Doors Open Richmond
Today we went to Richmond for their “Doors Open Richmond” event- where various landmarks, studios, and places of worship each operate an open house. I was so excited because I knew it would be a chance to check out some temples that I have always wanted to see. When Mark and I were in Asia and India, we always walked into mosques and temples because, well, we were tourists and we wanted to see what was happenin’ inside. Here in Vancouver, it doesn’t feel the same to just pull up to a temple and stroll on in to take a look around. Today was our chance, and I was not disappointed!
We went to the Minoru Chapel, the International Buddhist Society Temple, the Lingyen Mountain Temple, the Richmond Jami’a Mosque, and the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple. Each of these places had guides available. Just spending a few hours going to these places has been so informative- I feel like I’ve read three books in one afternoon! The Minoru Chapel is in a nice park setting, and is a really cute place to get married. The International Buddhist Society Temple made us feel like we were back in asia again. The temple felt nice and secluded, but was still a pretty happenin’ place with its devotees. The Lingyen Mountain Temple has a ‘mother temple’ near the town we used to live in in Taiwan, so that had a lot of familiarities as well. The Richmond Jami’a Mosque was awesome because the guide gave us a lot of practical information about Islam- we learned more at this one than all the mosques we went to in Malaysia because there was no language barrier. And the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple was the highlight of the day because we haven’t been in many Sikh temples (except the amazing Golden Temple in India). An excellent lunch was provided at the Nanaksar Gursikh Temple, as well as a tour and talk. It’s worth the visit just to check out the colourful exterior of the building.
The Doors Open Richmond event is still happening tomorrow, be there or be square!!!!
April 26th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I love your photo of Minoru Chapel! Figures Richmond does this AFTER we moved from there! I spent most of my life wondering about all of those different worship places!
April 27th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
oh my gosh, that looks so cool! wish i had been in vancouver for this… maybe next year, i suppose.