Day 11 - Chung Tai Monastery

So I ran away. Lolz. Took the morning 自強 train from 新竹 to 台中 (NT$198). From there, I took the 客運 bus no. 999 to 埔里 (NT$150). Then from 埔里，took the taxi to 中台禪寺 (NT$200). A total of 3 hours spend on transportation, and a whole lot of money too. But it was worth visiting at least once. Chung Tai Monastery is huge! And I was lucky enough to attach myself to a group of high ranking guests from China, and thus got the opportunity to visit the inner chambers. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed in those areas. One of them stored the entire Tripitika set carved on woodblock under the directions on Emperor Qian Long. Pretty crazy.


There were giant statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Dharma Protectors every where. Check out that statue of one of the 4 heavenly kings! Its about 12 meters tall! And the statue of Weitou (center). In the old days, if the Weitou Bodhisattva statues hold the vajra sword horizontal, it means that you can stay in the temple. Those that hold it to the ground means there is no temple lodging.


There were lots of stairs to climb... And lots of Arhat statues as well. I got to go all the way up to the 38th level. The wall of the top few levels is all made of glass and the glass is made to be able to withstand extreme winds during typhoon season, and earthquakes up to 7.8 on the scale.

The architecture of Chung Tai Monastery is indeed impressive. But despite all its grandeur, there is something that I feel is missing from the piece. Cttb on the other hand is no where comparable in such decor, but it has that missing something, the something that makes me always want to go back... the feeling of family. I miss cttb...


After the tour, one of the nuns helped me to reserve a place at the nearby hotel. It cost NT$1680!!! Freaking expensive. And not only is there nothing else to do around there, there was also no one else in the hotel but me! So i guess NT$1680 to book an entire hotel is not that bad. Lolz. Had dinner alone as well and because there was almost no one else, I kind of had my personal waitress. Not bad not bad. The only thing is that... I was given a room on the 5th floor, and knowing that there is no living soul other than me on the entire level, and in fact, the entire hotel except the reception counter on the first floor does make it kind of scary....