"A.S.C.R."

"Another sodding curly roof!"  

It almost became official. Yup, as well as long being over wats (Thai temples) ...

 One of the many wats 

at the King's Palace in Bangkok, 

Thailand,

... and stupas ...

 Stupas in the ruins of Thailand's old capital, 

Ayutthaya.

... I realised only recently I'm also over Chinese temples.  Sad, isn't it.

This has been a slap in the face twice recently: hearing Beccy say, at Big Buddha as we walked back to the car, in a tiny little voice "Do you mind if I just quickly run in to see the Monastery?"

Then two months ago, in Taiwan, walking around the Longsham Temple in Taipei:

I'm kinda ho hum and thinking "It's an exact replica of Six Banyans Temple in Guangzhou, only with better workmanship ...

 Beautifully carved details.

 and that that ...

 Stockmarket reports?
Some sort of ticker tape thing 
under the entrance eaves.

 
... would have to be the most interesting thing here." then noticing Alexis' awestruck face ...

 Alexis.

... aglow with wonderment at her very first Chinese temple, and then thinking I had to be the most awful and cynical person EVER.

I mentioned this problem to Chris who said it was very common among ex-pats living in Asia. Because we have no spiritual connection with these places, they are just tourist objects to us, so after we've lived here a while we become very bored and blase with them.

Though, mind you, I'm sure folks touring the cathedrals of Europe quickly feel much the same way. "Another sodding spire.", "Another sodding apse." blah, blah, blah.

But Chris then told me that, whenever she feels this way, she visits a particular temple in Hong Kong that always touches her: Ten Thousand Buddha Temple up in the mountains of Lantau; not to be mistaken for the significantly more popular and touristy Ten Thousand Buddha Temple in Sha Tin.

And very kindly, she took us there the other day:

She's right.  It's almost completely different from any other temple I've been to.  Let me show you a small selection of the pictures.

The Approach:

 Sublime colours!

Gorgeous detail!

Everything right about the place.

The Temple:

Look, Lois. A ting!

It's in the temple back there 
they house the 

10,000 buddhas on

the great many stairs
going to the top!

No photographing allowed.

The Nunnery:

 The kindly nun who invited us in, 

even though it was closed for the day:

The gate into the jungle walk 

down the side of the mountain:

And in the light of so much extraordinary kindness and perfection, how on earth can anyone remain cynical about Chinese temples?  I mean LOOK!

Isn't it just gorgeous.

And, no, since I think too many tourists would spoil the place, I won't tell you how to get there.  If you want to visit a Ten Thousand Buddha Temple, go to the one in Sha Tin.  The directions are on the link above.