this is what i did/ saw during the raya holidays.. i went to Hainan.. ok.. brief story about it:-
- 2nd largest ocean island (in China)
- smallest land province (in China)
- known as the "Oriental Hawaii" (but there were no Chinese Hula girls)
- famous for its natural beauty; unlike some other places in China where u can see the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors..
- located at south end of China (and also, to the right of Hanoi!)
- the capital is Haikou city (located on the northern part of the island)
- tropical & monsoonal climate (pretty much like ours)
- the eastern part lies in the path of typhoons (2 typhoons hit during the week that i was there)
the trip that i made was to n from north (Haikou) & south (Sanya).. anyway, i'm gonna show ya all the Nanshan Temple that i visited in Sanya in this post.. it occupies 66 acres.. SIXTY SIX ACRES, yo.. that's Huge..! so, we did a lot of walking..

gold & jade statue of Guan Yin is inside this one pavillion.. and it has been put into the world guiness record as the largest gold & jade statue of Buddha..

see the "door" thing in the background? that's the dharma door of nonduality.. there are 84 thousand dharma doors in Buddhist practice. and among those, this nonduality is considered as the "highest stage". only by entering this door would 1 be clear about the teachings and principles of nonduality & attain the enlightenment of Nirvana..
and oh, the people in the foreground are the ones who brought me up - mom & dad.. mom didn't know that her husband was hiding behind her..

the ceilings inside the gold & jade Buddha statue pavillion..

smaller versions of the statue displayed alongside the walls..

urm..i'm not too sure which God this is..

me & mom..

that's the 108 meters nanshan Guanyin statue on south sea.. there are "3 figures in 1".. all 3 of them stand separately for Peace, Wisdom & Mercy.. i was at the terrace of the Nanshan temple where i could admire the seascape & to view the statue..

the direct translation of Nanshan is South Mountain.. on the outskirts of Sanya, there's this Nanshan & is believed to be an auspicious mountain of longevity in chinese myth.. so anyway, there's this Nanshan temple (in the picture above) which is located in the core of the whole Buddhism park..

since the whole Buddhism park is SO huge, electric buggies are provided.. we hopped on.. saw all the other architectural of the temple complex.. and boom, we reached the entrance to get closer to the Guanyin statue.. the statue of the hand was what we saw first..

throngs of people.. this is where most of us feel peace & harmony of Buddhism whole heartedly..

joss sticks & Guan yin.. see my dad? he checked the photos on the viewing screen of the camera from time to time & he saw himself in THIS photo.. can u picture how TINY that would look? but he saw it and zoom closer to have a better look.. and said "wow, good candid picture of papa!"


the world's tallest statue of Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy).. i loved this view.. i stood there for quite some time admiring.. and took a mental picture of it.. my mental picture includes the sounds and breeze and RAIN.. well yeah.. it was rainy season and we had to carry umbrellas at all times..

the bedroom of Nanshan hotel that we stayed in..

this is the electric buggy that we hopped on.. dad was constantly acting like a kid, playing around with whatever that fancies him.. HAH! a candid shot!

a breathtaking view from the hotel lobby.. looking out towards the south china sea.. this southern part of Hainan island is also known as "the end of the world"..

the washroom at the hotel lobby..

a closer look at the Guanyin statue..

i was at the feet of the statue! apparently only those who stay at the hotel are entitled to pay a visit up til here.. and only before 8am coz construction was still in progress.. so we had to climb up in dark alleys/ staircase from underneath the statue.. that was when Dad was acting all supermanly with his pocket torchlight..

i mentioned that there are 3 sides to the statue? well, this is 1 of them..

view from where i stood near the toes..

another side of the statue..

carvings on the floor..

"werm reminding". the sign that i saw right at the foot of the entrance to the statue..

i could only hear Dad's laugh.. no take photo, it seems.. but dad kept saying "take! take!"..

that's our tour guide.. he's local.. pointing out to the map of Hainan island to us.. so.. urm.. Sanya is on the South.. see the pink shaded area at the bottom? that's it.. and the place where we landed on the first day was up north, where the tour guide was pointing at..

public toilet..

there's a 1-2-3 step to checking our cholesterol levels?? a cool cream is applied on one finger, place it underneath some microscope-like instrument.. and see the result on the screen above..

this chart shows the different particles that may occur during the "check up".. the 2 loopy things on the top left are deemed healthy.. and the rest are not..

stopped by a Butterfly museum.. there were thousands of them.. these are my favourite..


this is a mixture of 2 different breeds??
kallima inachus doubleday.. the butterflies that look like leaves..

urm, i dedicate this butterfly to u felines..

"is papa cute? look at my stunted umbrella!"
he walked around like that..

i dedicate this picture to Curly..

and this to PJ..
butler's thorny oyster


throw "unrecycle" rubbish here..

i dedicate this picture to Aristo..

my final night stay at this hotel in Haikou..

at the lobby of the hotel i noticed this glass doors..

which says "puss".. and that's PULL in chinese character..

that's all for now.. once again, i hope ya all enjoyed reading.. urm.. shall post more on the other sites i saw..
u looked fab (esp the pic - at the feet of the kuan yin statue)
and.. why starfish?
Anonymous said...
11:27 PM
yeah thts wht i thought so too...u look really...good in tht pic. =)
Anonymous said...
7:05 PM
why, thank you! i had no idea!
and oh, pj, the starfish photo? i dunno.. "instant reflex"..
justbee said...
12:30 AM