After lunch, we walked through this gate over to the nearby 彰化南瑤宮 (Changhua Nanyao Temple). People were burning paper money in the furnace as we entered the grounds. The temple, built in 1738, is a 媽祖 (Mazu) temple, honoring 天上聖母, and is filled with her likeness and numerous lesser gods. Here are some pictures I took as I walked around the temple.

Around 1:00, we all piled into Zhiwei's Land Rover and headed to 鹿港 (Lugang), about a 25 minute drive from Changhua. Lugang is famous for its many old temples, boasting over 200 temples dedicated to a wide variety of folk deities, and also for its neighborhoods with old style houses lining narrow pedestrian alleys. Those are what we came to see.

Unfortunately, with the city such a big tourist attraction, many of the alleys and houses have turned commercial, turning old homes into stores selling all sorts of stuff, destroying the old world charm, making our visit a big disappointment for me. (I didn't take a lot of pictures.)

So we left the old part of town and headed off to a main street that has turned into a big market. We stopped here for some drinks, then continued on...

...to the 鹿港天后宮 (Lugang Mazu Temple). Other than this blackened Mazu statue (from hundreds of years of burning incense at her base), I only took a few pictures.

Leaving the temple, it was time to head home after a quite tiring day. But first, Zhiwei wanted to get some snacks for us to try. (Changhua is well-known for having yummy snacks.) He doled out some of these pastries which, though neither Mei-O nor I can recall what they were, we do remember they were pretty good. Then, finally, we headed back to the car where...

...Zhiwei revealed he also bought some 包子! Which we enjoyed as we headed home, taking a scenic route along the coast so we could drive past the 彰濱產業園區 (Changhua Coastal Industrial Park) to see...

...this, a giant Google Data Center! After a few pictures, we finally headed home.

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