le shan

le shan is where the giant buddha is located. it resides in a park with tons of buddhist statues, temples, and...stairs. many, many stairs. we entered into the park by the south gate, and we paid 105 yuan per ticket. now that is a measly 12-13 american dollars, but after 3 weeks of living in chengdu, paying more than 20 for anything is "tai guai le" too expensive. but we forked it out anyway, because, hey, when are you going to see a giant buddha.

so we entered into the park through the south gate, crossed a small river choked with water lillies, (you can click on each picture to enlarge it)

and into the buddhist park/museum/theme park. there were a great many interesting statues to see, of buddha, and different bodhisattvas floating around. we were unclear if these statues were here originally, or if they thought that this would be a good place to put them. it didn't matter. they were beautiful, and where we were was quiet and uncrowded. patrick and i walked peacefully through the statues, breathing deeply, and snapping an odd photo.

we reached a pavillion that led up to a steep set of stairs. i wanted to call and tell someone about it. and luckily, there was a china telecom pay phone. how convenient! unfortunately, as payphones have failed me in the past, so did this one. to this day, i don't know how the phone card in my wallet works.at the top of the steep steps, there was a big buddha, and we asked ourselves, "is that the giant buddha?" and we answered, "nay, it is not. the giant buddha is larger." so we continued on. we passed through a cave with a beautifully carved thousand-handed bodhisattva. it was carved so cleanly. in fact all the carvings in that cave were crisp and clean. gorgeous!

after that we began to follow signs to "da fo" the giant buddha. we spent hours climbing up and down stairs. as we got closer to da fo, the density of chinese tourists was rising. steeply. we would come over a hill, and there would be big umbrellas with pepsi logos on them, and tourists, quite snappily dressed, sitting underneath. eventually, after stopping for directions, we found the back of da fo's head. his hair looked peaceful and beatific, but the hordes of tourist pressed to every inch of rail around his head, did not. i, like any good tourist, needed to see for myself.

a quick sidenote: the chinese know nothing of lines. if you are waiting for the bus, it does not matter where you are standing, only how close you can squeeze in to the person in front of you. this is true everywhere. i have yet to enter a chinese bank, but i shudder at the thought.

so i mushed myself into the fluid crowd, and with a little politeness (unheard of!), a little patience (never!), and a little boxing out (which i learned from my dear friend abbey), i was able to make to the rail. it was quite a sight. he was huge. and i appreciated that. the crowds of what seemed millions of people, i did not appreciate. on the right side of the buddha, there is a switch back trail you can take to get to the bottom of the buddha, and see it in all it's splendor. the "line" looked to be about 2 hours long. i had seen all i need to see.

so we trekked back, stopping for an expensive lunch, and eventually making it back where we had began. unfortunately, now, it was full of tourists like the rest of the park. the constant hum of conversation was unsettling for me, in such a beautiful environment.

this is something that i clearly need to learn to accept.