Today (April 17) we went to the the New Territories in northern Hong Kong to see the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery–the trip to the monastery turned out to be as “interesting” as the temple….but more on that later.

The monastery sits at the top of a hill which you reach by climbing 431 steps up a winding path–a working monastery sits below the main temple.

The path up to the Temple is lined with more than 500 gilded, life-sized statues–here are just a few of the many faces.  These statues depict “arhats” (enlightened people, far long the path to nirvana).

Although they are considered to be enlightened, the buddhas (especially the one with the hands coming out of his eyes) kind of freaked out Aliya!  But Ben reminded us of the happy Pappa Buddha with the kids climbing all over him!

At the top, there are 5 Temples, 4 Pavilions, and one Pagoda which was really fun to explore.

The reason for the temples’s name is immediately apparent once you visit the main temple.  It has walls with shelves that are lined with rows of tiny Buddha statues, maybe 8-12 inches high.  Around the four walls, there are well over 10,000 statues.  Each statue has a different pose and a different facial expression. It was quite a sight!

Up the hill a little further (another 69 steps according to Asher) was another set of temple buildings, a large white Buddha statue standing in front of a waterfall, and a pool full of turtles (Ben wasn’t sure why, but Raquel knew that turtles are the symbol of longevity!)

As for the trip to the monastery, we got to meet 5 MTR metro police officers who stopped us and wanted to fine us US$250 for mistakenly riding in the first class subway car (this is the only metro line that has different classes because it connects through to China and only some of the trains have first class cars…). The proposed fine was US$250 for a $2 subway segment. Seemed a little stiff.  After a lot of back and forth, we got a warning (see below).