Taoyuan City - Hutoushan park - Sansheng Temple (三聖宮)

There are three important temples in the Hutoushan Park, or close to it. They are Sansheng Temple (明倫三聖宮), Confucius Temple and Former Shinto temple that serves now as Taoyuan Martyr's Shrine (桃園忠烈祠). This article will tell about Sansheng Temple. In fact the two others are more interesting, but we will come back to them later.

Taoyuan City - Hutoushan - on top of the hill

Now we go up to the Hutoushan hill. The highest point is 251 meters above the sea level. Usually people go up early in the morning, but I prefer going a bit later, because I enjoy walking and taking photos in peace, without adapting too much to other hikers pace. August is very hot in Taiwan, and especially afternoon it can be unbearably hot. Up in the hills it is always a bit cooler.

The stairs up

Taoyuan City - part 2 - At the foot of Hutoushan

In the first part of the series we learned basics of Hutoushan or Tiger Head mountain 虎頭山. In this article we see what does it look like before climbing up. There are two main entrances to the Hutoushan Park (虎頭山公園), one for pedestrians only along the Nankan river, close to the Taoyuan High School, and another one for vehicles further up on Chenggong Road to the right just before the Veterans Hospital (台北榮民總醫院桃園分院)




When you approach Hutoushan from the County Stadium, you need to pass through this small street along the river. You will see majestic trees on both sides of the road, they are called Chinese Banyan. The scientific name is Ficus microcarpa. It was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1782. In Europe they are growing mostly indoor in flower pots, very often as bonsai trees. But in Taiwan Ficus microcarpa is a huge tree. Distinctive to it are the aerial roots hanging down rom high. With the aerial roots the tree take water from the humid air. If the roots are let to grow and they reach the ground, they will become pillar roots and finally develop into secondary trunks. In this way a banyan style tree with pillar roots and secondary trunks is developed.

Taoyuan City - Tiger head mountain (Hutoushan, 桃園虎頭山)

Taoyuan City is located in the North-West of Taiwan. It is the gateway to Taiwan, since the most important international airport is located there. It is an industrial city, where my mobile phone was made (or designed).

Taoyuan City by night.