle thingys. haha, great description.