It was a beautiful drive through orchards, vineyards, rice fields and bamboo forests.
We made a rest stop in a small town called Jai Jiang. It was an amazing rest area!
The best quality tea is picked by hand, picking only the first two leaves at the top of the plant. In this area tea grows only between 1,000 to 1,500 meters above sea level.
We finally reached the town of the Stone Buddha. It is a booming town, but has also been known to flood year after year.
Today we took a boat to see the stone buddha. The river is currently almost at a flood stage, and at flood stage they can no longer run boats on the river. We were able to take a boat to view the buddha, which allowed us to look at it up close. If the water was any higher, we would have had to hike in, which would not have allowed us a clear view, so we felt very lucky!
As we were standing in line, this lady was making crepes from her cart. A few people in our group tried one and said they were great.
Here her young daughter took over the crepe making.
Getting on our boat.
This is the type of boat we took out to see the Buddha.
Looking back at the city as we made our way out.
The Buddha is built at the junction of two rivers, adding to the likelihood of flooding.
The Buddha was an amazing sight as we came around the corner. You can see the stairway on the left hand side. This is the only way in if the river is flooded.
On each side of the large Buddha are these smaller carved Buddhas.
The land route. I would have loved to walk this, but it wasn't an option for us today.
Here you can see some of the buns on the Buddhas head.
The Buddha's feet have been repaired with concrete.
The boats had to work pretty hard in the river current, just to stay in one place for pictures.
I love how the the jungle has grown over the Buddha throughout the years. They do clean the Buddha periodically to remove the growth.
There were some vendors as we left the boat ramp. Wow, did their fruit look good!
Wow, what a fun outing this was! The stone Buddha is amazing, and to think they built it to calm the river is pretty crazy.
We finally reached the town of the Stone Buddha. It is a booming town, but has also been known to flood year after year.
As we were standing in line, this lady was making crepes from her cart. A few people in our group tried one and said they were great.
The buddha stands 216 feet tall. It is carved into a cliff on the Daduhe river. This river is known for flooding and wiping out the town on it’s banks. The people of the town believed that a huge green dragon lived in the river and caused the flooding. They built the buddha to calm the dragon and keep the floods away. It took 90 years to carve the buddha. It was completed in about 818 AD during the Tang Dynasty. This buddha is 1,400 years old, and has 1,031 small buns on his head. The parts between the buns are actually small aqua ducts. The rain flows through his buns and flows away to protect him from water damage. His lower body does not contain any drainage paths, so parts of his lower body have been damaged by water over time and had to be repaired with concrete.
You can see that the river is high right now.
You can see that the river is high right now.
Getting on our boat.
This is the type of boat we took out to see the Buddha.
Looking back at the city as we made our way out.
The Buddha was an amazing sight as we came around the corner. You can see the stairway on the left hand side. This is the only way in if the river is flooded.
The land route. I would have loved to walk this, but it wasn't an option for us today.
Here you can see some of the buns on the Buddhas head.
The Buddha's feet have been repaired with concrete.
The boats had to work pretty hard in the river current, just to stay in one place for pictures.
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