Today we are off to see the Giant Buddha. We had breakfast in our little cafe across from the hotel. The lady who runs the place has kind of adopted us and seems pleased to see us return.
The coach came to pick us up and we were off to Lantau Island. It is the same island that houses the new Hong Kong airport. But this part of the island is a special ecological preserve. To reach it we took the cable car for 30 minutes over the several waterways and then the tree tops and hiking trails. We also could see several family burial sites that have been there for many years.
But in several places, the area was so full of fog that in many times on the trip we could see nothing. Folks were quoting the movie Jurassic Park as if we were expecting dinosaurs to come through the fog and mist.
We disembarked from the cable car and walked to a small tea house that was the start to our morning tour.
We were escorted to the second floor for a demonstration of pour proper Chinese tea and then were invited to sample a very delicate blossom tea. Some of us had very strong reactions to the very weak tea.
Then we boarded a tour bus to the Tai O fishing village. It is a real fishing village that has been supporting itself through fishing for hundreds of years. Most of the village is built on stilts due to the rising tides and the typhoon season that comes through each year.
It was a view of life that none of us would have ever had the chance to step back in time like this.
We explored the village in small groups walking by homes, small cafes with elderly natives playing mahjong. We were able to go on a boat ride that toured the waterways through the village watching folks having lunch or cleaning or watching television. We sampled fish jerky, homemade doughnuts, homemade almond cookies and large fish balls.
Once back at the cable car location we headed on foot to the Giant Buddha and then the Po Lin Monastery.
While it looks like it is centuries old, the Buddha was created in almost 300 pieces in 1993 in mainland China and then shipped to this site and assembled. The cable car was completed five years later and all of its parts came up the mountain by mule. This Buddha is the largest sitting bronze Buddha in the world.
While most Buddhas are positioned to face the east, this one was positioned to face north towards Beijing. There are over 280 steps up to the Buddha. Each step is 11 inches high so while some of us leaped up the stairs, others found ourselves sucking wind by the time to finally reached the top.
We explored around the base of the Buddha and walked around inside to see the exhibition to see the remembrances of the those who have died and families have listed them on the walls. There were candles and incense everywhere but no cameras were allowed. The views down below where we started revealed the roofs of the monastery and plumes of heavy gray smoke from the massive incense burners.
Our descent down stretched muscles we weren't really aware of and then learned that one of our travelers who chose not to participate on the accent was mauled by one of the sacred cows wandering around when the food in his bag was detected.
While there was no harm to either the traveler or the cow, the cow was determined to have a snack from the bag and insisted on pushing his head into the bag and pulling out some of the fruit and bags of snacks!!
We also walked through to the Po Lin Monastery that has been here and inhabited by students of Buddha for over 300 years.
There are several temples with beautiful decorations, statues of Buddha and his 12 protectors all there for individuals who are praying for their futures and those of their ancestors.
Walking back towards the cable cars we stopped to do some exploring of the shops and found a variety of things for lunch.
Fully rested and sated, we headed to the cable car for the ride back down the mountain.
We switched over to the MTR (Hong Kong subway system) and headed to Hong Kong island to catch the new "Justice League" in a movie theatre. It was interesting to see the differences between an American movie theatre and those in Hong Kong. While we had popcorn and other snacks available to us we were still hungry and stopped for dinner. Getting home was a long outdoor escalator (one of the longest in the world) that helped us climb the hill back to our area of the city where our hotel is located.
What a wonderful day!! It was a day of heros from the old world and heroes of the new world!!
The coach came to pick us up and we were off to Lantau Island. It is the same island that houses the new Hong Kong airport. But this part of the island is a special ecological preserve. To reach it we took the cable car for 30 minutes over the several waterways and then the tree tops and hiking trails. We also could see several family burial sites that have been there for many years.
We disembarked from the cable car and walked to a small tea house that was the start to our morning tour.
Then we boarded a tour bus to the Tai O fishing village. It is a real fishing village that has been supporting itself through fishing for hundreds of years. Most of the village is built on stilts due to the rising tides and the typhoon season that comes through each year.
While it looks like it is centuries old, the Buddha was created in almost 300 pieces in 1993 in mainland China and then shipped to this site and assembled. The cable car was completed five years later and all of its parts came up the mountain by mule. This Buddha is the largest sitting bronze Buddha in the world.
Our descent down stretched muscles we weren't really aware of and then learned that one of our travelers who chose not to participate on the accent was mauled by one of the sacred cows wandering around when the food in his bag was detected.
We also walked through to the Po Lin Monastery that has been here and inhabited by students of Buddha for over 300 years.
Walking back towards the cable cars we stopped to do some exploring of the shops and found a variety of things for lunch.
Fully rested and sated, we headed to the cable car for the ride back down the mountain.
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