sybarites

We set out this morning to see the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. Our book made it sound quaint, quiet and small, at its location along the periphery of the city. The first leg of the journey was via MTR subway where I saw, and had to take a picture of, the Nail Art Machine.

The directions indicate that one should apply a base coat to one’s nails using the bottles along the shelf at the front before choosing and design on the screen and then placing each finger, one by one, into the slot for the design to be applied. Then, one must apply a topcoat. Finally, a machine for those of us with no time to spare for a relaxing manicure so that we can get our nails done with classy art whilst on the run to the subway!

We connected to the mid-range train circuit to reach our final destination. At our station, we disembarked and Marc starting searching his pocket for the directions we had written out before leaving but, there was no need because the subway signs were clearly posted to indicate the correct exit for the monastery. We followed the helpful signs in English that were spaced 100′ apart, turned left at the IKEA, and then rounded the last corner to find this:

It appeared as though we may have been encouraged to visit this sacred site.

We started climbing the 400 steps up the mountainside and the path really was picturesque, with the first few hundred golden buddha lining the path.

This one was very upset, presumably about the the bug in his eye.

When we reached the top, we came upon a small, sunny square, with yet more buddha, several pergolas and a tower.

Also, we saw the temple, which we weren’t allowed to photograph but could enter and buy souvenirs. The inside of the temple itself was where the remainder of the ten thousand buddhas sat, lining the walls from floor to ceiling. We thought the number was figurative but it was very much literal. I could’ve bought a key chain stating this fact.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 18th, 2006 at 4:26 am by Marc and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.