Lama Temple


Although we had already had an amazing visit to Beijing, Michelle really had her heart set on a visit to the Lamasery. So we decided to squeeze in a quick visit, and hopefully some extra shopping too, before we got on the plane to return to Korea.
Unlike most of the places we visited, which remain only as cultural relics, the Lama Temple is an active one, and around the holiday time many people were visiting to say their prayers. The smell of incense was thick as the burnt offerings being made curled and swirled around us. The temple area consists of several exquisite buildings, which house large statues of Buddha and other religious figures. Each building we visited had larger and more ornate statues in it than the last. Unfortunately photography inside the temples was not allowed and the few sneaky attempts we made didn’t really turn out.
One of the buildings we entered was a spacious room with a very large golden Buddha in it. The chamber was filled with benches, which appeared to be set up for the monks to sit on, and centered around the big Buddha. In each seat on the benches laid a set of monks’ robes, so it looked like it could be quite a busy prayer hall. An older looking monk entered in thick silk robes and coke bottle thick glasses. He made an offering of unburned incense and silk to the large golden Buddha.
The next building we entered had a plaque on the outside, which told of the Guinness-Book of World Records acknowledging that this indeed was the home of the largest wooden Buddha in existence. Inside was a 26-meter golden Buddha carved from a single Sandalwood tree. Even if we tried, there just wasn’t anyway to get that whole thing in one shot!
We ended up skipping shopping after our visit to the Lamasery and headed back to Korea.