Tainan city’s back streets

Tainan had many narrow lanes tucked away between traffic filled streets. When I entered many of these old streets, the sounds of motor scooters faded away. This was a real bonus after wandering the city’s streets for most of the day.

A city of temples

Tainan felt like Temple City. If I peeked down a narrow lane there was bound to be a temple packed between buildings. If not, I only had to search the street I walked along and I was bound to spot a shrine.

Taiwan’s oldest temple

I wasn’t going to visit another temple, but as I made my way along Tamsui’s Zhongshan Road, I passed the oldest temple in Taiwan. My feet took over my thoughts and I stepped towards the side entrance.

Beomeosa Temple

Three gates flanked the entrance to Beomeosa Temple. The first, Jogyemun Gate was built in the 1700s with four stone pillars supporting the roof. The third gate, the Burimum Gate was the most interesting and had been reconstructed less that ten years ago.

Nanzenji Temple

This Kyoto temple was once the headquarters for a sect of Zen Buddhism, but in 1291 the detached palace was converted into a temple. As I passed by the main hall, I couldn’t help notice the number of gardeners busily keeping the grounds immaculate.

Sho-ren-in

Sho-ren-in was known as one of the five Monzeki temples in Kyoto whose head priests were originally from the imperial family. It was one of the main lodgings in the mountain used by several well known priests.

Stepping up to Kiyomizu-dera

The route along Kyoto’s Gojo-dori was lined with tourist traps, but it didn’t end there. I headed to Kiyomizu-dera temple where souvenirs hovered right up to the temple steps.

Colour — it’s Singapore

For the first two months of last year, I lapped up the warmth away from my part of Canada experiencing a record snow fall. Unlike the rest of the country, Vancouver averages a week of snow a year, but last year snow fell for months.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

I may not have seen any tooth inside Chinatown’s Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, but it didn’t matter. This was the most elaborate temple I’d stepped into in Singapore. The building was huge while inside I lost count of the number of Buddha statues that festooned the walls.

Mamallapuram visit

I wandered for several hours through the main heritage site. It was a Friday and filled with more local adventurers than foreigners.