Leshan Gaint Buddha (A day trip from Chengdu, China)

With a claim of being the world’s biggest Stone Buddha, sitting tall at 71mts, how can one miss seeing this wonder just a few miserly hours away?

Roughly about 2.5 hrs away (100 KM) from the Chengdu City center, the Leshan Buddha makes for an easy day trip.

Build by the river banks by a monk, to calm the water “monsters” it is definitely a sight. Amongst the oldest statues in the world, this Buddha is craved onto a cliff in sitting position (perhaps to give it more support?).

There are 2 ways to seeing the Leshan Buddha,  (a) via boat, from the River (where apparently you see the most picturistic views) (b) A trek down the steep staircase, starting somewhere near the head of the Buddha to the very feet of the Giant.

We choose to trek down and were soon engulfed in the huge mass of tourists.. mostly local Chinese people, coming to see this ancient statue… As we stood in the snail paced lines, I had locals coming and asking to take pictures of me. Perhaps, they had never really seen a brown Indian Woman…. Nevertheless it was a great way to pass time: Taking pictures with dozens of Chinese locals, none of who spoke English.. posing and smiling with each of them, trying to interact using signs …

And as we walked along the queue, we realized, that perhaps, just perhaps, China does not understand the concept of queue and waiting to take your turn very well.. we had some pushing, shoving, trying to get ahead sort of people.. and eventually, we decided to form a human wall of 3 , which could not be crossed .. and that worked really well..!!

I had a woman behind me, probably angry, trying to shove her way through… almost shouting .. . but since I do not not understand Chinese, and she could not speak English…and frankly since there was no emergency… we learned to ignore her and she us …

And soon as we reached the bottom, near the foot of the Buddha.. she rushed past us and looked as us with a total look of victory!! Sweet! No words were needed to translate that to us !

From the foot of the Buddha as you gaze up.. u realize just how tiny you really are and how perhaps insignificant you stand in this world …. Was I awed? No.. but I was impressed, by the sheer size of it, by the sheer age of it and by the sheer effort it must have taken to build at that age and that time (803AD) ….

The long trek down to the Buddha

At the foot of the Buddha.. a then we Gaze up.. behold the biggest Buddha of them all !!

At 90 RMB, the tickets were not exactly cheap, and for those with small kids, consider taking the river boat rather than the trek down to the Buddha foot.. However, it is definitely a sight to see near Chengdu and well worth a day trip…