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Hiking is the Taiwanese thing to do on the weekends, and I take full advantage of every free day that I have to leave busy, noisy Taipei for its green fringe, where I can breathe in some clean, fresh air. This beautifully sunny Sunday I plan to make my way to Neihu District to visit Bishan Temple (Bishanyan, 碧山巖). From Fu Jen, it takes me about an hour and a half to get there. In between I stop by at Guting station to buy some 飯糰 (those lovely rice balls I fell in love with in Hualien) at Taipei's most famous fan tuan-stall. Taiwanese people are pretty crazy about food, and word gets around quickly where you can get the best. Thus, it may only be 7:30am, but there's already a long line of people waiting patiently for their rice balls. Patience might not be one of my predominant virtues, but since I'm already here, I might as well wait. Half an hour later it's my turn and I order three vegetarian ones and milk tea - turns out the rice balls are a lot bigger than the ones in Hualien and three of them would be enough to feed a
small family. The friendly lady stuffs them with all the yummy pickled vegetables, yo tiao and seaweed that fit. I take a seat on a nearby bench and devour the first one, washing it down with the tea. The other two I pack for later, they'll come in handy after a long, strenuous hike.
I take the metro eastwards and change onto the brown line at Zhongxiao Fuxing. It's the first time I'm on that line; the trains are a lot smaller and older than the ones on the busier lines. We pass Songshan Airport, the smaller of Taipei's two airports, which handles mostly domestic, Chinese and Japanese flights. It takes me another 45 minutes to get to Neihu station, where I exit and follow the signs up the hill. There are not that many people out and about, maybe it's still too early. I soon catch my first glimpse of the temple looming above the forest, floating there, suspended like an agravic spaceship. From the road branches off a very steep, straight stairway, seemingly endless. On its handrails sit dozens of intricately carved Taoist figurines, none two the same.
I arrive at the top of the multi-level
temple after several sets of steep stairways. Up there, I pause for a moment while a family to my right is busy unwrapping some ice cream bombs. In jest I extend my hand towards the mother, who is busy opening one for her kid, and say "Oh, for me?", to which she replies "No, thank you", pulling back as far as she can. She must have meant "No, sorry", but those two concepts are frequently confused in foreign languages, I guess. They all look at me in a super-serious manner, as though I wanted to steal the kid's ice cream, so I say "I was just joking...", but I don't think they understand or get that type of humour.
Bishan Temple is a Taoist temple dedicated to the hero Chen Yuan-kuang or Kāizhāngshèngwáng (開漳聖王), which is an honorary title meaning 'sacred prince, developer of Zhangzhou', and his generals Li Po-yao and Ma Ren. He is revered in Fujian Province and in Taiwan, where there are more than 100 temples dedicated to him. The three men are represented in colourful figurines in the centre of the main gate's roof decorations.
Inside, the temple is not much to look at
really. They seem to be in the middle of refurbishments, the interior does have a slight unfinished look about it, at least. As I step outside onto the terrace, the view takes my breath away. There's Taipei, yes, but the city is entirely encapsulated within green mountains and softly rolling hills that appear to merely tolerate the man-made constructions for the time being. Somewhere in the distance, among the haze, one can see Taipei 101.
On the viewing platform a chick asks me if she can take a picture of her boyfriend and me. "My boyfriend says you're cool, with the tattoos and piercings. I think you're handsome!" I thank her for the kind words and let her take the photo. I have to watch out not to let all that flattery go to my head.
There's a small park at the back of the temple that merges seamlessly into the surrounding forest. I take a seat next to an equestrian statue of Confucius to eat another rice ball. It's lunch time, which means a lot of people have the same idea as I do. Afterwards, I walk across nearby Baishihu Suspension Bridge, which is insanely popular with
Taipei's most famous 飯糰
Stuffed purple rice ballthe locals. The bridge swings and sways above terraced fields, where farmers are busy tending to their rice and vegetables. I continue on one of the many trails to the top of a nearby mountain.
One of the things I really enjoy about Taiwan is that you can exercise pretty much anywhere - in parks, on campus, even on top of mountains. Usually there are bars of various heights, parallel bars and different constructions for other types of exercise. Here I also find barbells, dumbbells, Ab Rollers, chest expanders, hand grips, power twisters, skipping ropes and hula hoops. In Germany it wouldn't take long for the equipment to be stolen or destroyed and the bars to be vandalised - in Taiwan people take it, use it and put it back again.
On the way back to the temple, I catch sight of a stunning multi-tiered pavilion that seems to jut out of the canopy, surrounded by endless greenery. No matter how hard I try to get a good picture of it, there's always something in the way. First it's some branches, then a street light, when all of a sudden I realise there are a few steps on
each side of the lamppost. I hesitate momentarily before I climb up, which proves not that easy, as the first step is quite far up. Once on top, I wriggle my left arm around the post and take the pictures with my right hand. Just one false movement could be fatal, hence I take the utmost care. Back on the ground, I take a breather, check out the pictures and decide it wasn't such a dumb idea after all.
The splendid views, the lush, green scenery around, the intricate figurines and the fact that all of this is the payoff after a strenuous hike up the mountain - I've seen quite a few of them but I'd say that Bishan Temple is Taiwan's most beautiful temple. If you think there's a better one, I'd like to hear which temple it is. I hereby challenge you to a temple-off!
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Beautiful temple in Taiwan's
Nice post. Tawani's temple is very beautiful. I believe in God. So, I enjoyed to read this post very much. Thanks for publish this post.