Le Shan’s Grand Buddha is one of China national treasures and listed in the lonely planet as a must do. Around 1500 years old, it was built with the hope Buddha presence would calm the rivers waters. Apparently it did… although sceptics argue that the building process and its placement of waste rocks were the reason. Either way the rather impressive result is a almost 100m tall Buddha carved into the side of a mountain. As it is incredibly popular and we were expecting crowds.

We took the hotel car down Emei Shan mountain, a small vehicle that could handle the practically vertical turns, it also picked up and dropped off random locals on the way. We swapped at the bottom into a larger vehicle to take us to the Buddha. As with all main Chinese attractions, the lines of people easily lead us to the main entrance.

As foreigners, our entry stamp into China was checked (March 2020!?!) and extra health codes required but soon enough we had our tickets and joined the lines of people heading up to the Buddha head. The boys interested in the softness of the sandstone and the carvings on the way up.

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Luckily at the top the crowds thinned out a little and we could enjoy another monastery and ice cream.

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Seeing the large top of the restored Buddha head sticking out the top on the mountain is a little strange. It’s massive earlobe dropping from sight unless you peer over the railings, which allows you a glimpse of his shoulders. For a full view we had to decend (and queue) down the other side.

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About a quarter of the way down is what husband described as a cattle pen, queueing area. We had about a 30min wait in this humid, tightly packed area but we have since heard reports of people waiting over 2 hours so I think we were lucky. They let us out about 100 at a time.

After the cattle pen was a further walk down to the buddha feet, the last few metres through caves after which you emerged right next to Buddha left foot. A massive foot whose toenail was as long as boy blue.

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Just as we emerged it started to rain which was a bonus as it made the crowds of existing photographers disappear up the other side and we got a great view of the full carving. Although showing his age the Buddha is Better preserved than many of the other carvings because of a hidden network of drainage channels, he is still an impressive sight.

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Behind the viewing platform sight seeing, boats battled to stay in place against the still strong river currents. If this is calmer then I can see why people looked for Devine intervention.

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The climb back up the higgledy piggledy steps gave the best views of the Buddha, that’s if you could take your eyes of the steps without tripping.

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At the top we decided to branch off the main path and escape the crowds. In China there is a saying that 80% of the people are in 20% of the space… this was definitely true for this park… after a couple of mins walking we found a secluded path down the mountain with stunning views over a river and impressive bridge.

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We exited the park with over an hour until our pick up so stopped for food and souvenirs. Tasked with finding something for the cupboard of curiosity the boys set of on a hunt for the most random thing they could find. The result a rather apt Buddha foot with large big toe nail.