It's a sunny Sunday. Very warm again. I see a billboard showing +34'C and there's absolutely no clouds anywhere to be seen. So overall, an excellent day for exploring the windy city. Today I'm heading to the Guqi mountain and Pu Tian temple, more casually known as Guqifeng. I've read about the place in my Lonely Planet travel guide and of course Google is a trustworthy friend of a traveller. As the place is located only 3-4 km away from our campus I decided weeks ago to find it. The first try a few weeks back didn't go quite as planned when it turned out that my map reading abilities were leading us to the opposite direction. Hence, I've been improving my Google Maps skills and today I felt confident enough to give it a second try. And boy was it worth the trip!
I walked in the scorching heat up the twisting and turning road, almost losing faith of ever actually finding the place when I suddenly saw the huge Guanggong statue on top of the temple. I had found it! Finally! Excitement rising I paced quickly inside the gates to marvel the temple with its enormous statue of a famous Chinese general giving me the thumbs up for my efforts.
So what exactly is special about this place? Other than the above mentioned 20 m statue? Let me try to explain. The temple holds a museum of sorts (I think you could call it that) of various pieces of art, mainly statues. Apparently collected by the original founder of the temple over a 20-year period. There are some curiosities inside including various large jade-made pieces, cities made of wood and stuffed animals, of course. However, the main attractions are outside on the surrounding grounds. Unfortunately the place is clearly in need of restoration. Nature has overpowered large sections of the area destroying some of the pieces of art. Still, you can't miss the overwhelming feeling of out-of-placement once you dwell into the outside exhibition. The sheer number of statues is mind-boggling. Yet, fairly soon you'll notice something even more curious: the randomness of the displayed statues. They vary from traditional Buddhist and Chinese to more western-like. Which raises the ultimate question of why? Why these statues here in the middle of Taiwanese nowhere? I guess why not, is the only explanation we'll get. Frankly, I don't think anything I write can quite explain this magical place so I'll let the pictures try to convey the utter uniqueness of the place. Enjoy!
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| One of the wooden cities |
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| Terracotta soldiers |
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| Of course you need the bust of Beethoven |
From Egyptians to the Statue of Liberty
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| Monkeys with dogs tied to the water post...? |
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| Closed off section, clearly it has seen better days |
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| I hope the next mudslide won't take this guy with it |
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| Dinosaur "skeletons", because why not? |
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