Sightseeing: Ba Gua Shan

Yesterday, all of the ILP teachers in Taiwan hiked Ba Gua Shan to see the Big Buddha. We chose to go up the back way, which is close to our apartment. Turns out the back way is a series of very steep, narrow, and sloping steps in the midst of a rainforest. We went at one in the afternoon and I thought we would all die before we made it to the top. The humidity has been really variable for the last week or so thanks to typhoons, but even with maybe only 75% humidity and 85-90 degrees, it's still really hot and sticky. Here are some pictures. The first is Paul near a fountain for children at the top of the mountain (more like tall hill). The second is of a gorgeous waterfall, fountains, and reflecting pool. The third is the entrance to the Buddhist temple that houses the Buddha, the fourth is the buddha itself, and the fifth is me with one of the Temple guardians. You can go inside the buddha. The entrance level houses a small library and a large shrine with images of the Buddha, Guanyin, and some other deities. There's an altar for leaving prayer candles and a stand for burning incense. Mostly it was just tourists looking around, but there were a few women who were worshiping when we were there. There are three upper levels were you can view various scenes of the Buddha's life for the Jakata Tales. They were really unique (the Lonely Planet guidebook prefers "garish"), but the signs were unclear as to whether pictures were allowed, so there are no pictures of inside the buddha.