On the Trip to Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple

Finally we had time to visit Fo Guang Shan this year when there was a holiday last Friday. Otherwise I thought I'd missed the light and lantern festival which mesmerized me so much last year.

We decided to head down to Jenjarom early in the afternoon and stayed till the lights came on. That way, we had the best of both, the temple in the broad day light, and temple at night.

We arrived some time late in the afternoon at about 4-ish, but it was already so packed. Tour buses and what nots arrived from different parts of the penisular. Groups of university students came clad in all the same form of t-shirts. Indeed, it was quite a big crowd.

The exhibition this year appeared to be very simple indeed. Something revolving around space and arrangements with the concept of Zen. No idea what it really means, the word "Zen" I mean. And I don't intend to find out too. LOL.

We walked around the parks, replicas of the zodiacs from last year were still in displayed, but were all worn out. The clothes were torn, and they looked really ugly. Not really sure if they're lighted at night, but I thought this year's lanterns were quite disappointing. I mean, well, I never really was into those animal-like lanterns. I'm still very much Chinaman and I prefer the traditional red round lanterns. LOL.

Most of the things in the park remains the same as how they were when I was there last year. The 33 statues of the Kuan Yin, the Arhats, the ponds and all. Nothing new, but still something to shoot. Totally loved the photos I took on the row of different manifestations of Kuan Yin.

Otherwise, I still thought the main display in the main lawn in front of the exhibition building the most attractive.

This year, they created a huge replica of the Longmen Grattoes. It didn't look grand in broad day light, but as expected, it's quite a magnificent view when the sky turned dark and the lights were on.

Rest assured, the temple looked more beautiful at night. What's more with all those red lanterns around. I've always been fascinated with the traditional red round lanterns.

Not a fan of any of those innovative tiger-like stuff. What's with all those Kung-fu Panda stuff in the park? Like, so so wrong. At least the tiger lantern opposite the Grattoes replica looked more decent. LOL.

We finally decided to stay around the main gazebo (to me it was) in front of the exhibition hall building and started playing away with our SLR. Magnificent results with the tripod, luckily I remembered to bring. LOL.

We managed to shoot some night scenes before it started to pour. I'd say we were quite lucky in the sense that, we left the place in time and escaped the jam. LOL. On our way out, we still see a whole long queue of cars going into the temple.

Jenjarom has indeed become more lively with Dong Zen Temple there.