Kyoto Trip: Kyoto Botanical Garden

If you get tired of the crowds of tourists milling about, the Kyoto Botanical Garden is a nice place where mostly only locals go to. The price of admission (200 yen) is cheap compared to other sites in Kyoto. There are lots of sakura trees on the grounds, so it is especially beautiful in the spring. There is also a greenhouse / conservatory (200 yen admission) that has lots of beautiful or weird exotic plants. This sketch is from inside the greenhouse. Since we had limited time and it was still too cold for most of the cherry blossoms to bloom, we spent most of our time inside the greenhouse. I'd definitely suggest a trip there if you have time and are tired of looking at temples.

Here's a google map of the Kyoto Botanical Garden:

Kyoto trip: Gion-kaku (祇園閣) in Daiunin (大雲院) temple

This tower is called Gion-kaku and it is on the grounds of Daiunin Temple. I didn't actually go inside since they aren't always open to the public, but I got a view of it while walking from Kiyomizudera towards Yasaka Shrine in Gion. Through Google searches, I found out that when it is open to the public, you can go up the tower and get a nice view of the Higashiyama district. The walls inside are decorated with paintings. It is a relatively new structure (built around 1928), so it looks a bit different from the older temples that are present in Kyoto. The roof is bronze, and even the color of the wood looks kind of new.

There's not much information about Daiunin Temple in English, but here's the TripAdvisor site. Here's a google map of the temple:

Kyoto Trip: Seimei Jinja (晴明神社)

Just got back from a trip to Kyoto. We were trying to see cherry blossoms, but there weren't many since it was cold the majority of the time. It was still really nice there. Surprisingly, I had no allergy problems there. I guess Japan just has less air pollution than Taiwan.

Anyway, this sketch is from a shrine that I visited called Seimei Jinja (晴明神社). There is a peach statue on the temple grounds, and you are supposed to be able to get rid of bad luck by rubbing it. Seimei Shrine is a bit small and more modern looking when compared to major shrines such as Kiyomizu-dera, but I still went because I've been a fan of Seimei ever since watching the movies Onmyoji 1 & 2. Seimei was a powerful onmyoji, which is something like a magician or sorcerer, during the Heian period in Japan and, his mother was a fox spirit. The shrine sells lots of cute pentagram charms/omamori.

Here is the google map for Seimei Shrine:

Places to visit in Keelung: Zhongzheng Park (中正公園)

Zhongzheng Park is on top of a mountain in Keelung. There are several play areas for kids, a basketball court, and several temples and pavilions in the park area. The temple that I went to visit was the one that has a giant white statue of the goddess of mercy. The statue is hollow on the inside, and visitors who make a small donation can climb up to get a view of Keelung City and the harbor. I've never been up since the view from the area around the statue is pretty decent.
The day that we went to the park was gloomy, raining, and quite windy, so I sketched in the veranda of the temple. The weather was not ideal for sketching at all, but at least there were less people up there than usual and it wasn't super crowded. I caught a horrible cold (lasted 2 weeks!) after coming back and wasn't able to sketch for a while. I still have residual symptoms from the cold along with seasonal allergies and will also be off on vacation for a while soon, so I probably will be posting very sporadically.
Back to the topic: I wouldn't really rate Zhongzheng Park as a must see for Keelung since none of the temples and pavilions are that old. In my opinion, a lot of the stuff can be a bit garish looking. If you do happen to be around in the summer for Zhongyuan Festival, one of the temples (Zhuputan) is really famous for their festival and it might be worthwhile to go. Don't get too close though, as they set off a lot of fire crackers which can be dangerous when it is crowded. Here is a google map of the park location:

Places to eat at in Hsinchu: Karimantan Toko Indo Restaurant (咖哩曼丹簡餐)

I recently stumbled upon a little place called Karimantan that serves Indonesian food. We tried some fried rice and the red curry, and both were delicious and flavorful. The red curry is one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. The food was slightly spicy but still at a tolerable level for someone like me who never eats spicy food.

The place can be a bit hard to find since it is inside a traditional market (Tung-Men market), but the signs are pretty colorful and recognizable. It is on a corner of the main alley of the market (where lots of mopeds zip through). The space is small and informal and is more suited for parties of 3 or less. I'd advise takeout for larger parties and eating in front of the Hsinchu city government building if the weather is nice. The place is quite clean, and the owner is really friendly and helpful. The prices are very reasonable (<100 NTD per dish), and all the menus have English translations. My guess is that the owner probably can speak English too. Their facebook page has lots of pictures if you want a preview of their food.

Here's a google map for Tung-Men market:

Places to visit in Taipei: Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園)

Yangmingshan National Park is a nice place to visit if you are in Taipei and like nature. The mountain views provide a nice contrast if you've been in Taipei for a while and are sick of the cityscape. One of the things Yangmingshan is famous for are the calla lilies that grow particularly well in the mountain climate. Last time my family and I visited, we brought back a bouquet of calla lilies.

Unfortunately, the area in the mountains that is famous for calla lilies is quite commercialized in that there are a bunch of restaurants in the area. That's nice if you are hungry, but they kind of block the view of the lily fields from the road. So if you go by car, I would suggest parking on the side of the road and walking around on foot so that you can go look at some of the fields. Overall, 30-45 minutes is enough to see everything in the lily fields area, so I would suggest this as a stop on your visit to Yangmingshan, but don't plan on spending too much time there. The lily vendors do sell lots of other plants as well, some of which were quite exotic, at least for me.

Here's the Taipei city government website with information about the calla lilies of Yangmingshan. The page is about the flower festival, but the directions remain the same for non-festival times. The calla lily season is from January-May, but they do grow other flowers during other times of the year.

Here's a google map for a coffee shop the Zhuzihu area, which is where the calla lilies are grown:

Snack food: Curry Cake from Lenjen Bakery (連珍糕餅店) in Keelung

I used to hate traditional Chinese cakes when I was a child because we never got them from good bakeries. Nowadays, most bakeries make them a lot less sweet then they used to be. Also, we know the good bakeries now, and I am beginning to love eating traditional cakes for breakfast or as a snack. They are bite sized and conveniently packaged for eating on-the-go, but beware of the calories. The crumbs can also get pretty messy. The cake I ate recently was curry flavored and was a sweet and savory type of cake. There are also other flavors such as red bean that are purely sweet.

The bakery we went to is called Lenjen Bakery (連珍糕餅店), and it is a well-known traditional bakery in downtown Keelung. Don't expect to find bread there since it's a traditional bakery. They also sell a taro pudding (the name roughly translates as "snow dew") and a savory vegetarian mushroom cake that I really like. If your Chinese reading ability is good, you can go to their website and order online for delivery to your house. They do get quite busy around Chinese New Year's and won't accept online orders during that time.

Here is a google map of Lenjen Bakery: