I can see your Buddha

Last weekend, Will and I traveled across the water to Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. The name is deceiving because there are actually about 13,000 Buddhas at said temple, but who's counting?

The temple is on a hill and the steep path that leads to it is lined with life-size gold Buddha statues, all with a different facial expression. It's really exciting.

Ahhhh this is so cooooool!!

Once you reach the level of the first temple, there's a tall tower in the middle of the courtyard. We climbed all the way to the top to see what it was all about. Turns out, there was absolutely nothing there. We walked all the way up to the top floor, but each floor looked the same - small Buddha statues in every window and a large Buddha statue in the middle of the room. 

To make things a little more interesting, I took photos with the Buddhas on the way down.

We continued walking up the hill to the second level of temples, where the mummified body of the founder of the monastery lies. Further up the hill was a stunning view of the city, followed by a mountain of "hidden Buddhas,"  which looked like warriors stalking their enemy. That was my favorite part of the whole temple.

Beyond the hidden Buddhas, we came across a waterfall with a gorgeous white statue of a female Bodhisattva. Like all beautiful things in China, it was quiet and peaceful.

Our glutes really got a workout that day, so we went straight to the spa for a relaxing massage (well, sort of, but that's a post for another day...).