TEMPLE OF THE BUDDHA AND THE TOMBS

This morning we went to visit the Temple of the Buddha and the Tombs.  We got a bus from the apartment and took a 5 minute ride to the Temple. It sits on the side of the hill and is right behind where Christina's mom and dad live, you can actually see the top of it from their apartment.  The place is so much bigger inside than you realize from the street.

Behind me is a Koi pond and bonsai trees.

 Once again there are a lot of steps. These ones lead up to the Buddah.

 Looking through the window into the shrine.

 People come to the temple and light candles and incense.

 I want this in my yard.

 The ceilings are all decorated very ornately all through the Temple.















After we left the Temple we walked down the street and made a left turn and walked up the big hill to the rear of the Temple. We then went up these steps seemed to go through some garden plots.  Then up more steps.

These steps took you up to the tombs.

 This place is just so hard to describe. Once you go up the steps and come to the tombs you can go right or left, go past some tombs and go up more steps to more tombs.

We walked up about 4 or 5 more sets of steps. I don't know how many there are or how far back they go but in some of the pictures you can still see more tombs further up the hill into the mountain.

For a few days during Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, hundreds and hundreds of people at a time come up to the tombs to pay their respects. They light incense and candles and decorate the tombs. They burn paper money and other items in the belief that their ancestors can use them in the after life. A lot of the tombs have the little cement tables and benches in front of them so the relatives can sit and visit. You can actually smell the incense that are burning at the Temple all the way up at the Tombs.