Raymon - Australia

The Buddha is really amazing, first you go up and the first thing you see is his gigantic face, you are right there, you are so close that you can even touch his curly hair! We took some pictures and than visited the temple up there. After the temple we made our way down to the feet of the Buddha, and then you really realize how gigantic he is, he is the largest Buddha in the world, he is 71 meters high, his ears are 7 meters long, his toe is 8.5 meters long!!!!

Once by his feet, you see people leaving offerings and lighting incence for him. But looking up towards his head were you just were is incredible, you can't even reach his toes!

After the nice walk down on the side of the cliff, you obviously have to go back up again, and that is never fun. The heat is so intense here and the humidity so incredible that you start to sweat as soon as you go out of an A/C'ed room or car. so going up those stairs is a very wet experience. Once we were back on the top and had hidrated ourselves we decided to take a boat trip to see the Buddha from the river and take some good pictures from the water. We had a boat and it was really eye-opening, and gave us an even better perspective on the scale of the Buddha, he is really enormous.

Technotrekker - Australia

He's a large red sandstone Buddha that has been carved out of a cliff face at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers, just outside Leshan. He's 71m tall, his shoulders are twenty-eight metres wide and his smallest toenail is large enough to easily accommodate a seated person. It's not surprising that he's the largest Buddhist sculpture in the world.

And he's old too. Construction was started in 713AD, led by a Chinese monk named Haitong. When funding for the project was threatened, he is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his piety and sincerity. Construction was completed by his disciples ninety years later. Haitong hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels travelling down the river, a hope that was somewhat realised by the massive amounts of rock that were deposited from the cliff during the construction phase. Seemingly it clamed and altered the rivers currents sufficiently enough to improve the safety for passing boats. Well done guys. The Giant Buddha is now UNESCO declared World Heritage Site, an honour bestowed upon him in 1996.

He sits with his hands on his knees looming over ships that pass beneath and when seen from the water it really is an impressive sight (see the pictures). It's also a much more relaxing place to view the statue. The hordes of tourists swarming around the cramped viewing platform areas, and clambering over his toes at the base of the statue, do make visiting here a slightly frustrating experience. Word of warning - bring your patience with you, or limit your time at The Giant Buddha himself to a minimum.