10,000 and Not Counting

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For the last leg of our journey through Hong Kong, Julie and I went to the 10,000 Buddhas Temple. It's neatly tucked away behind IKEA and some other buildings. If Julie hadn't known where it was we most likely never would have found it. Yet, somehow, some loud French tourists did.

As we walked down the hidden path it was like we were entering the woods. Tall trees surrounded us, there were a few birds, but mostly it was quiet. The walk to the temple is all stairs. I don't know how many there are but I've been told over 200. There are golden Buddhas all the way up the stairs, at first just on one side, then on both sides, as though they're welcoming you to the temple. Some look serene, some silly, some screaming, and one looked like he was talking on a cell phone. Each Buddha was different.

At the top were more Buddhas and the temple. (And the loud French tourists.) Inside the temple are thousands of Buddha statues, some big, but most of them only about 8 inches tall. The lined the tall walls, Buddhas as far as the eye could see. Candles and an altar were in the center of the room, but no incense hung in the air, and none was burning.

Outside there were more stairs, seemingly hidden. We took them up and found more Buddhas and a large white Buddha statue. I'm not sure if it's only partly done, but the white seemed to glow with radiance under the cloudy sky.

We walked back down the mountain, the Buddhas silent behind us, to catch the metro back to Shenzhen.

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Photos

"Weiiiiii???"
Buddha on a cell phone.