On Saturday we went to see 乐山大佛 (Le Shan Giant Buddha). It almost was a disaster. After driving for 2 hours the driver asked if we wanted to take the boat (50 yuan) or walk the mountain (100 yuan). Of course we wanted to save money so we said the boat. We bought the tickets and got in line for two hours before we boarded the boat. Once we were on the boat we were excited to see the world's largest buddha. After 1 minute on the boat we speed past the buddha then turned around. We looked at each other and said "That's it?! All the time for that!" The boat slowed down so people could get pictures with it but still - that was it! We got off the boat and went to the drive and complained. He just smiled and asked if we were ready to go. We got in the car and headed back. We looked at each other and I said "No, we did not just waist 4 hours for 3 minutes just to drive back for another 2 hours. We are getting out and making the most of this trip!" So we decided to climb the mountain. It ended up being a lot of fun and in the end I'm glad we did it the way we did. If we hadn't taken the boat we might not have seen the buddha. There is also a line that was probably 4 hours to walk down to see the buddha.
We really enjoyed hiking up the mountain and down. There were lots of places on the mountain to visit along with quiet peaceful places to sit and just look. Jeremy said that this was probably the most beautiful peaceful place he has been in China.
There was a second mountain next to Le Shan that we hiked up (it was much steeper than the other) where the monks live. Every time we visit a place like this I feel so bad for the people because they really truly believe that what they are worshipping is going to help them.
There was a second mountain next to Le Shan that we hiked up (it was much steeper than the other) where the monks live. Every time we visit a place like this I feel so bad for the people because they really truly believe that what they are worshipping is going to help them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment