Sunday was a little bit more relaxing. After a long subway ride to and from church, we wanted to explore. We took another subway ride (which is only about .50 cents) to the Lama Temple, a Tibetan Buddhist temple dedicated to an emperor back in 1723.
This was a center of Lamaist religion/art and at the same time offered power for Tibetan and Mongolian subjects. Today it is full of carved and intricately painted Buddha's in every building. One of the Buddha's, Maitreya, was an 85 foot statue carved from a single piece of sandalwood!
As an offering people place burning incense at the bottom of the buddhas. The temple was smokey everywhere, but I can't even begin to describe how good the smells were. I could get used to Sunday walks like this...
What a charming way to spend your Sunday, I can't even begin to imagine how good all that incense would have smelled!
ReplyDeleteThe London Project
Gorgeous photos! Looks like a perfect afternoon.
ReplyDeleteHa, I'm not the biggest fan of the incense smell, but you are capturing China so beautifully! :)
ReplyDeletestunning place! how exciting ;)
ReplyDeleteHave you moved into your place yet?? Send me pictures!! And this definitely sounds like a great Sunday walking place :)
ReplyDeleteI'm just sitting here in amazement. I thought *I* was all brave and adventurous for moving from Oregon to New York City. But China?! OH MY GAHD. I would so love to hear about how your moving experience went (how do you pack for a move to China?), if you guys know where you're going to live, what you're thinking about doing for work, etc. These are all the things my guy & I are exploring right now in NYC so I would love to know how you guys are managing all these types of things overseas :)
ReplyDeleteSo happy you're having a good time!