Opening Scene of Thousand Buddha Mountain in Jinan: The South Gate directly faces the Maitreya Buddha

I originally planned to take a train to Jinan Station to visit Thousand Buddha Mountain, but I couldn't get a ticket, so I had to go to Daming Lake Station instead because tickets were available for that route. However, the distance from both stations to Thousand Buddha Mountain is about the same, around five kilometers, so it wasn't a big deal. 😁 After exiting the station, I took the K31 bus from the Daming Lake Railway Station bus stop heading towards the Yanshan Overpass East direction. Then, I got off at the Jing Shi Road Kexueyuan Road bus stop and walked 1.1 kilometers to reach the Thousand Buddha Mountain Scenic Area. 🙇 But I arrived at the South Gate of Thousand Buddha Mountain. At first, I didn't know this, but the ticket seller informed me. The ticket costs 28 yuan online and 30 yuan on-site. I bought it on-site since the difference was just 2 yuan. 🧐 I had read online that it's better to climb from the North Gate, so I asked for directions to the North Gate. The ticket seller told me to keep turning right to reach the North Gate. However, after walking for a while, I didn't know where I was and ended up seeing this big Maitreya Buddha statue. 😓 After checking in here, I directly took the mountain trail next to it instead of looking for the North Gate. Since there was a direct path up the mountain, I decided to take it. Along the winding mountain road, you can also see the side view of the Maitreya Buddha statue. 🧐 Walking up the winding mountain road to the steps above can be a bit tiring, but you can rest for a while once you get up there. 😁