Wen Shu Temple aka: 文殊院

Wen Shu Temple was one of the first places I visited in Chengdu and by far one of my favourite places here. At the end of Spring Festival, the area becomes host to a fantastic temple fair, and any other time of the year it is a great place to spend an afternoon for the food, the tea, the company and the solitude.

The temple is, obviously, dedicated to Wenshu, a Buddhist figure I don’t know much about myself (any help?) and is host to a calligraphy institute, a reasonably large Buddhist library (from the outside at least) and the one of the best vegetarian restaurants around. The veggie hui guo rou (回锅肉) is not to be missed.

You can take bus number 55 pretty close to the temple itself. It’s about a ten minute walk from the nearest stop, but the walk past the nunnery, the teahouses, and the myriad shops hustled in amongst the recently rebuilt “historical” district make for a good walk. Entrance to the temple is 5 kuai, but if you’re clever you may find a way in another entrance for free.