Biz Trip - Taiwan Beitou Temple and Museum 28-Nov

 

Puji temple was not part of the places I wanted to visit, but my vendor from India seems to be interested in it, so we went off to find it, hiking up and down the slopes of Beitou. This is actually a Japanese temple that prays to Goddess of Mercy. The whole building is build with wood without a single nail. It was simple and peaceful and nice. You have to go through a small gate and up stones steps as shown in the middle photos below.

 

I wasn't sure if we could wear our shoes inside the temple, so I asked a nun who was performing her morning ritual inside. She welcome us in and started chatting with me. She asked where I was from, and seems excited when she heard Malaysia and Singapore. She showed me a pamphlet of the order and ask me to visit their Malaysia branch if I have the chance. I read the address and it shows Kuantan, Pahang...... Very far away in my childhood nightmare holiday land. 

Our last stop before we left Beitou was the Onsen Museum. The admission was free, as with most attraction in Beitou, so we decided to go in and take a look. I was interested to see the old bath house, wondering if it would be the same as the onsen I see in Japan, or the great roman bath I see in, well, Bath England. To my disappointment, the bath was filled with art work instead of water, which was kind of no-no in my opinion. But on the whole, it was still fun running around the museum. It took us only 10 minutes to run around. You have to take off your shoes before going in, and they will give you slippers to wear inside. That was interesting as they disinfect the slippers after you wear them.

Last post coming up, one of the main reason I visited Beitou, was the beautiful library there :)  Stay tune!