We went to the oldest district in Taipei to visit the temples. There are three temples in an easy walk sprinkled with tourist markets and food stalls. Just after exiting the metro there is a large plaza with some fountains and an outdoor market. As were were entering the plaza, a nice older man was cooing over Amelia. She gets so much attention. And he reached in his bag pulled out a pastry and handed it to her. So nice. A great way to start our adventure.
Then we headed to the Longshuan Temple, the largest of the three temples and by far the busiest. There were lots of people there making offerings and praying. Amelia managed to make a new friend while we were there, but we didn't manage to see everything before she melted. Maybe the fresh influx of sugar didn't help. At any rate, I think we'll have to return to see Mazu the Taoist deity of the sea. She protects seafarers and I think we might need to pay our proper respects.
Nothing like a playground break to brighten up any little girls outlook!
The next temple was Qingshan Temple that was on this small street and surrounded by large buildings. It didn't even look like there was a foot of space between them. Modern buildings engulfing this little intricate temple.
We stopped for lunch at an entirely random restaurant that was off the street. Amelia was a trooper and tried a bit of everything, but it wasn't really her thing. The texture was too much for her. Even the noodle-ish dish was a bit too gelatinous for her. At least she tries. It was enough to propel us through a farmer's market where she was offered lots of fresh fruit that she devoured. Yum. Then onto the last stop- Qingshui Temple.
We found these fresh pork buns steaming in the largest bamboo steamers that I have ever seen. I couldn't resist and neither could Amelia. This made up for our odd lunch and she ate nearly an entire bun!
Amelia loves pork buns! Up until now she has primarily rejected meat. Maybe this will be the end of that?
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