The first was Longshan (Dragon) Temple (see left), a very large and famous temple. It was originally built in 1738 and was dedicated to the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy (Avalokitesvara); since then, many Taoist deities have been incorporated into the temple, but it remains largly Buddhist. The coolest thing about this temple is its history. It has survived more than its fair share of disasters over its lifetime. According to my guidebook, "the temple was leveled by an earthquake in 1815, rebuilt, and badly damaged again by a typhoon in 1867. It was fully reconstructed between 1919 and 1924, only to fall victim to a wayward Allied bomb in 1945... it was restored once again in 1957." Talk about battle scars! We can learn a lot about endurance from this temple.
After Longshan Temple, we ventured through "Snake Alley," a true alley that yes, did indeed offer snake to buy, eat, drink (its blood), etc... This opens a window to an older China, where snake is believed to have magical properties. Needless to say, we did not try any snake... but Kate touched this one! Even the cute little boy beside her looks surprised! Afterwards, we were yelled at in Chinese by the "snake keeper." It seems that you are supposed to PAY to touch the snake. Oh, sometimes its great being a foreigner because no one expects you to understand! Unintentional oblivion!
Next stop was Cingshan Temple, my favourite! Pictured to the left, you can see Kate standing with 4 gods (I guess they are called gods...). These guys were super scary but so colourful and beautiful all at once. While Longshan Temple was filled with flocks of people, we were the only ones in this temple! The detail is so magnificant and I got some really great photos! At the bottom of this entry, I will place a link to the facebook album where you can see all of our pictures from this day. I hope you check it out to get a better idea of the temples! Another cool fact about this temple is that it is wedged between two very large buildings (I believe apartments). This is typical for Taipei... the culture and religion is overshadowed by the growing city. It's like one beautifully planned community (picture Oakville...) gone horribly wrong. Even Toronto looks organized when compared to Taipei (and I sure can't find my way around Toronto)! This isn't meant to be a criticism, just merely an observation from someone whose travelling has just barely begun.Our day ended with one more Temple (Cingshuei Temple that looked very much like the second temple we saw) and then a visit to Ximen shopping district! You can move me across the world, but you cannot take the shopper out of me! What fun this strip of the city is at night! Being obvious foreigners (you can't hide the blonde hair in a sea of black), we get a lot of attention in areas such as these. It can be annoying at times, but this particular evening was a lot of fun! There was a man with his pet/trained squirrel (who tried to get us to hold the squirrel, so we ran away!), there was a man playing his traditional Chinese string instrument (I didn't catch the name of the instrument) and another man cutting people's silhouettes using just plain paper and kitchen scissors! Just picture the buskers down-town Toronto and you'll get a good idea of this strip.
The man cutting silhouettes got very excited when he saw Kate and I... eager to try a new face shape, he insisted on "cutting" us for free! It was hilarious! While cutting he was dancing around and singing polka songs, blabbering on like crazy! All Viva could catch in Chinese, was that we was so excited to have us there! It was all pretty silly, but the finished product is very neat! (I'm on the left)
Today is Saturday, and we are going to have another fun weekend! Soon we are meeting some of our new (and awesome) Taiwanese friends on Yangmingshan Mountain for dinner at a ritzy restaurant called "The Top." It gets its name from the mere fact that it is located on the top of the mountain and has a spectacular view. Tomorrow we're going rock climbing with another few friends of ours! I can't wait to climb again, that's something I really miss from London, Ontario!
I also forgot to mention that Kate and I have joined a Yoga Studio called "Space Yoga" 10 minutes from our house! It's a wonderful place (http://www.withinspace.com/english/studios02.htm) and I couldn't be more excited to pick up where I left off in my yoga practice!
Here is the link to see the facebook album of our "Tourist Adventure": http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368806&l=99667&id=58004131
I hope everyone is doing well! and please remember how much I love your updates from home! I miss you all so much and I'm quite homesick right now! But still, my heart is very happy to be here.
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