Day 1 Taipei and Kaohsiung 高雄 佛光山 on 08-11-2012 Thursday

We took Scoot  to Taipei $466 for 2 persons, depart Singapore@ 12.55 am midnight and reach Taipei -Taoyuan Airport @ 5.40 am morning.

We walked to UBus bus stop and took UBus 705 to Taoyuan HSR, NT 30 /pp ($1.3) around 20 mins.

U bus to Taoyuan HSR

We have pre-booked the HSR ticket online https://irs.thsrc.com.tw/IMINT/

The web shows the steps how to book the HSR ticket online

http://taiwan2009.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/how-to-book-train-tickets-to-hualien/

The ticket fare from Taoyuan to Zuoying 左營 was NT1490/pp but we bought the ticket at NT1060 /pp ($45), you will get the early bird discount fare if you booked early ( one month before depature date )

We need to collect our HSR ticket from Taoyuan Ticketing Counter.

                                                                                                          Taoyuan - Collection of HSR Ticket

After collection of HSR ticket, we took our breakfast in MOS Burger.

                                                           Mos Burger- For our Breakfast

Train arrived at 08.57 am sharp, we board the train and look for our seat, quite spacious and comfortable.

                                                                      HSR Train

10.36am, we reached Zuoying 左營 , almost 1.5 hrs journey from Taoyuan to Zuoying. From Zuoying we walked to MRT red line and transfer to Kaohsiung station around 15 mins.

                                                                     Kaohsiung Station

We need to check-in our hotel, Life Hotel 

We booked through agoda NT2300 for 2 nights ( $95 )

Life hotel located near the Kaohsiung station, 10 mins walk from Kaosiung station.

                                                                                     Life Hotel

After checking-in, we  walked to Kaohsiung Bus station ( next to Guo Guang Bus Station ), 10 mins walk from Hotel to get the bus ticket to Fo Guan Shan 佛光山 .

                                                   Time Table for bus to Fo Guan Shan

We bought the ticket depart @12.50pm for NT80/pp ($3.5) took 1.5 hrs to reach 佛光山. We had our lunch nearby while waiting for the bus. We took fried rice and duck rice for NT 140 ($6)

                                                                             Fried Rice taken near Kaosiung Bus Station

After lunch we walked to Kaohsiung Bus station and wait for the bus. When the bus #8010 going to   佛光山 arrive, they will call and make sure you board the right bus, there are many buses going to different places. We showed them the ticket and board the bus.

                                                                Bus ticket to Fo Guan Shan

Around 2pm we reached 佛光山.


The wide and peaceful Main Shines covers 370 square meters and is 30 meters in height.Enshines within are three Buddha images,each was 7.8 meters high, 殿內供奉釋迦牟尼佛、阿彌陀佛、藥師佛等三寶佛,佛前供桌以土耳其玉鑲成，殿內四周牆腳以義大利紅寶石鑲成.大殿四周供奉有一萬四千八百尊釋迦牟尼佛聖像，可供千人以上作早晚課誦或法會佛事

                                                                           Main Shrine 大雄寶殿
 
The Great Buddha is 36 meters in height and is the highest standing Buddha in Southeast Asia. It is surrounded by 480 smaller images of the receiving Buddha. The right hand is raise up, 大佛右手上舉，表示放大光明，猶如大海的燈塔，為黑暗的娑婆世 and the left hand is lowered 左手低垂呈接引之勢，猶如慈祥的母親，接引眾生到達安樂的地方.

                                                                                            Great Buddha Land 大佛城

                                                          佛光山


「菩提廣場」，可供萬人以上集會。廣場兩側分別種植小葉欖仁樹，樹下有「十八羅漢」尊像，分別是佛陀十大弟子，加上迦留陀夷、賓頭盧、周利槃陀伽三位尊者，以及降龍、伏虎羅漢。另有三尊女性羅漢——大愛道、妙賢和蓮花色比丘尼，象徵佛教倡導「男女平等」的精神。

                                                                                    菩提廣場
 

                                                              菩提廣場

佛館主體建築採「塔」式設計，本館上方四聖諦塔為印度大塔造型，成佛大道兩旁則羅列八座中國式七層寶塔，高38公尺，塔基座設有簡報室、接待中心，提供各種資訊及陳列文物、書籍等，讓來山參觀的遊客可在這裡歇息、閱讀、聊天、休息或喝茶。此外，還有提供上課、抄經的地方，以及舉辦佛化婚禮的禮堂等等。八塔塔名稱分別為一教、二眾、三好、四給、五和、六度、七誡及八道。

建塔的目的，就是要讓人們看到佛塔，就如看到佛陀一樣，時時憶念佛陀的教誨。 

佛館八塔

佛陀紀念館中軸線的最高處，端坐著一尊莊嚴龐大的釋迦牟尼，慈眼垂視眾生。這一尊全世界最大的銅鑄坐佛，手結蓮花印，結跏趺坐.八米，等於一般建築的三十六層樓，光是頭部就有三層樓高，一隻眼睛就是一個樓面的寬度。共創下幾個「世界之最」——世界最高坐佛像、施作工期最短、結構及材質由台灣自行研發。

                                                                                                     佛光大佛

We took the bus back to Kaohsiung Bus Station around 16.40 pm and went to  hotel for rest.

We took the MRT to Central Park, Watami for dinner- we ordered the Tonkotsu ramen and Sukiyaki and total bill 600NT ($25) cheaper than eating in Singapore.

                                                       Watami For Dinner- Sukiyaki

We walked to the urban Spotlight near Central Park MRT.

We wanted to go to Dream mall but we were very tired, decided not to go and back to hotel and sleep.