Day 3

We got up early as usual and had hard boiled eggs, bread, and coffee for breakfast. We were the first ones there. This picture shows a very sleepy Ian waiting for them to put out the food. They actually baked the bread in a kitchen behind the reception desk, so the smells were almost unbearable as we waited for them to bring the bread out. Because the coffee machine could be operated 24 hours a day, we were at least able to drink a cup while waiting.
We walked to the nearest train station and found that all of the seats in the waiting area had cushions.
There was a sign that said that the cushions had been hand made by the members of a lay Buddhist group. They were actually quite comfortable.

Once we reach the station nearest to Temple #17 we got out and started walking. We proceeded through a built up area with many small maze-like roads. Between our map and the sign posts such as those in this picture we had little trouble finding the temple. However, the sign posts were not as helpful as they might have been. Please look carefully at the following picture.
Did you see the discrepancy? The wooden sign says that it is only 300 meters to Temple #17, but the stone post says that it is 600 meters. Every sign between the station and the temple disagreed with all the others. I should add that the distance was actually closer to a kilometer.

Temple #17 was at the of a short street. The next picture shows Ian standing a ways down in front of the gate to the temple.

When we reached the gate, we were greeted by the following sight. Often the view through the gate was one of the best on the whole temple grounds.