Wazzup Pilipinas!
The Taoist Temple, located in the wealthy residential enclave called Beverly Hills subdivision, was first in our private city tour of Cebu. They say the temple was built in 1972, which is the second quarter of the century. It's the cultural center of the Chinese minority with many paintings and images of dragons, lions, altars and statues of the Buddha. There's the beautiful pagoda roofs and a pool adorned with Lotus flowers
Its 300 meters above sea level and multi-tiered with 99 steps to reach the top. There are three separate winding routes that you can take. Whatever way you choose, you would be fascinated to take photos of almost every spot within the Taoist Temple. Every area is purely Instagrammable to the max!
The Taoist Temple is the center of worship for Taoism - the religion which follows the teachings of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tze. Taoist devotees perform the traditional rites and rituals with lighted joss sticks every Wednesday and Sunday.
Taoists believe the "tao" (the way) which refers to the principle of the universe. An emphasis is put on remaining in harmony with the "tao" and with one's environment, which in turn leads to right behavior.
Our driver parked here which I thought at first was the entrance to the temple. The actual entrance going up to the main altar was at the farther left side where you will find a gate with a sign reminding you that you are entering a sanctuary and that you need to observe silence and solemnity, follow the rules while inside the temple grounds, and to meditate and pray.
A ritual among devotees is where one prays to the gods to grant one's wish. The ritual includes washing of hands, going inside the chapel barefoot and dropping two blocks of wood. If the blocks of wood are both face up then one could make a wish. If not, it is not the time for one's wish to be granted and one has to come to the temple another in the future.
I actually took a lot of photos of this place. If only I had more time, I could have stayed longer but since it was the first stop of our city tour, I had to say my goodbyes already. The few minutes spent felt like not enough to capture the beauty of the place.
I could love to return to this place and take more photos, and even videos. This can be considered as one of the highlights of the Cebu city tour because of so many wonderful photos I was able to take from the place.
More photos can be found at the official Wazzup Pilipinas Facebook page: http://www.Facebook.com/wazzuppilipinas