There's another skyscraper...and another...and another...
JULY 16tH, 2018
The gondolas to the Tian Tan Buddha with planes taking off in the background.
We arrived in Hong Kong and immediately noticed a shift in lifestyle from mainland China. First, the pace is much quicker and it is a huge city with tons of high-rises. There seems to be a sense of freedom too, both in the advertisements and in people’s attitudes. Our first night here we decided to try dim sum for dinner. We found Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest restaurant that has a Michelin Star and we were sold. The barbecue pork buns were amazing, unfortunately everything else was just okay and we were a little disappointed. I guess we will just have to have dim sum every day until we find our favorite!
The next day, we headed to Lantau Island to visit the Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha. We took the cable car up and it took us high into the mountain-about a 25 minute ride up. The views from all directions were stunning and we were glad the day ended up being clear, as weather has been pretty unpredictable and often overcast. We could see the China Sea and island all around us. An addition, we had a great view of the Hong Kong airport which Chuck couldn’t get enough of.
The Tian Tan Buddha
Po Lin Monestary
At the top, we visited the Po Lin Monestary and the 3 Buddha’s it houses, representing the past, present, and future. It has been around since 1906. The Tian Tan Buddha was only added in 1992, as an extension of the monastery. We then walked up the 268 steps to it’s platform and were in awe of the size of the statue, at 112 feet tall. It was surrounded by “The Offering of the Six Devas” which each hold an offering to Buddha. The offerings symbolize generosity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom which are all necessary for enlightenment. It was also powerful to see the Buddhist monks visiting the temple who knelt and prayed on every step on the path up to the top.
Next, we headed to a lunch spot that happened to be near the mid-level escalator, which meant we got to check that off our list of sites to visit as well. It is the longest outdoor, covered escalator at 2,600 feet long. Really it was just an inclined escalator, but we can now say we rode it.
Oh yes, this was the start of line, but it was worth it!
We made our way to Victoria Peak, not realizing that in the early evening it would be insane because everyone was trying to get up to the top for the sunset. We had to cross the street to join the line and it felt like waiting in line for roller coasters at an amusement park. Once we made it through the first line, we crossed the street to the ticket line, then joined the lined for the cable car. Once we made it to the top, we joined a line to get to the viewpoint. After all the lines, we were finally greeted with our views of Hong Kong! Luckily, it was a very clear night and we were able to secure a pretty decent viewing spot despite the crowd. We hung out for a bit, catching the daily light show, although from above it wasn’t much of a show. We still enjoyed the views and taking in how big the city really is.
It really just goes on forever.
We had a recommendation to check out the Lan Kwai Fong area from Anna’s friend Shari who lived here for a bit. Despite being a Monday night the area was insane and we quickly determined it was the Wrigleyville of Hong Kong. We also realized it is legal to drink in the streets here. We walked through, quickly decided it wasn’t for us and found a more quiet spot to grab dinner. We also discovered how old we are…
