Category: Taiwan

Tamsui Longshan Temple

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 12, 2009

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886 (02) 26214866

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Located in the middle of the numerous stalls of a jampacked market is Tamsui Longshan Temple. This is the smaller version of the 2 Longshan Temples located at Taipei, Taiwan. As I said, it’s pretty small but still a place where people go to.

Tamsui Longshan Temple was built in 1858 by Tamsui townsmen through land donation & fund raising.

Like all of Taiwan temples, you can see how detailed the architecture of Tamsui Longshan Temple is. This temple has startling wood & stone carvings. It also has amazing statues which are great to see. Such a remarkable site to visit.

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Guanin is the one being worshiped in Tamsui Longshan Temple. He was the protector of Jinjiang, Huian & Nanan.

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More pictures here.

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Tamsui Morning Market

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On December 8, 2009

Tamsui Morning Market
Zhongzheng Road, Taipei, Taiwan
open sunrise to noontime

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Last September 19, we decided to go around Tamsui. It had sooooooo many tourist spots in the area that it took us the whole day just to visit most of it.

So we started the day by going to the well known Tamsui Morning Market. They open from sunrise until noontime only. Hence, the name. Anyway, the market is located along Zhongzheng road. When we visited, there were a lot of people checking out the place. They were buying a lot of stuff. And yes, we also bought some for ourselves.

Of course, we didn’t buy food since we couldn’t really cook, right? Because we were just staying in a hotel and we eat out a lot anyway..

Tamsui Morning Market is basically a wet market, with lots of stalls selling fish, vegetables, meats & fruits. Aside from that, there were street food & cheap clothes for sale!

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Here we are, very ready for the day’s adventure. As you can see, we took a lot of pictures. If you want to see them, they’re all right here.

What a way to start a day right? We had a loooooong way to go. Watch out for more Tamsui travel posts!

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Taipei Story House

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 30, 2009

Taipei Story House
181-1, ZhongShan N. Road, Section 3, Taipei 10461, Taiwan
886 (02) 2587-5565
admission: 50NT

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Taipei Story House was built in 2003 by a tea trader as a museum dedicated to Taiwan life culture. The building was said to be inspired by a building a tea trader saw during his visit on the 1900 Paris Expo.

The Story House holds exhibitions, lectures, cultural performances & tea-related activities with the objective of preserving the heritage site, making it part of our modern life.

Located beside Taipei Fine Arts Museum lies Taipei Story House. The featured exhibit at the time I visited (September 18) was Story of Old Trees. I learned a lot about trees and its story. The exhibit ran from August 29 to November 29, 2009.

Taiwanese do have an utmost religious respect toward old trees but only a few do understand its importance. We’re all guilty of that right?

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Upon browsing through the museum pieces, I found one interesting fact: there are TREE doctors! There is even Tree Treatment Procedure, here it is:

Clinic Registration – a tree cannot tell us if it is well or not, so we would need someone to examine the trees to discover any problem then a tree doctor will be notified to visit the trees.
Diagnosis – a tree doctor will examine the appearance of the tree & collect information like soil hardness & acidity. A diagnosis will be made after much evaluation.
Treatment – a tree doctor will prescribe proper treatment for trees that might be infested by pests or other factors.

There were a lot of things being shared in the exhibit. Things like how to treat trees well, secrets of old trees, why trees are important & places named after old trees in Taiwan.

This was a truely unique experience! There were many interesting facts. It was a nice twist to the usual museum that Taiwan has..

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More pictures can be found here.

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Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 30, 2009

Taipei Fine Arts Museum
181, Section 3, ZhongShan N. Road, Taipei 104, Taiwan
886 (02) 2595-7656
admission: 200NT

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You know what I find sad? That there was a place that I visited in Taipei that I could only appreciate because I saw it for myself but am unable to share it with you. See, we were not allowed to take pictures 🙁

Anyway, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum started on December 24, 1983. This museum showcases modern art work. I’ve heard that it is the only museum devoted to promote & display such art pieces. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum features works from the permanent collection as well as exhibits that change every now and then.

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When we visited last time, the exhibit was Pixar: 20 Years of Animation. Yep that Pixar company that was started by Steve Jobs. This exhibition featured over 500 items that includes paintings, storyboards, sketches, short films, multimedia presentations & details of the production process.

The flow of the exhibit goes like this:

Pixar History
Concept of the Characters
Creating Believable Worlds
Animated Film Special Features
The Art of Pixar’s Short Films
Zeotrope (Journey of Life)
Meet the artists, how is a Pixar film made? Interactive Kiosks
Artscape

I was very impressed with the exhibit but was extremely disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures. It sucks that this will only be a memory in my brain instead of pictures that could really lasts forever…

Other exhibits I have visited are the ff.:

Lai Chuan-Chien: 80th Anniversary Retrospective
Jewel of 25 years Museum Collection
The Rhythm of Forms & Colors – Yin-Huei Chen: A Retrospective Exhibition

We kinda wasted 1.5 hours in the place as I left my phone with my mom who opted to just wait for me to finish. I was looking for her at the lobby but she was waiting at the basement. I went to the reception desk to seek for help. I asked if they could announce my mom’s name and ask her to meet me at the reception. The personnel declined and said that they could only help people who have missing children! What the hell right? I was extremely disappointed and ended up waiting at the lobby for almost 2 hours until my mom finally decided to go up to the lobby and look for me there 🙁

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Well, lesson learned. Don’t be too naive to follow the rules. Their rules stated that camera phones & cameras are not allowed. I should have brought it with me. We could have used the time to go to nearby museums. Such a waste of time. tsk tsk!

Not much pictures in the photo album I made for Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

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Confucius Temple

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 29, 2009

Confucius Temple
275 Dalong Street, Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.
886 (02) 25923934
admission: free

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This is a very famous temple in Taiwan that replaced the original 1879 temple that was damaged during the Japanese occupation. Confucius is known to be China’s greatest educator & you could see all his teachings at this temple.

Reconstruction started in 1925 and was funded through donations by the followers of Confucius’ teachings. In 1971, the temple was donated to the state of Taiwan and the Taipei Confucius Temple Governing Board was setup.

Let me share with you some highlights from Confucius Temple when I visited:

Hong Gate (Gate of Learning) & Pan Gong (Side Gate)

The gates names refer to the names of a school during the ancient times. It implies that all who entered would start learning in school.

Li Gate (Gate of Rites) & Yi Lu (Path of Righteousness)

To show respect to confucius, all who enter must do so by these side entrances instead of the main gate.

Wanren Gongqiang (Wall of Supreme Knowledge) & the Pan Pond (Half Moon Pond)

The wall got its name from a quotation of Confucius analects: “If one does not find the door & enter by it, one cannot see the ancestral temple in its beauty.”

The pan pond is shaped like half-moon & where a bridge is arched by the stone pan bridge.

Lingxing Gate (Main Entrance)

Yi Gate (Gate of Ceremonies)

East & West Side Buildings

Enshrined in the side buildings are 154 tablets representing the disciples of Confucius & past scholars who promoted Confucianism.

Dacheng Hall

You’ll find a plaque with inscription of “Education knows no class distinction.” in the Dacheng Hall. This is also where you can find an inscribed tablet that represent the spirit of Confucius.

Chongsheng Shrine

Dedicated to the 5 generations of ancentors of Confucius, his brother, fathers of his 4 sages & fathers of Confucian scholars of later dynasties.

Minglun Hall (Hall of Moral Instruction)

Added in 1956 where classes are offered to visitors. Classes like calligraphy, Confucian classics, ancient music to name a few.

Exhibition Room

Ritual objects, sacrificial vessels, musical instruments, costumes used in Shidial ceremony can be found in the exhibition room.

Every year on September 28, people celebrate Confucius’ birthday at Confucius temple. The ceremony is called Shidian. On this day, the ceremony is presided over the Mayor of Taipei at 6AM. The entire Shidian Ceremony is composed of 37 stages. Attendants will go to the appointed places, welcome the spirit of Confucius & perform sacrificial rites.

It is too bad that I was only in Taipei from September 12-21 so I wasn’t able to catch this big day.

More pictures of the place here.