When Jeff and I travel, we usually plan our trips around where we want to eat. For our Taiwan trip with my uncle Doug, I planned daily excursions around where I wanted to photograph. This included, among other places, temples and “touristy” destinations that Doug — who lived part of his childhood in Taipei — said he normally wouldn’t consider when visiting Taiwan.
Luckily for us, the long MRT ride into Beitou District, the far reaches of Taipei, was worth it: It was a beautiful, sunny day — the only sunny day we would get, it turned out — and the blue skies were perfect for the Guandu Temple.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
This was the first of three temples we would visit during our trip, and the first I’d ever been to. Worship at the site began in the 1660s, and a temple was constructed in the early 1700s, making it the first temple in Taiwan dedicated to the goddess Mazu. Partly Buddhist and partly Taoist, it’s quite a large complex, with many sections that we didn’t explore because we wanted to move on to our next temple, located in Shilin District.
© 2016. The front “courtyard” of Guandu Temple. Vendors sold wares and food items that could be offered up inside the temple. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. The Taipei skyline can be seen from the gardens above the Guandu Temple in Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
We easily could have spent another hour or two at the temple, but light was falling and we needed to move on to Shilin District. But first, a quick look at the residential streets we walked through Beitou to get back to the MRT station:
© 2016. Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax tx7.
© 2016. Beitou District. Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
A selection of these photos can be purchased as prints at prints.christhedunn.com.
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