生活很好 - Life is Good (wherever you are)

As we started moving further up the west coast of Taiwan, our first stop was in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second largest city. We had a fun time walking around Lotus Pond at the north end of the city, an artificial lake with a lovely walking path and pagodas, temples and shrines all the way around. There was an entertaining street market on one side of the pond that we wandered through. Our primary destination was the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, where if you walked into the dragon's mouth and exited via the Tiger's mouth, your bad luck would be turned into good luck...........hopefully we executed the directions properly! The following day we were drawn to the spectacular Fo Guang Shan Temple complex. A no charge facility, we spent several hours there and still didn't get to see everything. Our attention was immediately drawn to the giant bronze Buddha sitting atop the museum.....the tallest sitting Buddha statue in the world apparently. The walkway there was flanked by many pagodas and beyond the informative museum, we took in an acrobatic theatre show and a 3D movie. On the way out we tripped over a small parade originating from the monastery area higher up which we unfortunately ran out of time to explore. The busy Ruifeng Night Market filled our appetite later that evening.

Our next stop was in Tainan, Taiwan's oldest city and it's first capital city. It is a city filled with colourful temples and shrines. At almost every temple we observed locals purchasing paper money (joss) and then slowly tossing the money into a kiln or fireplace to appease the ghost gods who would then bring good fortune and wealth to their family or businesses. If only it was that easy. In any event the local authorities have determined that the burning of several hundred thousand tons of paper every year across Taiwan, is actually harmful to the air quality. However, in spite of several alternative actions, including virtual and collective burning, the tradition lives on. We felt we didn't need any more good fortune after confirming we performed the Dragon - Tiger Pagoda ritual in the correct order, so we held on to our real money. Upon further thought, instead of trying to save the planet we might have been better off to bank more karma since you never know when you might need it. The following day we walked around the historic Anping old city area, near the coast. We checked out the Old Fort (formerly Fort Zeelandia built by the Dutch in 1630) and the Treehouse, a late 19th century mercantile warehouse that has been over-run by ever-expanding Banyon trees.

From Tainan we took a combination train - bus - boat trip to Sun Moon Lake where we now reside in Ita Thao, across the lake from the busier town of Shuishe. Ita Thao has a wonderful Night Market with good street food that has stolen our attention for the first two nights, and likely more. Boneless chicken wings filled with rice and vegetables, wild boar sausage and scallion (green onion pancake rolled up and filled with pork) have been our favourites. The majestic lake has nice hiking trails, both along the lakeside and up into the hills and mountains, which we have embraced. The Shuishe Great Mountain Trail was the biggest challenge. I made it up one thousand stairs before coming to the loop branch and heading back satisfied with a 4 km workout, rather than continuing on to the 2,000 metre mountain top which was listed as an 8 hour return trip. Today we used an all-day boat pass to explore the area around the Shuishe side of the lake (another lakeside trail) along with the Xuanguang Temple which required a short hill walk from the pier. A bit further beyond the temple we were rewarded with a geocache. Tomorrow we will get back to some more hiking trails taking us up to temples and pagodas with enticing lake views. The following day we will make our way back to the coast and the city of Taichung.

Walking around Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung, one of the first eye candy temples we came across was the Yuandi Temple. The enormous statue of the High Heavenly Xuan God stood at the end of a bridge extending out into Lotus Pond.

The popular Dragon and Tiger Pagodas at Lotus Pond. It wasn't difficult to get the proper sequence correct since everyone we saw was entering through the dragon's mouth and exiting from the Tiger's mouth. We are so fortunate to have even more good luck coming our way.

Near the entrance to the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum in Kaohsiung. The Fo Guang Shan movement has fully embraced modernism, making it a very open and welcoming religious facility.

The bronze sitting Buddha statue above the museum rose to 108 metres. Inside the museum we took in an acrobatic theatre show that rivaled some Cirque de Soleil performances we have seen in the past. The temporary exhibit in front (New Year's friendly rat) had a wish tree inside, now holding our personal thoughts....along with a few thousand others.

This picture was taken inside the Wanfu Temple in Tainan. There were beautiful temples like this one on almost every street we walked along. This particular temple was built during the Ming dynasty (1646-1683) and is now a city-designated historic site.

The Anping Kaitai Matsu Temple, near former Fort Zeelandia (1630) and built shortly after. It is one of the largest temple complexes in Tainan and had a very spacious square in front of it.

Taken from inside the Anping Treehouse. This former late 19th century mercantile building was abandoned after WWII and the banyon trees went to work and swallowed the former warehouse. The fusion of nature and a man-made structure reminded us of the Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat.

The Shuishe waterfront at Sun Moon Lake. The boats in the forefront were shuttle ferries, taking mostly tourists but also locals to 3 other piers stationed around the majestic lake that was surrounded by mountains. We spent 4 nights across the lake in the smaller, less touristy town of Ita Thao, which had a fabulous Night Market for foodies.

While walking along the Lakeside Trail from Ita Thao we came across a couple of Cherry trees just starting their blossom season. It is a bit early but we are hoping to see more developed blossoms before we leave this country.

After climbing 100 or so stairs at the start of the Shuishe Great Mountain Trail, my hiking partner suddenly stopped. I tried to point out that we were on the right track but her response was not printable. Shortly after that I handed over the key to our room and had to continue on my own.

Walking around Ita Thao a produce truck appeared with its loudspeaker announcing its arrival to the nearby shops so that they could replenish their supplies.

The tiny island of Lalu in the middle of Sun Moon Lake. Apparently from above, the lake appears to be divided by the island into a round sun lake on one side and a crescent moon lake on the other side, which is how the lake got it's name. Tomorrow we will hike up to the Ci'en Pagoda which is supposed to have one of the best views of Sun Moon Lake. We will take our imagination with us.