我爱台湾！: Guan Ziling (关子岭)

We are having a long holiday here due to Dragon Boat Festival and I was suppose to go to Taidong to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival but we were too late in booking the train tickets and hence the trip was cancelled. But on a brighter note, Mr. Kuo brought his family and I to Guan Zi Ling (关子岭).

This temple called 碧云寺 had two rocks beside it and the hole in between the two rocks is called 出米洞. Legend has it that the rocks provided free grains of rice which was enough for the whole temple of monks. But there was a monk who dug all the rice from the hole and kept it all for himself. Ever since then, there was no rice left. Moral of the story: Do not be greedy!

Version 2 of the story is that a monk kept all the rice in the hole during the World War and only took it out when needed. However, when some passer-by saw it, they thought there was free rice coming out from the hole. Therefore, they name it as 出米洞.

After that, we went to see the water and fire Hot Spring (水火同源) . The water from the hot spring together with the natural gas that ascend through the cracks of the rocks resulted in this interesting sighting of an eternal flame burning on the water. This was first discovered by a monk in 1701 and the flame has been burning ever since then, meaning it has been burning for at least 300 years!

There were many trees in front of the hot spring and they caught my attention because of the fruits they bear which looked like potatoes. It is called 腊肠树 (sausage tree) not because it grows sausage but because of the shape of the fruit I guess.

Before this, we went to eat Mango Shaved Ice made from natural mango puree at a Wholesale Fruit centre. Simply refreshing especially on a hot day. There are many mango plantations nearby. Therefore, you will be able to see many species of mangoes. Pink mangoes（爱文) are the sweetestPeople come here to buy mangoes in huge baskets of at least 2-3kg. There are also dried preserved fruits on sale too.

Finally, we had dinner at 岩顶 which is an open concept restaurant with a garden theme. I really love the ambience here. The owner has a rabbit, a dog, some parrots and also a garden of butterflies. It was really nice to see all the butterflies dancing around while you enjoy a sumptuous spread.