LeShan Giant Buddha & shadowing a Chinese Herbalist

Hey,
I would have posted last night, but because of our field trip I decided to wait until today. Yesterday, the Overseas Student Department arranged for us a field trip to LeShan, the world's largest Buddha carved in stone. The trip was alright, definitely not as un-durable as my last trip to Juizhaigou. Not only was the trip short, but I meet a few people and chatted with them. Not living at the student dorms makes meeting other overseas student alot harder. The trip to Leshan took us only about 2 hours. Most of the trip I spent either sleeping, listening to my i-pod or chatting with some of the people sitting in front of us. Two are Americans and the other African. It was a bit harder speaking with the guy from Africa because he only understood and could communicate in Portugese and French, neither language I have too strong a grasp of. One of the guys I actually met at church. Leshan was amazing...but despite it being a Tuesday afternoon, there were still alot of people. We practically waited in line for over an hour just to get to the small, narrow stairway down to the Buddha's feet. I have always wanted to come see this Buddha. When I was younger during my first trip to Disney World, my parents discovered this park called Splendid China. It was the most beautiful place. The entire park held miniature replicas of China's most well known landmarks and tourist attractions, including this Giant Buddha. Ever since I was there, I had a strong interest to visit all of these places. Some, I already have like the Terra Cotta, the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace, the Stone Forest, etc. and now, the Giant Buddha. The sad thing is, a couple of years later my family and I went back to Orlando. This time we took our grandparents and my uncle. We discovered that the park was still open, but it looked as though they gave up on taking care of the place. Weeds were growing everywhere...and there werent many people around to really watch what the tourist did with their replicas. A few months ago, I looked up the place, wondering if the place even still existed. I read from a local newspaper online that the place was sold to someone who was going to tear down the park...I think. I am not too sure...but I know that this park no longer exists. My parents said during our first time there that this wasnt a good place for such a park. First, it was in Orlando...the main attraction here would be Disney World. Plus, the Chinese-American population here was not as large as say L.A. I agree. The two times we went there, there were very little people in the park. But I thought it was such an awesome place to go and do a quick run of all of China's attractions. Too bad its no longer around. So, this third photograph is me trying to hug Buddha's foot. In China, there's this saying "To hug Buddha's foot." This saying is usually applied to children who are in school. For those who don't usually study but study at the last minute and only when there is an exam or an assignment, lots of times their parents would say "Child! You are hugging Buddha's foot." I guess it would sort of relate to those who pray right before an exam, asking for a good grade and such. I tried to get as close to his foot as possible...but it was rather hard. So...this was my closest try.

Today, I went and shadowed a Chinese doctor/herbalist. It was amazing. I think in the one hour session that we went to, there were 13 patients. He checks your pulse, looks at your tongue and then asks what was wrong. From that, he can diagnose what is wrong and prescribe you the correct herbal concoction. I am planning on going back again soon, so until then, and when I learn a bit more about Chinese herbs, I'll write more.