Jinshang Business Hotel

Great Buddha Scenic Area

by Willettsworld

Your Y70 entrance fee not only includes a visit to the Giant Buddha but to a whole scenic park. The park includes temples, pavilions, pagodas, caves and gardens with trails running all over the park.

Wuyou Temple

by Willettsworld

This temple was built around AD 750 during the Tang Dynasty. In the temple are many places of cultural and historical interest such as the Tianwang (Heavenly Kings) Hall, Mituo Hall, Daxiong Grand Hall, Guanyin Hall and Wuyou Hall.

Da Fo Buddha at Leshan

by bellatrix

took a day trip to Leshan today to see the giant Buddha. It's billed as the largest Buddha anywhere in the world! It's 71 meters high, how big is that in feet? I have no clue but let's just say it's really big! It took us about 2 hours to get there by bus and I enjoyed the trip through the countryside almost as much as the Buddha itself! Saw many people out in the fields... a very different way of life!

The Buddha is called Da Fo Buddha, and it was built in the 12th century by monks. It's built into a cliffside facing the town of Leshan, and you have to take a ferry to get to the temple grounds and to the Buddha itself. I walked around the temple grounds for hours, it was so great! There were coi ponds and shrines with incense burning and pagodas overlooking the water and great vegetarian restaurants and happy buddhists milling about everywhere making offerings and taking pictures.... Chinese people are the best tourists! Maybe that's one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable in their country; they understand the desire to see things and treat other tourists well!

My favorite part of the grounds actually wasn't the Buddha itself, which was impressive... but my favorite part of the grounds was the Woyou temple. I searched for it all day and finally found it, at the very end of the grounds.. and as you approach it the trees open up to reveal the water, and a rust colored Chinese temple on the other side of the water, and an arched bridge connecting the two sides. It was magnificent! As I looked down and to the right, towards the water, I saw men fishing with long bamboo poles, and the pointy straw hats that you sometimes see Chinese wearing.. it would have made a great picture, with the temple in the background! But alas, I had the great misfortune of leaving my camera in a pagoda earlier in the day, so I couldn't capture the moment to share! (Luckily, some friends from the hostel recognized my camera and picked it up for me!) I walked over the arched bridge and ate at the vegetarian restaurant there, which I must stress again that I searched for all day! The maps of the grounds weren't very helpful, as the paths meandered seemingly aimlessly with signs along the path that pointed in directions that were very hard to link to the actual paths... it was actually quite funny really! I was getting cranky because I was hungry, but I finally found the temple and renowned restaurant, and it certainly lived up to the expectation! I sat and had tea and spicy tofu with rice, and enjoyed the view... ahhh, redemption!