Monday, May 28, 2007

Big Buddha

Yesterday (Sunday), our intrepid heroes (Natasha, Joe, and myself) ventured out to Lantau Island, which is one of the neighboring islands to Hong Kong which most people are familiar with because that is where the airport is located. We were there to see the Po Lin Monastery and the 26-foot bronze statue of the sitting Buddha, the largest of its kind in the world.

We decided to take the scenic route - a 25-minute ride on a cable car - to get to Ngong Ping, the small town that is the launching pad for tourists visiting the monastery and the Buddha. Here is a sampling of photos from the cable car ride:











I want to point out that although none of the photos show it, while we were riding the cable car we could see a path leading from the cable car boarding point up to the town, where a few valiant hikers here and there were making the trek the old-fashioned way. I tip my hat to them because I don't think there's any way in hell I would have made it.

Once we got on the ground, Natasha and I made a pit stop in the town square for some Italian gelato. This was probably the last place on earth I expected to find any, and it was a perfect quick fix for the hot and humid day.

We made our way to the bottom of the hill where the statue is located and began climbing up the seemingly endless steps to the top, pausing for a few pictures along the way:







We eventually made it up to the top of the hill. The Buddha is built on a circular platform where visitors have a 360-degree view of the local landscape (walking around the statue of course). The statue is also surrounded by a series of smaller statues that are about 7 feet high. Underneath the statue, visitors can walk in and the walls were lined with plaques or etchings honoring hundreds, if not thousands of people, and there was also a gift shop. I found it strange that they have a problem with photography in a room to honor the people who I got the impression were dead, but not a cash cow to rip off tourists.

There were two higher levels up on the base of the statue we could go, but to do that we would have been required to buy a meal ticket for the local vegetarian restaurant, which Joe's intelligence sources said wasn't very good.

We took a few pictures at the base of the statue, then headed back down to see the monastery:







More details about the monastery and our trip to the beach at Chang Sha to be continued...

No comments: