Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Temple in Fanlu, Chiayi County

One day in May, I called my English speaking taxi driver and said, "Hey," (I'm quite the eloquent conversationalist, if you don't already know that ;-)), "I'm leaving Taiwan in a little less than two months and I haven't been on enough adventures. Where can you take me and my camera so we might take home more memories?" He thought for a few moments, climbed in the back with me and pulled out some maps, rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. And then he smiled and looked up at me. "Have you ever been to Wu Feng's place?" Well, no, I hadn't. But of course, I always wanted to go there with folk lore and legend being high on my list of .. "Oh, tell me about it!" I'll post more about Wu Feng later, but this particular post is about a temple the taxi driver took me to on the way to Wu Feng's. If you've read many of my posts in this blog you have seen many temples. If you continue to read, you'll see more. They fascinate me. If someone were to photograph and document the stories of the gods in these temples, it would take years and many volumes to even brush the surface of tales there are here. With this particular temple, the photos I have chosen to post give a sense of the temple atmosphere rather than show many of the features particular to the temple. You'll see a monk sitting on the concrete in front with the remnants of fireworks from the previous nights festivities, close up shots of dioramas, the burning of incense, gifts for the gods, and some of the scenes on the roof. There are thousands of things you won't see. If you have never seen a temple in Asia, it is hard to describe the intricate nature of what you will find there.... everywhere, nearly every inch of the space. I hope I have captured some of the atmosphere in the photographs I've chosen to post.


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