Great Buddha Statue of Baguashan

I need to do some catch up blogging since I didn't have this blog up for the first few weeks I was here and a lot happened during that time. So I might jump back in time and talk about a previous adventure every now and then, like right now.

On July 8th, Megan and I went to see the Great Buddha Statue of Baguashan; or "Big Buddha" as most call him. He's this massive monument that you can actually traverse within and learn all about the life and philosophy of Buddha. He's the largest tourist draw in our city, so naturally we went to see him at our earliest opportunity.

This is the entrance gate that leads to the monument grounds.

Not long after passing through the gate there was this incredibly steep hill that we thought we could ride our bikes up. Our enthusiasm didn't make up for the lack of oxygen in our lungs as the incline became too great a foe for our weak mortal forms. We pulled over, ditched the bikes, and took a photo of defeat before continuing on foot for the rest of the journey.

Turns out that Big Buddha is on top of this mountain (it's a small "mountain" for those of you in the Western United States reading this, not a real mountain). That means that we have to climb a bunch of steps through jungle-like terrain.

















It was gorgeous and there were all kinds of birds flying around as we walked.

Megan being the goofball that I love.

So check this out: it was so hot that I literally began sweating my sunscreen off of my body. It looked like I was sweating milk. The crazy part? The sunscreen was fully absorbed! I put the sunscreen on about 15 minutes before we left the apartment and this was maybe 40 minutes after we left. If I remember correctly the head index for that day said that the raw temperature was in the high 90s and it felt as though it was close to 115 degrees F. This was when we were still adjusting to the Taiwan heat. *sigh* We were so young and still had so much to learn.

I still don't know what this rock says but it looked neat.

Where dat Buddah be? He gotta be close...

Dis a map? Dis weird floor map...

Hey, we found him! He's up there!




There was this rather elaborate dragon fountain in the middle of a square that I had to take photos in front of. Of course the photos devolved as time went on and I did my best to imitate the dragons. You're welcome, World.

Nearly there.

Story time:

At this very spot you see in the above photograph, Megan and I were taking pictures of Big Buddha when a kid, he couldn't have been older than 14 or 15 years old, approached me. Throughout the day we spotted numerous groups of teenagers and had gathered that we came to the monument on the same day as a big school field trip and it was clear by the way the kid was dressed that he belonged to one such group. He sheepishly asked, in very clear English I might add, if I wouldn't mind taking a picture of him and his friends with Buddha behind them. I happily agreed and proceeded to take half a dozen pictures of him and his crew on his phone. As I was handing the phone back to him it dawned on me that Megan and I didn't have any official photos together. Sure, we had selfies but that was it. I asked if he could do the same for us and he did (see the above photo as evidence of his photography skills).

After I retrieved my phone they all left the way they had come, back down the long set of stairs. For some reason unknown to me I decided to turn around, and what I found were the group of 4 boys stopped on the steps about 8 steps down from where I had seen them last and the 3 friends appeared to be pushing and poking the one kid who had talked to me. I was still trying to piece together what I was seeing when, without warning, the young man bounded up the steps as quickly as he could, stopped right in front of me, looked me straight in the eyes and asked with a slight quiver to his voice, "uhhm, excuse me...c..could I...have a picture...with...you?" AWWW. How could I say 'no' to that? It was adorable. Of course I agreed. One of his buddies snapped a photo of us together on his phone, he thanked me profusely with a little bow thrown in, and then ran away. And I mean ran. He and his friends ran down those steps and they were skipping and whooping and hollering the whole way down. And the buddies were slapping the one kid on the back too. Now....Megan and I have no way to confirm without a doubt that this is what happened, but we highly suspect that the entire interaction (from them asking to take a group photo) to the end was all a fabrication just so the one kid could get a picture with me. It was flattering to say the least. It made my day and still makes me smile when I think about it. 

Hey there, big guy.

This is a shrine on the first floor within the monument. You can scale the monument all of the way to the top of his head, though the floor with his skull was unfortunately closed the day that we went.

What a jokester.

Look at it. Look! How cool is this?

We heard music during our wanderings so we followed it to this saxophone guy (above my right shoulder) and he put on a live performance for everyone.

You can see the windows in Big Buddha's back. That's the ventilation for the building he houses.

I sure love me some pagodas.

More scenic views.

One last view from afar.

From that point on we left Big Buddha and spent the rest of the day exploring our city of Changhua.

As the hours ticked by during our great exploration, we noticed some ominous clouds approaching from the distance. Don't worry; they definitely hit us about an hour after this photo was taken and this was literally one of the only days I didn't have my raincoat on me. Oh yes, and you observed correctly: I am wearing a white shirt with khaki shorts on this particular day, thanks for noticing.

Circle door, woo!

When you tryin' ta be all cute 'n stuff but you don't know how.

We went to I think three different temples that day. If I remember correctly one was Confucius, one was Taoist, and one was Buddhist. I...think this was the Confucius one?

Shot of the temple grounds contrasted with the surrounding city 

Work it, Megan. Work it!

This was the Buddhist Temple. That I know for sure.

 One of the many alleys we discovered with various shops lining the sides.

There was some kind of religious festival happening because there were parades all day, even in the rain. They were playing instruments from drums to some kind of trumpets that could be heard blocks away. The processions went on for so long that they often blocked traffic.

Okay this brush. Let me tell you what this is all about. My brush that I brought with me to Taiwan broke about a week after I got here. In the past when I've had brushes brake on me it's because the plastic handle snapped off. No, not this time. This time the guts of the brush, the bristles and padding, came unglued from the plastic shell. So my brush brakes. Fine, i'll just buy a new one, right? Wrong. Replacing my brush was the biggest unexpected hassle ever. Apparently everyone here has super silky Asian hair, right? So they all just use combs. Combs everywhere. Combs for dayz. Brushes? Psh, who needs brushes when you've got combs? Oh wait, the foreigner. The foreigner with European hair needs the brush. That's me, by the way. I've already ranted about this for longer than anyone cares about so I'll cut to the chase. I spent over a week looking for a brush with zero results. I looked in every store I went inside and found nothing. Only through the graces of good fortune did Megan and I stumble upon a beauty supply store and also Megan had the ability to think in the moment to suggest that we go inside to look for my stupid brush. And voila! There it was. I paid a small fortune for it (about $12.00 USD) which i'm trying to still not be bitter about. I guess they're specialty items around here since no one uses them. Joke's on me. But hey, I replaced my brush and a couple of weeks later it's still going strong so it was a worthy (and very necessary) purchase.