Drove to Leshan today to see the giant Buddha before flying to Guilin. The statue is carved out of a cliff and is 233 ft tall. It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world. Construction was started in 713 during the Tang Dynasty and was led by a Chinese monk. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. However, the project ran out of funding when only the head was complete. About 70 years after the monks death, the project received sponsorship and the project was completed in 803. Apparently after the giant Buddha was completed, the construction removed so much stone which was deposited in the river making the water safe for passing ships. To see the Buddha, you can take a winding path or do as we did and opt for the boat ride. Much better view for pictures.

There is also said to be a sleeping Buddha in the water where the carved statue is the heart of the sleeping Buddha. The head would be on the right side of the picture above the boat. Can you see it?

We ate lunch at a local restaurant having Kung pao chicken, bean sprouts, cucumbers and a spicy chicken dish. Everything is served with rice.

Since we had time before the flight, our guide took us for tea. The place she wanted to go was closed, so we ended up at a local tea place the driver suggested. To get there, we took a boat to an island, crossed over the island via the dirt pathway then took another boat to the next island over. Round trip for the boat was for 4 Chinese dollars CYN (about $0.60 USD). Our guide told us we were on the local boat. If we had taken the boat for tourist it would have cost 70 CYN each way or about $20 round trip. The tea house was basically a bamboo table and some chairs sitting outside, but you had a perfect view of the Buddha!

From there it was off to the airport to Guilin.