Religious Landmarks, Oh My!!!!

   
      The next day brought us many new adventures. After getting up in the morning and getting ready to set out for the day we took the subway and traversed the streets of Hong Kong until we made it to the Hong Kong temple. We spent some time outside of the temple taking pictures and enjoying its beauty. After we were done taking pictures we headed inside for our appointment and did some baptisms for the dead in the Hong Kong temple. We were able to enjoy the spirit that was invited in, the beauty, and to perform baptisms for some of the dead. It was interesting listening to all of the names as they were Chinese names for the most part that we couldn't easily pronounce. It was a great experience. After we were done we crossed the street and took the opportunity to change in the church that was across the street from the temple. We hoped to visit the distribution center, but it was closed so we would have to stop by another day. We left the church and took a few more pictures of the temple and headed out for the next adventure of the day.
       We headed back to the subway station and made our way next to a Buddhist landmark. After the subway we took a bus out to the location of the Big Buddha. We explored all around and experienced the Po Lin monastery. At the monastery we also were able to see many statues of different kinds of soldiers and photographed ourselves with the one we felt we related with the most. After we had made our way down the statute lined path and while the other girls in our group opted out of the experience and opted for something a little bit different, Lorilei and I decided to pay to experience a traditional vegetarian meal at the monastery. We enjoyed some tasty tofu and other vegetarian dishes, It was a great experience.

     Once we were done with our meal we began our journey up to the Buddha. We hiked up several flights of stairs to make our way up to the Buddha, which was placed atop a museum. We made it to the top and took many pictures and looked around the outside of the Buddha. Then, as our vegetarian meal ticket also included the cost to enter the museum we entered into the museum which the statue was placed atop. We looked around and were educated on much of the life of the Buddha as well as the Buddhist beliefs. As we were headed out of the museum we were also able to see several Buddhist monks, come to experience the monument to the Buddha and be enlightened. After we had spent a good deal of time at the Buddha we headed back down from the Buddha and looked around some of the shops that were around, some of us buying souvenirs. Once we were done we hopped on the bus and headed back toward Hong Kong-Kowloon to enjoy the rest of our evening and then to head back to our hostel to turn in for the night. Another  day and another adventure were at an end.