Leshan Grand Buddha

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Today we traveled public bus to the Leshan Grand Buddha. It is approximately 2 hours South of Chengdu. We started from the South Bus Station (Xinnanmen). It is always an experience purchasing a public ticket. You get in a line hoping that when you reach the window you can at least communicate where you would like to go and when. Undoubtedly I get in the line that once I ask for my ticket, with the worse Chinese pronunciation of the cities, the lady just looks at me and points to another window. On the second try I was successful, which is par for the course. We head to the bus and climb towards the back. We realized, once seated, that they actually assign seat numbers, since we were in the wrong seats we hoped the bus did not fill up. It did not so we remained in the back, which I have learned is one of the few places on the bus which has windows that open.
Once we arrive at the Leshan bus terminal we get off and head for a local bus #1, which I had read online goes to the Grand Buddha. Well, it soon became apparent that we were going to take a tour of all the bus stops of Leshan and not get to the Buddha. The ticket taker seemed to know that we were not on the right bus and motioned for us to get off once we arrived at another bus station. We opted then to get a taxi and make it to the site today.
Once at the entrance we decided first to do the boat tour in front, as you get the best picture of the Grand Buddha that way. They called it a speedboat cruise, while it was actually a rusted bucket with a roof to view from. It took entirely too long as they tried to sell you their photo taking opportunity in front of the Grand Buddha and then of the temples.
The Grand Buddha is worth viewing though. I believe it is the world largest Buddha, standing 71 meters high, with shoulders 24 meter wide. The head itself is 14.7 meters, with the ears being 7 meters each. If you look at some of the photos you can see how the humans measure up against the Buddha. The Buddha is also unusual in that it faces west towards the elements of wind, rain and sun. Even so it has remarkably survived over 2,000 years.
Our ride home was less eventful, as we left the park we were accosted by numerous individuals asking if we would like a bus ride home. We opted for it since it was the same price as the public bus. It was a little unsettling coming into a strange bus station at night (which was closed), not knowing what part of the city you are in. We wandered around on a few streets until we hailed a taxi. It took no time and we were safe back at the Ibis Hotel.

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