Wuxi, China

Our next stop in China was the city of Wuxi. I have to admit, before this trip, I had never heard of this city. At ~4.5 million people, it is roughly twice the size of Chicago. Despite all of our travels, it still amazes me how ignorant we are about the rest of the world. I feel ashamed when watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and I discover there are entire countries that I know nothing about nor could I even find them on the map!
I am glad we spent a day in Wuxi to experience the rich culture, as well as to become more educated about another major city in this rapidly growing country.

Our first stop was to see the largest Buddha statue in China. It is made out of bronze and stands 289 feet tall!

Em standing next to the giant Buddha's big toe

near the statue, thousands of these wooden prayers dangle in the breeze...the wind is said to carry their message

inside the giant Buddha are 10,000 Buddha statues with even more candles burning

lotus sculpture

the lotus opens up to reveal a baby Buddha....accompanied by a water fountain display

Buddhist prayer wheels - the prayer is sculpted on the outside of the wheel and spinning the wheel is akin to reciting the prayer over and over

the newly constructed $200,000,000 Buddhist temple

the entrance inside the temple

inside the Buddhist temple

Other Buddhist temples at Lingshan:

sunset over the Longshan Mountain