Buddhist Temple & E-Da World

Thursday February 28^th, 2013

Breakfast of this… Not sure what the names are other than the bowl of soymilk. For lack of better terms, let’s say we have four Asian churros half covered in an Asian flaky flat bread. Both are really dry and don’t have much flavor to them. Host mother suggested me dipping the churros in soymilk to soften it up…and I did. Without the moistness and flavor of the soymilk, the churros are just dry, airy pastries with a light covering of oil.

First stop of the day was at some kind of Buddhist memorial. It fell between a mixture of a museum and sightseeing place with temple sense about it.

Before even entering the gates I did a very Asian thing. I used an umbrella for non-rain reasons. No I wasn’t trying to prevent my skin from darkening, I was trying to keep my white skin from turning red. Sunburn’s a pain the ba-tins-key! The sun was blaring down so intensely that even with the sunscreen I put on, I doubt it would protect me. The umbrella was a life/skin saver!

There’s not a lot to say about the Buddhist place so I’ll just show you a few pictures instead.

Lunch was eaten within the area’s perimeter so the food was all vegetarian. Noodles with vegetables, one thick noodles and the other thin.

Soup with a veggie and balls of something. Usually those balls would be fish or meat balls so I’m not sure what the vegetarian version is.

Ice cream to battle the hot weather. My choice was a Hazelnut Latte flavor. Dude it was so good! That probably is a combo of (1) not eating ice cream in awhile (2) being super hot outside (3) hazelnut coffee stuff rules! (4) it’s just good ice cream period. :P

Next we shortly visited my host mother’s colleague who owned a small farm and a building that he intends to turn into a villa.

I was told the plants with pink leaves are pineapples, which many were planted around the area as well. The green ones behind it are unknown to me but if you scratch the leaves together it releases a very lovely fragrance.

Many lychee trees such as these lined the road taken to the farm.

Afterwards we went to a place called the E-Da Mall. It was more like a community owned all by the same person ranging from a three-part mall to hotel to university all in the same area.

Regarding the mall part, we walked through all of it. The stores were all higher end so no purchasing was done except for food reasons. Like ice cream…again. Wow, two ice creams in one day in Taiwan? That’s a record! (Uncle wanted one therefore ice creams were bought for everyone XD)

In this shot you mainly see the B section of the mall called ‘the flea market’ which was several stands, mainly food. The white building behind it is the C section, ice rink and food court located there. The A section would be underneath my feet at the time of the picture being taken.

On top of this huge place was a ferris wheel. We didn’t ride it but I thought, heck, why not mention it?

Then we went to the hotel part. There really wasn’t anything exciting there. The enjoyable part was sitting down and taking a short nap. Ever since I awoke this morning I’ve been really tired and that’s with a good amount of sleep. I’ve just been feeling drained lately. Fun.

A lot of today was just walking and looking. Strolling down the halls, streets or whatever else we could find. When dinnertime came upon us, we grabbed dinner at the food court. Mine was a fried chicken and ramen combo with a small glass of a lightly sweetened drink. It was quite yummy and definitely really filling.

Lastly we visited the second part of the Buddhist place. This place was better viewed at night when the lights and lanterns lining the place could be turned on.

This was like a temple but not quite the same. People came, knelt down on the mats and bowed down to the three Buddhas but there were no praying with incense sticks. Perhaps a different version of Buddhism from what I've seen so far.

Hundreds and hundreds of these Buddhas, posed in the same position, lined up and down the area around an enormous one of these. Dawdling behind the others, I briefly touched them to feel the substance, the texture and also to give a good-humoredly give a high-five to one. Soon after I found a sign saying not to touch them. Oops. Feeling guilty, I apologized to the statues. …What? Don’t judge me. I was tired. XD

A famous three-part saying posted throughout the locale.

Back to the house afterwards. Sleep following. Good night one and all.