Taroko National Park, Hualien, Taiwan
Daily: 6.00am - 5.00pm
Built on the mountainside near Tianxiang is an ornate Buddhist temple named Xiangde Temple, which was completed in 1968. It's known for having the world's highest elevated statue of Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva who's primarily revered by East Asians and usually depicted as a monk.
From the village, we crossed two bridges to get to the temple.
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| Firstly, we crossed Zhihui Bridge. |
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| After that, we crossed Pudu Bridge. |
Be ready to climb some flights of stairs. The temple isn't accessible by wheelchair.
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| I didn't go into the souvenir shop, but I saw the shopkeeper sleeping on the counter. :P |
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| I waited for two minutes or so for a bee to fly away from the nose of the statue. |
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| Taking a detour to see what's at the end of the path~ |
I was enamoured by a beautiful butterfly with black and turquoise wings.
My BFF and I enjoyed the serene atmosphere of the temple grounds, especially since we were, again, the only two trekkers around.
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| Smile! :) |
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| Ksitigarbha carries a staff with a Chintamani, a wish-fulfilling jewel. |
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| Pikachu and Melon were meditating for a short while. |
Let's take a closer look into the main hall of the temple.
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| How many gold dragons do you see? |
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| I recall I used to be scared of this red-faced guardian when I was a small boy. |
There's a pagoda near the temple.
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| I was so excited upon seeing that we could enter the pagoda, but apparently we couldn't scale it. |
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| Upward spiral~ |
Do enjoy the view before going down.
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| There's an outdoor swimming pool at Silks Place Taroko Hotel. |
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| Under construction... |
Thereafter, we went back to the bus stop at Tianxiang to continue trekking elsewhere for the day.
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