Temples, shops and night markets

We had another slow start to the morning after a pretty busy day yesterday. I registered my second consecutive day of 17,000 steps, which means Debbie topped 20,000 (short steps). We had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, which offers lots of choices including omelettes and waffles, so I had both.

Our first stop today was the Longshan Temple, which is about 3 stations away on the metro, so pretty easy to get to. Built in 1738, it continues to serve as a place of worship and gathering place for Chinese settlers. The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt many times due to earthquakes and it was badly damaged by an American air-raid in May 1945 when the Japanese were suspected of keeping weapons there.

From there we walked a short way to the smaller qingshan temple. This one was built in 1856 in honour of Qingshan Wang, who reputedly rid the area of the plague. These temples all have their own unique detail and this one is the larger than life statues in the entrance hall.

From there we walked to the Qingshui Temple which was built in 1787 in hounour of Qingshui Zushi. His miracle was to save the area from a drought. I am suspicious of this claim as we’ve not seen a lot of sunlight here and it does look very green. We met a very dedicated man that told us lots of ‘facts’ about the temple in his broken english. He also knew where Australia was because of the big stone in the middle of it. The best feature of it is some of the artwork around the doorways.

One of the challenges generally about travelling in Asia is finding some decent quality coffee. There are lots of Starbucks stores, but little else. We stumled on a place that roasted their own bean and served a pretty decent coffee…. so maybe times are changing.

All the walking around had us feeling pretty hungry, so it was the perfect opportunity to try some of the local beef noodles that cost around $4. Apart from a little incident where some of the soup splashed in my eye and the chilli stung a little, it was a great lunch option. Following lunch we walked past the Redhouse Theater which comprises three theaters that are used for various performing arts. It has functioned as a theater since 1945, but was renovated into it’s current form in 2007. The surrounding area has lots of bars and clubs and is the epicentre of Taipei’s gay community.

Given the busy schedule of the last couple of days we came back to the hotel to put our feet up for a while. Debbie decided that a foot massage was in order for her, so I left her to that. I can barely touch my own feet … let alone paying a stranger to do it!

When she returned we headed off to the Shilin Night Markets which have been continuously running since 1913. There is over 500 stalls selling electronics, confectionery and food. There are also lots of different ‘games of skill’ to play to win prizes. The food is interesting … I did not eat the tripe noodles, beef intestine noodles, octopus tentacles or the oyster escaerets (snails). We had some pork dumplings and a bottle of beer each and finished with some toffee strawberries. Again the whole lot was about $25.

Then it was back to the hotel. That brings to a close our stay at Palais de Chine, here in Taipei which has been a wonderful hotel and in a very central location. We are heading off on a tour of the countryside, starting with Taroko Gorge tomorrow.

Until then!