Lantau and Ngong Ping
Finally got a decent nights sleep (6hrs), and got up early enough to go to Lantau Island today. Also discovered the joys of the Octopus.
The Octopus is a card that allows you to buy pre-paid credit for use on the MTR and in some shops (7-11, Mannings Supermarket etc). On the MTR it has the benefit of you not having to use the coin operated machines, especially when the Customer Service desks are closed. On a few occasions I've found myself having to find a shop/newspaper stand and buying something that I really didn't want just to break a $100HK note, so I can use the change to go somewhere. You can also top up the card in some shops as well as using credit cards at machines in the stations. I wish I'd known about it when I first arrived as it would have saved me a lot of hassle. It works as a magnetic card that
you just run over the top of the ticket slot on the turnstyles, so you don't have to get individual tickets for stations either. An absolutely fantastic idea!
Anyway, this morning after getting my Octopus card I set off to Lantau Island. I'd been told it was really beautiful by a friend who used to live there, but it really is a sight to behold. Apparently a lot of the ex-pats who live in Hong Kong live on Lantau, and I can understand why.
As you leave the MTR you are greeted by a beautiful water feature and theres a sense of calm that I haven't seen much of since being here. There are only a handfull of shops in the area, and the harbour and forestry are visible around you. From here its only a minutes walk to the Skyrail station. The Skyrail station was only finished on the 18th September 2006, after a 2 year multi-million pound investment, and it runs cable cars throughout the day up to the Ngong Ping villiage, where the Tian Tan Buddha Statue and Po Lin Monastary are located.
As you start to move up on the cable car you become immediately aware of the sca
le of the construction as the other platforms become visible (like corners of the journey, as the Skyrail goes around the mountains). The buildings of the Tung Chung city start to look very small, and the aiport runway comes into view. Further up, at the Airport Island Angle station you get the first proper view of the Tian Tan Buddha, and its size (over 80 ft!). I have to say I was a little disappointed with the Ngong Ping Villiage itself, as it is a cutom built villiage to cater to tourists only, with a 7-11 and a Starbucks on a street called "the path to enlightenment". The shops sell souvenirs like the more than slightly ironic "Path to Enlightenment Shot Glasses" and tacky plastic Buddhas. There are a couple of attractions though that are worth a look. Walking With Buddha provides a nice overview of the story of Siddhartha Gautama giving a simple insight to tourists about how Buddhism was founded, and the Monkeys Tale Theatre uses special effects and animation to depict one of the Buddhist Jakata stories.
The Po Lin monastary was also a bit of a disappointment - restaurants and coke machines throughout a place of spiritual worship detract greatly from how the monastary should actually be, and the monks themselves do their best to hide their distaste for the tourists ignoring the "do not enter" and "no photography" signs. I felt as though I was contributing to the invasion of their place of spiritual peace, and decided to go.
The Octopus is a card that allows you to buy pre-paid credit for use on the MTR and in some shops (7-11, Mannings Supermarket etc). On the MTR it has the benefit of you not having to use the coin operated machines, especially when the Customer Service desks are closed. On a few occasions I've found myself having to find a shop/newspaper stand and buying something that I really didn't want just to break a $100HK note, so I can use the change to go somewhere. You can also top up the card in some shops as well as using credit cards at machines in the stations. I wish I'd known about it when I first arrived as it would have saved me a lot of hassle. It works as a magnetic card that
you just run over the top of the ticket slot on the turnstyles, so you don't have to get individual tickets for stations either. An absolutely fantastic idea!
Anyway, this morning after getting my Octopus card I set off to Lantau Island. I'd been told it was really beautiful by a friend who used to live there, but it really is a sight to behold. Apparently a lot of the ex-pats who live in Hong Kong live on Lantau, and I can understand why.
As you leave the MTR you are greeted by a beautiful water feature and theres a sense of calm that I haven't seen much of since being here. There are only a handfull of shops in the area, and the harbour and forestry are visible around you. From here its only a minutes walk to the Skyrail station. The Skyrail station was only finished on the 18th September 2006, after a 2 year multi-million pound investment, and it runs cable cars throughout the day up to the Ngong Ping villiage, where the Tian Tan Buddha Statue and Po Lin Monastary are located.
As you start to move up on the cable car you become immediately aware of the sca
le of the construction as the other platforms become visible (like corners of the journey, as the Skyrail goes around the mountains). The buildings of the Tung Chung city start to look very small, and the aiport runway comes into view. Further up, at the Airport Island Angle station you get the first proper view of the Tian Tan Buddha, and its size (over 80 ft!). I have to say I was a little disappointed with the Ngong Ping Villiage itself, as it is a cutom built villiage to cater to tourists only, with a 7-11 and a Starbucks on a street called "the path to enlightenment". The shops sell souvenirs like the more than slightly ironic "Path to Enlightenment Shot Glasses" and tacky plastic Buddhas. There are a couple of attractions though that are worth a look. Walking With Buddha provides a nice overview of the story of Siddhartha Gautama giving a simple insight to tourists about how Buddhism was founded, and the Monkeys Tale Theatre uses special effects and animation to depict one of the Buddhist Jakata stories.The Po Lin monastary was also a bit of a disappointment - restaurants and coke machines throughout a place of spiritual worship detract greatly from how the monastary should actually be, and the monks themselves do their best to hide their distaste for the tourists ignoring the "do not enter" and "no photography" signs. I felt as though I was contributing to the invasion of their place of spiritual peace, and decided to go.
I then mounted the 268 steps up to the Tian Tan Buddha itself. The Buddha was constructed in 1990 and cost over $83,000,000 to build. While it serves as a spiritual marker and reminder, I have to wonder whether Siddartha Gautama himself would have approved of such frivolous and lavish expense?
posted by Roachy at 5:33 pm
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