Wow, so we got the intense, high speed whistle-stop tour of Lukang, Taiwan today. 3 temples, 1 museum, one DIY crafts center (more on that later) and a glass maze. This will have to be spread out across a few posts, since there are so many pictures and, well, things to mention.
We started out rather inauspiciously by waiting an hour for the second bus to roll in, putting the whole day behind schedule. The result was that we sped through some of the places that I really would have liked to spend a little more time in, but with the many scheduled stops, it couldn't be helped.
Our first stop was at the famous Tianhou Temple, a Taoist temple dedicated to the celestial mother, Mazu. Now, Taiwanese Taoist (and Buddhist) temples are a bit more colorful than Japanese Buddhist temples. And by a bit, I mean it looks like a paint factory exploded in a Taiwanese temple.
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| Main courtyard |
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| Detail of the roof ornament |
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| Inside the second building of the temple |
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| The temple was built shortly after the Dutch left the island. The population still had some rather strong feelings about the Dutch, apparently. These are some Dutch noblemen (note the hair and the boots)holding up the roof! |
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| Woof, woof! |
In the back of the temple was a pond with numerous statues and a koi pond with two bucket and gong sets. The goal was to throw a coin in the bucket and have it hit the gong and your wish would be granted.
There was also a large furnace. There is a custom in Taiwan that you should burn some "money" as a sacrifice to the gods for those who have died. In this case, "money" is large pieces of paper sold to temple-goers that you fan out and toss in the fire. This apparently takes some skill. Some skill that Andrew sadly lacked
I would have loved to have spent more time exploring the temple, but we had a schedule to keep! Onward to the next temple! Longshan Si!
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