The Bishan Suspension Bridge + Temple

It's been a good while since I've updated this blog, and since then, summer has settled upon the island. The weather has turned even more humid, and rainy days are a common sight. Up here on the mountain, though, life is flourishing - birds and butterflies of all sorts are constantly arcing through the air, and all the ivy and vegetation looks like a green winter. School has been out for me for about a week and a half, and I've been taking some time to write, relax, and, of course, explore the island. 


A great note - this summer, we're taking a vacation to the Mediterranean, travelling around in Spain and Morocco. We're also going on a cruise for about a week, and the spots include Tunisia (a country in northern Africa) Turkey, and Italy. It's going to be amazing. I'm not taking my laptop, and internet spots will be few and far between, but I'll be taking lots of photos, which I'll post as soon as I return home. 

Yesterday was a national Taiwanese holiday: The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as duanwu. It's supposed to stem from the celebration of a man named Qu Yuan, who was an ancient Chinese scholar, and to remember his death, but these days it's more about the dragon boat racing, which is both fun to watch and fun to do. I didn't have a chance to head down to Danshui, where the races took place, but we did go somewhere: the Bishan Suspension Bridge. It was one of the few sunny days this summer. 


By the time we got there (about four o'clock) it was pretty crowded, full of other locals that had just the same thought as us. It didn't take away from the natural beauty of the land, though. The bridge was supposedly built to look like a "wriggling dragon bone." I didn't really see that image, but maybe I just wasn't looking at it the right way. 


The bridge itself was pretty packed, but it must have been built pretty well, because it barely wobbled as we trekked across it. It's not that long - maybe a few hundred feet at the most, but it looked quite impressive. 


At the other end of the bridge was a trail, which led onwards to a kind of "tourist" spot...actually, I'm not quite sure what it was. But there were fields of strawberries, lemongrass, and ponds full of koi and lillypads wherever we went. Flowers were everywhere - a kind of preperation for the 2010 Flower Expo, which is coming up soon. 


Anyways, we walked along the trail for awhile, watching the birds and smelling the strawberries, until we found the best part of the entire walk: the temple. 


Okay, I just have to say that I absolutely love the temples in Taiwan. They're beautifully built, with amazing carvings and colors everywhere. But this temple is by far the most magnificent one I've ever seen. 


It's called Bishan temple, which I *think* translates to "Jade Mountain" temple - it makes sense, seeing as it's so green here. I could be wrong, but that sounds pretty logical to me. One great thing about Taiwan is that the people are much more relaxed about having tourists like me poke around their temples; in China, you were barely allowed to look inside, let alone take photos. Maybe it's the island "chill" vibes, but it was really awesome. One of the temple guards told me in plain English, "Go look inside, look around." Thanks, temple guard. 


I suppose I could go on about the temple, but pictures are worth a thousand words: 

I'll be posting more pictures on my DeviantART account - there are a lot of really good ones. When I do, I'll post a link on here. Until then, zaijian. 


-Ari