Biggest Buddha in The Whole Wide World

Entrance to Buddhist cave
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Once again there was an early start to head two hours south from Chengdu to the town of Leshan. There's only one reason that people flock there, it's got the largest Buddha statue in the world.

I made it to Leshan and went to buy my ticket back to Chengdu for that evening. By the time I had come back out the city bus that was picking everyone else up had gone and there was a shifty guy with a little hiace bus wondering if I wanted to go and see the big Buddha. Usually I'd keep away from these guys, but there were a couple of others in the van and for Eu 0.20 I couldn't go too far astray. When I got to where he dropped me off though, I was totally lost. There were no tour buses or tourists, just a normal street, a gate with an entry fee of 105 RMB (Eu 10.50) and some guy that seemed to be following me telling me where the gate was.

Park beside big Buddha
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Thankfully when I got inside, my local friend stopped following me, but I really didn't know where I was. I had bought a ticket with a picture of the Buddha on it, but he wasn't even marked on the map of the park I had gone into. I went to explore, and to my surprise it was actually a beautiful spot that I had stumbled on. The Chinese tour groups are obviously in too much of a hurry to add this on to their itinerary. Inside was very peaceful with a few people strolling about. The centerpiece a Buddha garden with a nasty set of steps up to the central temple, set into the hill. About 200 steps later, I was exploring the caves either side of the temple. Each one had beautiful carvings and statues that were straight from the mountain rock. One of the caves contained a Buddha of 1000 hands!

Thousand hand Budistava
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It was only at this point that signs for the main man started to appear. A nice quiet path lead to another park, and I knew I was in the right place. The Chinese were out in force, weapons in hand (cameras that is). When I eventually made it to the Buddha, the place was one big scrum. Most of them were in a queue to get down to the bottom of the Buddha statue. Others were jostling for position to get their picture from the ledge at the top, each one with the required corny pose.

Big Buddha's head
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The statue itself is immense. It was built by a monk and his lackeys a long time ago and was actually finished many years after his death. The big fella was chiseled into the cliffs that overlooked a particularly fearsome meeting point of two rivers. The reason, to look out for the souls trying to cross the torrents. It worked wonders as all the excess rock fell into the water calming it. I eventually mustered the patience to scrum in with the locals to get to the bottom of the statue. The only reason there was such a queue was that going down the steps, they need a photo at every turn. You could sit and have your lunch on his toe nail. His foot was the size of a small bus (see photo). Some Buddha!