This year I have been making it a personal goal of mine to get to know Taichung better. I figure that since I'm now living in the city and not on a school campus, I should get out and explore as much as possible. Since our schedules at school are so crazy, I generally try to accomplish this goal on my Sunday mornings.
Every weekend thus far, I wake up on Sunday, put in my contacts, and start walking. I explore the local markets, local stores, local tea shops (yum!) and today, the local temples. I started walking today at about 9 a.m. and just got back to my apartment at noon- it was quite the walk!
First I stumbled upon a temple that is about two blocks from my apartment. It's tiny but the top is beautifully painted.
Two blocks further down I ran into another previously undiscovered temple much bigger than the first.
Next I walked further South into the city and saw on my map that I was getting close to the Taichung Confucius Temple and Martyr's Shrine. I had never been there before so I set out for it. I was really glad I did because once I got there, it was like an instant escape from the bustling city streets. The temples were medium sized temples with really nice, big grounds. And best of all, there were English signs explaining the different parts of the temple!
Finally, on my way home I came across somewhat of an obscure temple. You can see it from very far away because it is pretty tall, or at least taller than the average temple, and it's very unique. It seems like there is a very old temple that they wanted to preserve so they built a huge, modern temple serving as somewhat of a shelter over it. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but I really liked it because it was so different.
After 3 or so hours and close to a dozen temples, I finally ambled home. It is amazing what you can find when you just follow your feet out of your own front door....or should I say front gate past the doormen and parking attendant. Because that's what I did this morning.
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