May 23, 2021
COVID19 is back in Taiwan, starting a week ago.
At the moment Taiwan is at Alert Level 3 for COVID19. Cafes do takeout orders only but grocery stores let you in. University students sit at home using Zoom, but I go to class as I meet individually with my teacher. The subway is open but rides are much reduced. Hopefully we won’t go to level 4, a lockdown.
When I went to the local market today, about ¾ of the stalls were open, but only about half the people.
This space in the market was previously a stall. The sign on a folded piece of cardboard (below the centre of the photo) translates to “For Rent”.
I had expressed an interest in seeing Taipei with a view, so today (Sunday, May 23rd) I went with Chun-Cheng to see Bishan Temple.
Chung-Cheng has a new car, as he has finished his Ph.D and has a job.
With the car we passed from the south of Taipei, where I lived, to the north-west, then climbed on a narrow road through beautiful scenery. Chung-Cheng said this was one of the spots to take tourists, like Maokong. He also mentioned “sakura”, cherry blossoms, from Japan, but we went at the wrong season so didn’t see any.
The entrance to Bishan Temple. This temple is Daoist, although we passed a Buddhist temple on the way up.
Bishan Temple is famous in Taiwan. I uncovered many, many articles on the internet; see for example https://www.goteamjosh.com/blog/bishan .
I also researched a short clip on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynM6oozuofg. Our itinerary was slightly different – we didn’t go on the bridge walk.
The steps to the temple.
Chung-Cheng pointed out each baluster has a person’s name on it; they were the donors who gave money.
The entrance to the temple.
Some impressive ornamentation.
Looking inwards to the deities.
“Bishan Temple is dedicated to the hero Chen Yuan-kuang and his generals Li Po-yao and Ma Ren. Chen developed the Quanzhou area of Fujian Province. Among the people of Quanzhou, he is worshipped as the patron saint ‘Kaizhang Sheng Wang.’ Bishan Temple is the biggest temple in Taiwan dedicated to Kaizhang Sheng Wang.” (https://www.travel.taipei/en/attraction/details/486)
A nice shot.
The view from Bishan Temple is absolutely spectacular. I agreed with Chung-Cheng after seeing the view.
Then we returned to Chung-Cheng’s car and drove back to Xindian. We parked in a parking garage and had take-out lunch near Qizhang MRT Station. Chung-Cheng translated for me – he said one of the women asked if I had a girlfriend. I insisted on taking the bus home despite Chung-Chung’s objections.
This is my meal as I waited for the bus: fish, pork, tofu, mushrooms, and green vegetables, on rice, with “3 Gems” iced tea (just in shot above).
Richard
Wandering Richard 