The Giant Buddha Temple

There are numerous Giant Buddha statue in China. The most memorable one is the LeShan Giant Buddha （乐 山大佛), which I witnessed in February 2006. Another one would be the Giant Buddha inside the Mogao Crottoes 莫高窟 /Thousand Buddha Caves. And the trip for the day is the largest reclining sculpture of the Nirvana Buddha in China, placed inside The Giant Buddha Temple (大佛寺) in Zhangye (张掖), Gansu Province (甘肃省), China.

Even the road is known as the Giant Buddha Temple Lane in Chinese language (or DaFoSi Xiang)

Peaceful street.. Any idea why they painted the bottom part of the tree trunk white?

Wall painting of the 八仙过海 (Eight immortals crossing the sea) opposite the temple :)

Entrance to The Giant Buddha Temple

Part of the temple is still under renovation, hence dusty. But the place is still open to visitors, with the condition "Enter at your own risk" ;)

I didn't take any photos inside the temple since photography is prohibited. But many still busily snapping away (as there are no guards watching), but I didn't snap any photo inside. The above picture is the photo of the Giant Buddha placed at the entrance. The whole Buddha is 34.5 meters in length, width of 7.5 meters between the shoulders, feet of 4 meters and ears of 2 meters. Huge leh... We are like midgets when standing next to it :)

(Photo courtesy of Gansu Tourism Site).

The above picture showed how huge is the reclining Buddha (in comparison with the person standing next to it). One interesting fact is that the reclining Buddha can be awake or sleeping when viewed from different location. When u look at the Giant Buddha straight at his face, he is fully awake with both eyes opened. When looking at the Buddha's face from the waist region, he is partially awake, opening one eye and closing the other. When viewed from the feet region, the Buddha is sleeping peacefully with both eyes closed. And one amusing thing is... the foot of the Buddha was broken and the foot region is now protected with glass panel to prevent visitors from rubbing the foot. Cos according to our tour guide, the Buddha feet was broken as too many rubbed the Buddha's feet in the past especially by students who are sititng for exam and not well prepared. (as the Chinese phrase 臨時抱佛腳). LOL

Part of the Temple.

I like to zoom in when taking photo, for a better view of the workmanship of the little sculptures on the roof top.
Can admire every fine and single details of the perfectly done craftwork, which are oftenly overlooked and neglected by many.

And *ahem*, not forgetting my obsession with doors and door knobs :)

One more... I promise it's the last one for the day :P