edpaffjr.comIn addition to the photos I added last Friday, I just posted some more from our Hawaii adventures. In this album are photos from our hike up to Manao Falls along with a few from the Byodo-In Temple. The Manao Falls plunge 160 feet or more down the mountain side cliff. As great as the falls are, the hike to them is nearly just as scenic. Along the mile to mile and a half route, you pass through a rain forest which is filled with every shade of green imaginable, along with some colorful flowers and even shoots of bamboo. This is on my list of must sees while on Oahu.
After the hike, we took a nice and relaxing drive over the mountains toward the Valley of the Temples. Inside this large cemetery are many temples, the most prominent being the Byodo-In, which is a replica of a 950 year old Buddhist temple in Uji, Japan. This temple is an amazing site, with the Koʻolau mountain range in background and a large pond in the front. The temple was built in the 1960s without the use of any nails and it fits together like a giant puzzle. Inside of the Byodo-In is a nine foot Buddha that was carved out of wood, the largest made of wood in over 900 years. Though our visit was short, I was still able to take some good pictures of it.
