Temple Visitors – Please Remove Your Shoes
The world is full of temples. India, Japan, China, Cambodia, Thailand – the list goes on and on. And these temples are truly awesome. If you travel to these locations you will definitely want to take some time and visit the temples in the region.
On temple visits you will likely discover that most often you are not allowed to wear your “street shoes” when you enter the temple. What to do? Well, you could simply remove your shoes and enter “bare foot” or in your stockings. For some reason, to me at least, that just doesn’t seem like such a great idea. I really try to stay healthy when I travel and that means doing whatever I can to limit my exposure to possible infections, germs, etc. So you won’t be seeing me walking around bare foot in temples. Nope.
Many travelers avoid the “bare foot temple visit” by using “temple socks”. Temple socks are simply a pair of socks which travelers carry with them for use in temples. Before entering a temple they remove shoes and put on the temple socks. Might be of some help. But after you visit the temple then what? You now have a pair of dirty socks to deal with. Seems like a hassle to me.
For me, the best solution is to use disposable shoe covers. They are cheap, light weight and pack easily. I keep several pair in my backpack or camera bag. You never know when you might encounter a temple! (And of course you can use them in other areas as well to keep your feet or shoes clean – or even use them to wrap up items to give a bit of extra protection.) These “booties” can be used to simply cover your shoes before entering a temple – an approach which is acceptable in many temples.
(You can see a lady putting on a pair of disposable shoe covers in the photo above – prior to her entering the Taj Mahal in Agra India.)
Some temples will still require that you remove your shoes. If that’s the case then you can wear the disposable covers over your socks (or bare feet). After you have completed your temple visit you can just dispose of the covers in the trash. Nice, and neat, and clean.
Be Prepared ………… and Enjoy The Adventure!
Dr. B., The PhotoTrekker
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