This afternoon we went to the most preserved old part of Taiwan- Lugang. Lugang used to be a bustling trade city, but when the country began building a train system, the city refused to have the train run through their city. Therefore, they eventually were cut off from the development of the rest of the island, and stayed very traditional. Now it is kind of a cool touristy place to see Taiwan how it used to look.
This is a traditional home. The center is where the family shrine with the local god and pictures of ancestors go. Then as the family grows you build more and more wings to the house and it can go on and on- it is amazing how far back some of these homes go. One guy said that his ancestors had lived in his house for over 100 years.
The homes all had touristy shops in the front rooms. These are different popular gods that have been turned into anime characters. They're kinda cute.
Man hand painting fans. He could paint anything on them. He started painting my portrait on one, but we left before we could see the end result.
In front of a traditional home gate- big and wooden with the red writing around it.
This weird gaurdian was in front of the temple- some type of dog-dragon-turtle thing.
This was the Lugang Matsu Temple- it is one of the oldest on the island- over 100 years old, and all the original wood work. The intricacy of the wood was really amazing.
Rick and Lisa behind the incense alter- cough, cough
Compared to the other temples we've seen, the colors here are much more muted and earthy because it is in it's original state.
One of the gods in the temple- I just thought, "That's got to hurt"- have no idea what it means.
Big golden hall with names of ancestors and two big protectors.
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