Friday, January 31, 2025

30 January Da Nang: A 220 Foot Tall Lady

 


The tallest Buddha statue in Vietnam is the Lady Buddha and is the goddess of compassion.  She is as tall as a 30 story building and is made primarily of marble from the near by marble mountains.  She is quite impressive.  We chose not to climb the 17 flights of stairs to the top, we need to keep our knees in working order.  Inside the head of the statue is another 2 meter tall buddha.  Oddly, as we walked along the plaza, we noticed that the buddha was always looking at us.  She faces the sea to better protect the mariners. 


We are getting close


So very tall


She is looking at us now.  In her right hand is the nectar of life and a willow branch.  She sprinkles the nectar on the prayers of the people


Another happy buddha is much smaller and positioned in a pool of water 


The incense sticks are thick


This dragon is spitting fire


Da Nang off in the distance


More little guys and buildings on the rock in the pond


The reflection of the lady


A pagoda


A delightful reflection


We are on monkey mountain 


This little guy is all fancy


Another monkey


Warnings about the monkeys, "Don't come close I bite"


Warnings ignored by the parents of these little kids


Getting closer to the big lady


Inside folks were praying


Three golden buddhas


Here we are right under the lady


This gal is quite certain that the picture should  taken from be here


Nice outfit


A beautiful flower


Heading out past a few more temples


Another giant gate


A very long tongue


With a blue lion in the back


Decorated planters for the trees


Little pagoda, big pagoda


Time for a jam session


Wooden and stone buddhas with great flowers


A golden one nestled in the flowers


The lilies are so beautiful


Another odd item


All the boats were flying a Vietnamese flag


A large temple on the way back from the buddha


A much smaller pagoda


An impressive gate




 It has been 2 years and 239 days since we began our Migration

30 January 2025 Da Nang: The 9 Level Pagoda and Temples at Chua Linh Ung

 


We headed out to the giant buddha to explore.  First was a nine tiered pagoda.  Then we visited  a multitude of temples and saw at least one thousand buddha's of all sizes and shapes.  If we tried to count them all we would still be there as the statues were simply everywhere: big, little, huge, fat, skinny, seated, reclining, riding various animals, wooden, stone, gold plated, ceramic and every other possible form imaginable.  The  weather was delightful and folks were all here decked out in their Vietnamese finest.



The fishing boats all moored up after a busy morning of fishing


The biggest buddha in the distance


The busy and a bit hectic


We have gained a good deal of altitude


Pagoda!


I count nine levels


Two rows of buddhas line the entrance


The gate


A dragon and buff warrior at each side of the stairs


Don't mess with either of these tough Hombres 


The gate leads to a large reclining buddha


Napping Buddha?


Inside the pagoda are very tall wooden figures


A serene seated buddha


Bass relief depictions


A happy buddha


Another warrior


This tree grew around a large vase


Looking back at the reclining buddha, the gate and the pagoda


Pretty impressive


Some very whiskery dragons and a painted wall to the right


The little ones are all tickling the big guy


Looking back at Da Nang


A whole lot of little ones


Dragons!


In the roots of the cloud trees were little temples and figurines


Not yet


A lion in the cloud trees


Puppies!


Get your souvenirs 


So many beads to choose from


Moving on to some of the temples


We should have been counting buddha statues


Our first look into the temples


Lots of lanterns


This is the same symbol that was on the foot of the reclining buddha


The Buddha of a thousand hands and a thousand eyes


20 different life sized statues 


Riding the tiger!


I like the blue sky behind the statue


A place for offerings?


All the the shrines have beautiful floral arrangements


A very nice decoration on this bell


The plants need to eb maintained


In the zodiac garden a snake!


Both Leslie and I are Year of the Ox kids


A playful Ox he is


It looks like this dragon has something caught in his teeth, is it part of a sausage?


the snake is found everywhere, it is it's year indeed


Year of the monkey


The Temples are very ornate


Buddha on a turtle


Buddha on a Dragon


On a Lion


Solidarity!


Riding a tiny elephant


Riding a huge goat


The Buddhas all lead up to this temple


Dragon columns


Dragons on the cornices


It is quite sprawling


Gold and in a power pose


This temple has the most gold


Rubbing the Buddha belly


He must like the belly rubs


A sweet cloud tree


A covered walk


Happy New Year to All


A woven tree


the branches woven into an basket shape


Flowers everywhere


Random animals and dragons lurking in the undergrowth


A boat planter and a whirligig walkway in the background


Taking a ride


Buddha in the water


Buddha in the shade


Lions on guard




 It has been 2 years and 239 days since we began our Migration