Hong Kong actually consists of several islands, the biggest of which is Hong Kong island, and happens to be where I'm staying. The other islands make for nice daytrips, so we decided to hit up the most talked about island in this area - Lantau, home of the Big Buddha statue.Getting there is part of the fun, because you have to take a cable car ride up the mountain. Needless to say the views are pretty nice. However, my fear of heights kept me from appreciating the ride as much as I could have.
The Buddha status was erected relatively recently (around the 90's, I think), but is still an imposing structure, especially because it sits on such high ground and because of the relative solitude (rare in Hong Kong, as you can tell from two posts below).
We had started our daytrip a little late in the day, and realized once we got to the Big Buddha that we had missed the last cable car back down to the train station, which is where we needed to be to come home. A little desperate hunting later, and we realized that there were still a bus that we could take back, but that it would not leave for another hour or so. Which allowed us to explore a little more, and come across the real jewel in the area - the Wisdom Path walk.
This little trail took us meandering away from the Big Buddha statue towards even higher ground, where with the setting sun and new vantage point we were able to shoot off some pretty nice pictures.
Did you get to try out the echos? There's a point at the base of the complex, if you stand facing towards the statue, there's an echo that you can hear only if the other person is calling from the steps.
ReplyDeleteNo, I had no idea that there was even such a thing! I need to start asking your advice before I head out to these places...
ReplyDeleteWe're exploring Cheng Chau island next - you been there?