David on Formosa

Ziwei Tianhou Temple near Sanxia 

Prince Roy visited the Lin Family Gardens in Banqiao last weekend and wrote some interesting comments about it on his blog. He was a little unimpressed by the gardens, however he raved about the Cihui Temple (慈惠宮) nearby. 

I must have walked past this temple dozens of times and I have been inside and looked around on a few occassions. Prince Roy's comments prompted me to go back and take another look. The temple is only a few minutes walk from the Fuzhong MRT Station in Banqiao.  

It was good to go back there again with my eyes open. I managed to see a lot of details that I had missed on previous occassions. Details like three stone carved lions on an incense burner. I am not really that familiar with the pantheon of gods in Taiwan, so I tend to pay more attention to the artwork in the temple. There really are so many interesting things to see there.  

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This morning I went out to Sanxia (三峽) and visited the Ziwei Tianhou Temple (紫微天后宮). I had visited the nearby Xingxiu Temple (行修宮) several times, but this time I turned off to explore a new road. The Tianhou Temple is large and imposing; I have seen it from some of the trails that I regularly hike in Tucheng.

The temple is very bright and colorful. It seems quite new and the inside is still not completely finished. Still there is an abundance of artwork lining the temple. Stone carved reliefs decorate almost every wall, murals on the ceilings and the colorful dragons on the roof. 

It is mind-boggling to think of all the work that must have gone into building the temple. Just carving one stone relief must take hours. Yet the temple contains dozens of them. Then when you think of all the temples in Taiwan… I am not sure whether they are carved in Taiwan or imported from another country in Asia. There must be a group of artisans somewhere that is very busy though.  

Behind the temple there was a hiking trail called the Ziwei Mountain Loop Trail (紫微環山步道). It was overgrown in places and appeared to be little used. I hiked up it and enjoyed some nice views. I took a some photos that I made into panorama shots (photo 1 & photo 2). Near the top of the trail there were a few tea houses. They weren't open in the morning but they would make a great place to spend an evening drinking tea in the cool mountain air.

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The two temples mentioned above are just two of hundreds in Taiwan. I am sure in almost every town or city in Taiwan you could find a temple just as, if not more, noteworthy.