When I arrived in Taiwan, I wasted little time before getting myself a scooter - Buying a scooter is something you absolutely have to do when you live anywhere in Taiwan that is outside of Taipei. Once I got the scooter, a whole new world of exploration opened up to my friends and I and we spent all of our free time exploring the mountains and the neighbouring cities around us.

On one of our scooter expeditions we set off for a place in (what was then) Taoyuan City to see the night view of the Taoyuan cityscape at Tiger Head Mountain (虎頭山). Having arrived before sunset we noticed a sign for the Taoyuan Confucius Temple (桃園孔廟) and decided to stop in and check it out.

After that we started making our way up towards the mountaintop when I noticed an old stone post on the side of the road that read "桃園神社" which translated as "Taoyuan Shrine".

I stopped the convoy of expats on scooters and ran up to check out what was at the top of the stairs.

Surprisingly I found a beautiful (but somewhat unkept) Japanese shrine.

As the years past I went back to visit the shrine a few times but just as I opened this website, the place closed down for renovation and I was unable to get the shots I needed to really do this place justice.

Fortunately the Taoyuan Shinto Shrine (桃園神社) which is also known as the Taoyuan Martyr's Shrine (桃園忠烈祠) recently reopened to the public after a few years of renovations. When the weather was right, I took the first chance I could to go to the shrine to get the shots I needed.