Today, Jennifer, Jocelin, Anne (Jocelin’s friend) and I all headed out to Jinshan and the Dharma Drum Mountain. Dharma Drum Mountain is the largest Buddhist community in northern Taiwan.
DDM as it is called is also an education center with meditation halls, a library, conference rooms and a sprawling landscape complete with gardens and walking paths. We had a vegetarian lunch at DDM and took a tour where they showed us one meditation technique of walking with a bowl full of water without spilling it. I am pleased to say I did not spill any water! However, anytime someone spoke my water got close to spilling. It was an extremely peaceful place. My favorite place in the complex was the meditation hall with the stone pool. It was such a tranquil place on top of the mountain. This picture doesn’t do it justice.
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| Welcome Buddha |
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| Jennifer and I |
After DDM, we drove down to the beach at Jinshan. I didn’t realize this but the Cheng’s own a restaurant on the beachfront where we stopped in and had a bite to eat. Jocelin and Anne took a walk on the beach and Jennifer and I stayed and admired the view. The Cheng’s are also in the process of building a hotel on their property in the next year. I told her the next time I come back, I’m staying at their hotel! The beach wasn’t very big, but it is a popular spot for surfers. Unfortunately, the waves weren’t very big today but they seemed to be making the best of it.
I figured after Jinshan our day was over, but this is Taiwan and the Taiwanese do not rest! ;) Jennifer, Jocelin and I headed over to the Da’an District to Yongkang Street for some shopping. Let me just say, Jennifer is the best person to go shopping with! She makes friends with every sales person and gets the best discounts! She got one woman at a store to give me an additional discount after already receiving 30% off. I love that woman! Yongkang Street is a series of quaint shops and restaurants. I loved walking through the streets.
Lastly, we had beef noodles at the original and best beef noodle place in Taiwan. Jocelin told me all the other ones are imposters and this one is the best. Her dad, Mr. Cheng has been eating beef noodles from this place since he was a boy. The beef in the soup was so tender; I could cut it with my chopsticks. Taiwan really does have amazing food. I need to take just one day and eat my way down a street in Taipei. I have never seen a place with so many delicious food vendors on every street. With all this amazing food, how do they stay so skinny?!
Okay, so if you’ve been reading this blog you’ve read my previous post about the Taiwanese and the fact that they bring their dogs everywhere including restaurants. Well, this just takes the cake……check out this picture below.
Lastly, I just have to comment on the driving and millions of scooters that inhabit this island. I would be interested in seeing the statistics on crashes involving scooters. I thought we were going to hit several scooters, people and/or bikes today. I guess if you are accustomed to sharing the road with so many scooters, then it’s not a problem. Also, your scooter helmet is like a designer purse for a woman. Here’s the best scooter helmet I’ve seen thus far – a strawberry!
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