En route to Emai we stopped to see the giant Buddha at Leeshan.

It was 70 - 80 metres tall with steps down to the base and back up through tunnels. The story was that the area was at the converging point of two rivers and fishermen were being drowned in the whirlpool created by the water.

The local priest decided to build a buddha to placate the spirits and during the construction of the buddha threw all the excavated rock in the river filling in the whirlpool. Therefore he created the Buddha (which is hollow but built in a massive recess cut in the cliff) and resolved the drowning problem as well.

The remainder of the time was spent going around underground caves where more Buddhas had been created over the years. Very interesting area with lots of history.

The other item was that couples had bought padlocks engraved with their names and had locked them onto stairwells for hope of an enduring relationship.