Day Two of our Hong Kong trip started off well. I am happy to report that no cockroaches returned, and I woke up without any bites from bed bugs. After checking out of our hostel, we went across the street for some breakfast at Starbucks, and then headed for the subway to go to Lantau Island to see the “Big Buddha” statue.
The subway trip to Lantau took us to the other side of the city, so it was a long trip since we had to switch lines and stations at one point. But the ride there was very pretty, and as we got out of the urban area we got to see more sun and more beaches.
When we arrived at Lantau, we were surprised to find that the Buddha statue was on a mountainous island, and that we had to get up there either by bus or by cable car. I didn’t realize when I agreed to go by cable car what I was getting into…
We stood in line for a long time with a bunch of other tourists to get a cable car. It was too late to turn back when I saw the cable cars traveling over the huge mountain cliffs, the highest of which is over 3,000 feet.
Unfortunately, I’m deathly afraid of heights. I was terrified of getting there by cable car, but I knew how important it was to Nanja to see the statue, since she’d been talking about going all weekend. As soon as we found out they had a glass-bottomed cable car, Nanja mentioned how cool it would be to go that way. I immediately put an end to that idea, even if she was just joking about it.
However, as soon as the cable car took off, I was okay. It was actually a really pretty view of the island from our car, as well as the pretty water of Tung Chung Bay, Hong Kong International Airport, and the new residential skyscrapers of the Tung Chung area.
Our cable car soared over the lush, green mountains of Lantau as we got further and further away from civilization. It was great to finally get out of the crowded, dense city of Hong Kong and get to see the natural beauty that China has to offer. I felt like I was finally seeing the real China for the first time, with the foggy pictures of green hillsides that I so often see of Asia.
We could also see many parts of the 45-mile hike through the mountains to the tourist village of Ngong Ping, our final destination. To the side we could see the Tian Tan Buddha statue, which is a large bronze statue that measures 112 feet tall.
When we finally arrived in Ngong Ping Village, we stopped first to have a nice lunch. I had some delicious shrimp and rice, which I ate successfully with chopsticks! After lunch we made our way into the main village, where there were lots of Buddhist temples and statues. I even saw some people burning incense and praying to the gods for good blessings.
Even though this is a heavily-trafficked tourist destination, it still was a very calming, Zen-like place. There were little nooks and crannies where you could find lonely koi ponds and lily pads.
At last came time to make the trek up the hillside to visit the Buddha up close. The 268 steps were steep and long, and I definitely was not in shape to make that journey. I was especially disadvantaged because I had my backpack of clothes and toiletries on my back, my purse on my shoulder, and the previous day’s shopping purchases to lug around. However, the end was worth it, and we spent a while just enjoying the wind from the mountains and the view of the surrounding villages.
The Tian Tan Buddha statue was constructed in 1993 as a tourist attraction, and has also become a major center of Buddhism in Asia. Surrounding the statue are other smaller statues making offerings to the Buddha. There are also two tiers that you can stand on beneath the statue, which give an even better view of the surrounding mountains and villages. Just be prepared for lots of mountain winds!
The statue is so large that you can reputably see it from Macau on a clear day, but I seriously doubt that rumor.
On our way back to the cable cars, a random bull appeared out of nowhere, mooing and just strolling along the sidewalk. A huge crowd had backed away from it to let it through, but a few gutsy tourists took pictures with it (with the cultural symbol of a peace sign that many Asians do in photographs).
We stopped at a couple of souvenir shops on the way back to the cable cars, but didn’t buy anything. They had a chopstick museum, a Peking opera shop, and a tea house!
The line to get back on the cable cars was ridiculously long (over an hour) because it was getting close to sunset and all the tourists were heading back. We wanted to get some cotton candy, but the line for that was also really long, and since we couldn’t take it into the cable car waiting area we skipped it. The snack stand was also selling Korean BBQ squid, which smelled awful…
At last we made our way through the line and got a cable car. I was happy to get out of the line because a group of Asian women were being really pushy and standing as close as possible to me and driving me crazy! I started pushing them back with my big backpack passive-aggressively, but it didn’t seem to work in conveying the message of personal space.
Our cable car took us back through the evening fog, which was weird! We were completely suspended in this fog that was coming off of the mountains, and it was a little creepy, but also pretty cool, too. Iris felt like we could be in a horror movie, and we decided to name it Attack of the Cockroaches (refer to “Hong Kong Adventures: Day One”). I’m sure the other people in our car found our uncontrollable giggling obnoxious.
At last we got out of the cable cars and started heading for the subway, but not without one last look at the sunset over Lantau Island.
We finally found the ferry back to Macau. Unfortunately, we didn’t have Nanja’s connections to get us cheap tickets back, so we ended up paying twice the price from the first trip for the Economy class. The 45-minute trip ended up taking THREE HOURS to return to Macau. We left at 8:00 pm and didn’t get in until around 11:00 pm! Apparently, the fog was so bad that they had to wait for the control tower to guide each ferry in, so it was simply a matter of waiting our turn. We were getting very impatient until we heard that a ferry had sunk a few years ago from trying to navigate by itself in the fog.
When we finally got into Macau, I could understand why we needed to wait to be guided in through the fog. It completely engulfed the city. You couldn’t see the tops of the buildings, and we couldn’t even find the large Oceanus casino that I so often use as a landmark to get myself home. The whole building glows brightly blue, but I couldn’t even see it shining through the fog until we got close to it. When I finally got home, I couldn’t even see my usual bright city view because a blanket of fog had completely obstructed my view. It was really, really weird.
Exhausted, I took a much-needed shower (I had backpacked all day through the mountains of Hong Kong!) and finally collapsed in my bed bug-free bed.
Overall, my experience in Hong Kong was interesting. The city is completely different from Macau. Here in Macau, locals stare at me constantly as a rare, white tourist with blue eyes and light hair. However, I was one of many, many Westerners in Hong Kong. In fact, everyone I met spoke English very well, with the exception of a couple of taxi drivers. The city is also much larger than Macau and the skyscrapers much taller!
However, Hong Kong has more area and has been developing for much longer than Macau. Macau is still so young and is still just developing as a tourism destination. I predict that Macau will soon make a name for itself, like Hong Kong, in the global market as a center of fashion and tourism.
Happy travels!
Kati
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