TAIWAN: TEMPLES, FESTIVALS AND HOT SPRINGS

Taiwan has more than 5000 temples, ranging in size from single room shrines to vast multi-story complexes, and all of these temples are active places of worship.
There are three varieties of temples in Taiwan: Buddhist, Taoist and Confucius temples- reflecting Taiwan’s religious diversity and wonderful example of mutual tolerance, as during the 50 year Japanese occupation of Taiwan there was a widespread persecution of Taoism, which was seen as the embodiment of Chinese culture. As a result Taoists had to secretly worship in Buddhist temples.
Differences of the various temples can still be seen in their structure: Taoist temples are bright and colourful and adorned with divine figures, while Confucius temples tend to be very simple and austere, with little decoration and no holy figures. Buddhist temples are usually guarded by warriors and incorporate a Pagoda, used as storage for relics and ashes of deceased devotees.
Traveling through Taiwan you will find temples at every turn, each one a unique place that plays a vibrant role in the life and soul of modern Taiwan.

Taiwan being dominated by ethnic Chinese, all traditional Chinese festivals are celebrated by the Taiwanese. Among the most notable are:

Chinese New Year
(In our Gregorian Calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20 – In 2010 it will be on February 14th, in 2011 on February 3rd)

This is the most important festival for the Taiwanese and many shops and restaurants close on the first three days so it is not an ideal time to visit. However, the days leading up to the festival as well as the fourth to fifteenth days are ideal for soaking up the atmosphere and listening to Chinese New Year songs.

Ching Ming Festival (always around 4-5 april - otherwise known as Tomb Sweeping Day)
This is when many Taiwanese would pay respects at their ancestors' graves.

Dragon Boat Festival (June)
This festival honours Qu Yuan, a patriotic official from the state of Chu during the Warring States period of Chinese history who committed suicide by jumping into a river when Chu was conquered by Qin. To prevent the fishes from eating his body, villagers threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fishes and rowed dragon boats with drums being beaten on them to scare away the fishes. Since then, dragon boat racing has been carried out on this day and rice dumplings are also eaten.

Hungry Ghost Festival (August)
This festival runs throughout the seventh month of the Chinese calendar. It is believed that the gates of hell open during this period and hungry ghosts are allowed to roam freely into our world. In order to appease the ghosts and prevent misfortune, many Taiwanese will offer food and burn joss paper for them. In addition, traditional Chinese performances such as Chinese opera and puppet shows are held to appease these wandering spirits.

Mid-Autumn Festival (September)
Legend has it that on this day, a woman known as Chang E swallowed some divine pills to prevent her power hungry husband from becoming immortal. Afraid of being killed by her husband, she fled to the moon and it is believed that the moon shines brightest on this day. This is when many lanterns will be put up for decoration in various parks and shops, which is quite a beautiful sight. Mooncakes are also eaten on this day so it would be an ideal time to try some.

Taiwan offers the perfect solution for anyone wanting to relax and recharge their mind and body- naturally. There are many geothermal hot springs throughout Taiwan. The warm waters of these springs, heated and charged by the earth's own energy, are believed to soothe, revitalize and reinvigorate the body.
A number of hot spring tours are being promoted, and one of the most popular is certainly the Three day tour to the Beitou hot spring, not very far from the capital:

Beitou hot spring is surrounded by Shamau Mountain, Datun Mountain and Chising Mountain. The place is bestowed with abundant hot spring resources. It is called "the hot spring village". The hot spring area refers to more than 10 places such as Dijegu, Lungfung, Funghuang, Hushanli and Hsinyi Road.
The hot spring hotels in this area are larger and numerous. There are many selections no matter the public pools, the individual pools or spa in hotels. Hot spring outlets here are mostly sulfur springs. There are white sulfur, green sulfur and iron sulfur springs. The temperatures of the springs are in the range of 55 to 58 Celsius. They are very effective in healing dermatosis and arthritis.
Other than hot spring spa and visiting the hidden/old sites, tourists may view the amazing sulfur geothermal scene at Dijegu.
The focus of this tour is hot spring spa. However, tourists may also visit Kuandu Temple, one of the oldest temples in northern Taiwan, at Kuandu. Tourists may view the scene of riverside outlet at Guandu Natural Park.
National Palace Museum hosts the most precious Chinese art crafts. The number of its collections for Chinese artifacts is the highest in the world. At night, one may go to Shihlin Night Market for a good meal. All of the Taiwan special delicacies are here, including sausage, large pancake encompassing small pancake, fried squid, assorted chopped ice and oyster noodle, etc.