Anyone coming to Hong Kong should not miss Lantau Island. We had a day looking around the island and taking the most scenic gondula I have ever been on.
It was really interesting visiting the Po Lin monastery. I have read so much about monasteries but never visited one. It was fascinating walking around and seeing all the different parts to it and seeing the monks doing their day to day work.
Getting up close to the Big Buddha was also a big highlight.
After visiting the quaint fishing village of Tai O we took a bus back over the mountains to Tung Chung.
We decided to take the Ngong Ping 360 gondula to Ngong Ping village a 5.7km ride over a small mountain range. Very touristy but well worth the ride
Looking across Tung Chung Bay and city
Hong Kong airport is an entire Island. This is looking back over the airport as a plane was taking off. You can also see the 6 Quantas planes in a row all grounded due to the strikes.
There were some breathtaking 360 degree views of the Lantau country park.
Our first glimse of the big budda
There were all sorts of things to in Ngong Ping Village. This was part of hte bubbles exhibition
The gate leading to the twelve divine generals
This is the general Vajra who represents 7pm-9pm and dog of the chinese zodiac.
These are massive insence sticks you can purchase - almost as big as me.
People putting their incense into the large sand pits at the entrance to the monastery
Statue in the entrance to the monastery
The main building of the Po Lin monastery. In the background you can see they are building a new one
The buddha statues inside the monastery
The decorations inside the monastery were stunning
Each pillar had these astouding sculptures of dragons
We had a full on lunch in the monastery. It was all vegeterian food but the place had such a great atmosphere.
The lower level of the monastery where the monks have their processions.
The monks dining hall
Steps leading to the Tian Tan Buddha statue
There were 3 statues on eaither side of the buddha offering things
Standing underneath the big buddha you realise just how big it is. We walked inside and saw the bone relic from the real buddha. It can be see from miles around.
We visited the little fishing village of Tai O. It was like we were walking through Hong Kong 30 or 40 years ago with locals living a very basic life. This is looking down at all stilt houses
We went on a little boat trip around the Island so we got to have a good look at all the houses on stilts. We were promised we would see the pink dolphins that can be found here.........but thats what she tells everyone
Locals were selling all sorts of seafood. These are live fish and shrimps in these buckets.
A lot of people had stalls of dried fish, mussles and whatever these white things are hanging from these ropes
We went back to the waterfront to watch the symphony of lights again.
We couldnt leave Hong Kong without an authentic chinese massage. This really funny lady and her husband gave us a really brutal massage.
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