Today we woke up at 9am after a refreshing 8 hour sleep.
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We were excited about Maccas because it meant free wireless internet! However it was only for 20min and was very very slow so we didn't bother.
After brekkie, we walked to Yau Ma Tei MTR and got on the Tsuen Wan line to Tung Chung station for the Ngong Ping.
Located on Lantau Island, we had to catch a cable car to go on this giant Buddha tour.
My Octopus card wouldn't let me through the barriers at Central and the Customer Service staff member had to swipe my card through a special machine twice. It was a long walk between the Customer Service and the ticket barrier.
From Central, we walked 10min to Hong Kong Station then hopped on to the Tung Chung Station.
We walked to Exit B3 to reach the Ngong Ping cable cars building. There, a staff member recommended that we buy a tour package which included return cable car transfers and a guided tour of a fishing village, monastery and giant buddha via shuttle. The cost was $250 per person as opposed to just $115 for a return cable car ticket. We went with the tour option in the Standard car as opposed to a Crystal car with glass bottom.
And weren't we glad! Part of her spiel for the guided tour was that we wouldn't have to wait to get on the cable cars. If we went with just the cable car tickets, the queue was about an hour long. There were so many people lined up; and it was only about 11:20am! After purchasing our tickets, we went through the 'VIP' line which ran alongside the 'cable car only' line stretching miles and miles.
The cable car ride was about 25min and the view from the top was breathtaking; even though it was a very foggy day. The cable car fits 8 seated people.
A staff member took our photo before our car left and when we arrived at the other end, staff were waiting for us with two printed pictures and two personalized key chains. We paid $170.
Located on Lantau Island, we had to catch a cable car to go on this giant Buddha tour.
My Octopus card wouldn't let me through the barriers at Central and the Customer Service staff member had to swipe my card through a special machine twice. It was a long walk between the Customer Service and the ticket barrier.
From Central, we walked 10min to Hong Kong Station then hopped on to the Tung Chung Station.
We walked to Exit B3 to reach the Ngong Ping cable cars building. There, a staff member recommended that we buy a tour package which included return cable car transfers and a guided tour of a fishing village, monastery and giant buddha via shuttle. The cost was $250 per person as opposed to just $115 for a return cable car ticket. We went with the tour option in the Standard car as opposed to a Crystal car with glass bottom.
And weren't we glad! Part of her spiel for the guided tour was that we wouldn't have to wait to get on the cable cars. If we went with just the cable car tickets, the queue was about an hour long. There were so many people lined up; and it was only about 11:20am! After purchasing our tickets, we went through the 'VIP' line which ran alongside the 'cable car only' line stretching miles and miles.
The cable car ride was about 25min and the view from the top was breathtaking; even though it was a very foggy day. The cable car fits 8 seated people.
A staff member took our photo before our car left and when we arrived at the other end, staff were waiting for us with two printed pictures and two personalized key chains. We paid $170.
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| On the Ngong Ping cable car |
Our meeting point for the tour group and tour guide was outside Starbucks for the 12:30pm tour.
To kill time, we had lunch at subways and did some quick souvenir shopping. Our purchases included a cute magnetic double happiness key chain.
At 12:30 we met our guide and group as scheduled, and hopped onto a nice a/c shuttle. The fishing village (Tai O) was our first stop and we saw lots of dried fish such as fish maw (fish stomach), sea cucumber, dried oysters. There were also fresh fish, prawns, and crab. Inside the village, people live in stilt houses built on the ocean. However there were normal houses outside the village itself. We were also taken to the Museum which had relics such as opium pipes.
The guide then took us to a Taoist Monastery. According to him, Taoism is about enjoyment of life. Buddhism is about suffering. He invited the group to burn incense (provided) and say a prayer. Anthony did but I declined. In the Monastery were statues of deities such as the God of Martial Arts - and two others which I have forgotten. One had his middle finger out with a mini deity on the tip.
Then we had about ten minutes of free time which we spent walking around taking photo's.
To kill time, we had lunch at subways and did some quick souvenir shopping. Our purchases included a cute magnetic double happiness key chain.
At 12:30 we met our guide and group as scheduled, and hopped onto a nice a/c shuttle. The fishing village (Tai O) was our first stop and we saw lots of dried fish such as fish maw (fish stomach), sea cucumber, dried oysters. There were also fresh fish, prawns, and crab. Inside the village, people live in stilt houses built on the ocean. However there were normal houses outside the village itself. We were also taken to the Museum which had relics such as opium pipes.
The guide then took us to a Taoist Monastery. According to him, Taoism is about enjoyment of life. Buddhism is about suffering. He invited the group to burn incense (provided) and say a prayer. Anthony did but I declined. In the Monastery were statues of deities such as the God of Martial Arts - and two others which I have forgotten. One had his middle finger out with a mini deity on the tip.
Then we had about ten minutes of free time which we spent walking around taking photo's.
We hopped back onto the tour bus at the end of the ten minutes and were driven to the area where the Buddhist Monastery and Giant Buddha was. The guide left us after a brief tour of the Monastery so Anthony and I had a quick snack at the vegetarian restaurant nearby.
Restaurants in the area are not able to serve meat.
* There is a larger monastery being constructed just behind the current one. It is anticipated to be finished in 2013.
I discovered (much to my horror) that the public toilets provided were squat toilets. So I decided to hold it until after we climbed the many stairs to see the Giant Buddha.
The climb was long; we saw a monk slowly making his way up as well. After about three steps, he would kneel and touch his forehead to the steps. He did this until he reached the very top. At the foot of the stairs, he knelt to pray with scriptures in his hand. He wasn't the only one; there were many people praying as well, sans scriptures.
The giant Buddha is enormous. You could really appreciate how gorgeous it was after catching your breath from climbing the steep 268 steps
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| Buddhist Monastery |
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| giant buddha |
We rode with the two talkative British girls who were behind us in the queue. It was 60min + 25Mmin of non-stop talking so I was thankful to be rid of them when we got back to Ngong Ping train station.
From there we trained it to Mong Kok to do some outdoor shopping on Nathan Road - specifically the Ladies Market.
I also finally tried the fish balls from the little yet ubiquitous open air restaurants. It was $12 for about 4 and they tasted ok.Shopping at the Ladies Market is all about bargaining. It's not something I'm good at it so Anthony and I have agreed that if I like something, I will tell him and we'll work out a price I'd like to pay, then he will speak to the seller and bargain.
After a day of sightseeing and shopping, we decided to go back to the room to rest.
By the time we were rested up, it was 9:30pm. Dinner was takeaway Burger King. We couldn't remember where Hot Chilli was.
* Hot Chilli is the restaurant we innocently stumbled into when we landed on Monday. It wasn't until we had eaten and paid that Ant discovered the restaurant's name. It explained why we ordered the second level of 'hotness' and received extremely chilli soups.
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