I went on a trip to Nan Kun Shan temple, Bei Men, Ma Sha Gou Beach, and the Spoon Bill reserve in Tainan County with fellow bloggers Fili and Micheal Turton this week and it was a blast.

I had always been afraid of meeting people online but I am warming up to the idea after having some good experiences.

First we went to the Nan Kun Shen Temple, a cool place in the countryside of Tainan county. You can easily get there by following the 17 North from Tainan about half an hour. You will see brown sign alerting you to the temples presence, and it is hard to miss it when you get near it.

I experimented with the sepia setting on the camera for a few pics to show the difference. It can make a normal shot…

…look old and aged…

We must have come on a special day, as they had some sacrifices for the gods and many stages for the plays they put on as an offering to the gods.

Here is a huge ghost money burner.

We stopped for a snack at the restaurant tent while there. I took some close ups of some food. Can you tell what it is?

Michael throwing some money at a bell, and making a wish. You can see the coin flying through the air. Fili is in the background. He hit the bell, and surprisingly a recorded gong sound played.

They had a well manicured garden in the center area that made for some nice photography.

Sepia

Sepia

After we were done there, we went through Bei Men to ask for directions to go to the Matsu temple which ended up being to far away for the amount of time we had.

We did meet some seafood vendors on the street.

Oysters in a bottle!

Also got to see the salt workers office.

Then it was on to Ma Sha Gou beach.

Where there is a yacht making firm named President.

They refused to let us in for picture taking. I don’t blame them.

It ended up being a nice ride through the countryside and my first joint blogging venture. You can see the posts made by Michael and Fili for a different view of the same days events.

The Grandmamobile:

Auspicious days:

Rumour had it it was an auspicious day to clean the bottom of your refrigerator and knit a sweater.