The elevator for touching Buddha’s feet:

Poor Robert, having to spend Saturday with two Gringos. But as I said, he is a lovely man and didn’t let on he would have rather been with his one year old, not doubt adorable son and his probably lovely wife. We know we are going to see a statue of Buddha, which is never bad, but I’m still curious about the entertainment. Anyway, off we go on the hour drive,-PS. -Robert is a good driver - no career for him in the chauffeur trades.

The roads are amazingly good in this part of China, straight well paved, well lit, many with solar street lights. As we got closer to our destination the terrain became more hilly and more interesting. Suddenly we spied a bronze Buddha that looked as big as the surrounding hills. Now I can see why this is a tourist attraction.  The Buddha at Ling Shan. Turns out to be the largest bronze Buddhas in China. I like how they qualify the material of the Buddha - I must research if there are larger stone or iron Buddhas to be found. Soon we arrived at the parking lot that was filling up with buses and cars at 8:30 AM. Robert did the tour guide stuff, bought the tickets and a a device with nice English translation recording of all we would be seeing. One you go through the first gate, there are bridges to cross and which bridge you choose is important depending on what improvements you need to concentrate on. I accidentally went over the Bridge of Helping Others, or maybe that was the Buddha pushing me.

The place was amazing, spread out over a vast park dominated by the massive 88 meter bronze Buddha. There was also a baby Buddha that periodically comes out a lotus flower on the top of a pillar during a fountain show set to music, a wall with fresco scenes from Buddha’s life  (quite nicely done) an amazing multimedia program inside a palace building that told the story of Buddha’s life culminating in the Bohdi tree rising from the middle of the floor and a light show representing Enlightenment. You did not need to understand Chinese to be impressed. So that’s how they entertain you before noon in Wuxi, China!

The visit wound up with taking a jitney then and elevator (literally called the "Elevator for touching Buddha's feet") up to the huge statue and having the opportunity of touching Buddha's feet with will bring you peace. Then you need to walk down 218 stairs because the jitney won't drive anyone down.