The next day we went to 10,000 Buddhas Monastery. "10,000" simply means "lots and lots" in Cantonese. There are 12,800 Buddhas in all. Basically, you start seeing Buddhas at the bottom of the side of a mountain and as you climb stairs all the way to the top of the mountain there are golden buddha statues on either side of you the whole way up. Some of them had the most hilarious expressions and it was kind of hard to be reverent about it.
Before that day Mum showed me a shop where you can buy dresses for $4. I bought this one and wore it that day which was perfect since I think it was the hottest day of the trip and it was a long hike up the mountain.
This was the buddha that Ben and I felt we related to most. Although I think it's a somewhat unrealistic idea to have 5 small children climbing on you and not have a single one jabbing their finger in your eyes, ears, or mouth.
(And look at my swollen ankles! Hello!)
Ben and Dad made it clear that they both have the same goal -- to someday have grandpa eyebrows like this guy.
The temple and Buddhas were all built and brought in in the 1930's and 40's. The buddha who did it all was encased in a glass tomb in the temple. He is completely covered in gold leaf and is considered indestructible since he was such a good person. I think they worship him now, too, if I'm not mistaken. It was all a little creepy to me.
More intricate ceiling work
We wanted to find another section of the monastery that Mum and Dad hadn't seen before. So we ended up partially walking down the other side of the mountain when this little old lady was walking up from her home to worship. She was carrying this super heavy backpack and a bag full of offerings that she would burn at the top. Mum helped her up all the stairs when she saw what kind of condition she was in. Ben carried her backpack up the entire way. Even though she couldn't speak any English, she made it clear that she needed to sit down when she got to the top, so we took her to this bench. Mum tried talking to her with what little communication they could make and after we said our goodbyes we noticed that the woman's eyes were rolling back. We ran right back to her. She was completely unaware of our presence when we waved our hands in front of her face. Immediately we all recognized that she was experiencing heat exhaustion. Ben and I pulled notebooks out of his backpack and started fanning her like crazy while Mum went to try and find help. When the woman started coming back I pulled out her bottle of tea and helped her drink it. Finally we were able to get some Cantonese speakers to help us out. Mum spent quite a while with this woman until she was back to normal.
This wasn't that unique of a story on our trip. It seemed like almost every day we came across a stranger who was in need of help and I learned that Mum and Dad's mission is about much more than just counseling missionaries.
There weren't very many female buddhas so I had to document that there actually were a few.
A sign on the bathroom.
I think it was later that night when we all went to eat at a really nice Thai restaurant. Ben and I both put Thai down as one of our favorite cuisines and we were relieved to see that the Thai we eat at home is the same Thai they make in Asia, unlike Chinese food which is almost completely different. I meant to take pictures of all the different foods we tried but it was just too much. We were trying too many new things each day.
No comments:
Post a Comment