That mosque looks so cool Iku!

I'm right smack in the middle of New York City and Boston where I am, really. And trust me, there are tons of things I've never seen in either city....Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island? Yah no. I know........it's kinda pathetic. I don't know if those can be considered *local*, but it's close enough to do day trips and and out, of course. That and if I want to get to the other side of my state, it's all of an hours drive.

There's one place I love that, while it's over the board of Connecticut in New York state, I still consider it local since it's in that 1 hour drive radius. I go there quite often, and it's just so nice. The Chuang Yen Monastery in Lake Carmel, Ny. The main building houses the largest indoor Buddha in America, surrounded by an amphitheater with 10,000 Buddha statues.




There's also a huge koi pond, and libraries to explore. On Saturdays and Sundays, they serve a vegetarian lunch to the public from noon til 1pm for a small donation to the monastery. They'll even have a treat like bubble tea for desert sometimes. It's lovely to go there, have a meal with the nuns and monks, then explore the grounds.

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