Thursday, February 8th.
Hey again, I'm back for another report on my comings and goings in Hong Kong.
Started my day this morning with a phone call home, which I could do now that I've got a decent phone card - anyway, it was nice to hear a familiar voice at the other end of the line (thanks mum!), and to check in with everyone back there.
Ay any rate, I headed off a little later than usual this morning, on my way out to Lantau Island and the giant Buddah. When I got to the ferry terminal in Central, I had a bit of a wait, then headed off on the half hour ferry ride to Mui Wo, aka Silvermine Bay. From Mui Wo I hopped straight on across Lantau bus to Ngong Ping, the location of the Po Lin Buddhist Monastery responsible for the Tian Tan Giant Buddah Statue. Confused yet? so am I. :p
So Lantau island is in fact the largest island in Hong Kong (followed by Hong Kong and Lamma islands), and is incredibly hilly - Ngong Ping is on a plateau high up in the hills of Lantau, but the attractions there - the Po Lin Monastery, Tian Tan Buddah Statue, Ngong Ping Village (a 'recreated traditional village', think Sovereign Hill, but without the Gold Prospectors) and the Ngong Ping Waste Treatment Information Centre (seriously!) attract thousands of visitors every day - the roads up there are narrow and winding, so they've recently built a massive Skyrail from just outside the airport, right the way up the mountain. Point of all that being, there are thousands of tourists in Ngong Ping. It's a bit surreal visiting a buddhist monastery with vending machines around every corner.
At any rate, I paid my HK$23 and made my way up the stairs to the Tian Tan Buddah Statue. And believe me, this thing is is -big- 28 (I think - maybe it's 23) metres tall and made of Bronze, it sits on a 3 storey pedestal and has views in all directions. It's relatively recent (finished in 1989), but it houses some pretty ancient artifacts. Including 2 sacred Buddhist Relics.
Now, let me explain the relics, but understand that everything I know about Buddhism comes from visiting temples and reading imperfect english translations of signs at the base of a gigantic bronze statue. Anyway, apparently, when Buddah was 80 something years old, he decided that he was sone enlightening the world, so he went up to some mountain, gave his last lesson, then laid down and died. When he was cremated, his body exploded into 84,000 tiny coloured stone fragments the size of grains of rice, which were promptly scattered around the world - The Po Lin monastery obtained 2 such relics from Sri Lanka, and they're underneath a ornate glass jar at the base of the giant Buddah statue. At least, I think they are - you can't get close enough to the jar to actually see whats inside, but a photo next to it shows 2 small kinda rock shaped things on a red cushion that I assume are said relics inside their jar. Again, apologies to any Buddhists(though I don't -think- I have any Buddhist readers) if my explanations are horribly inaccurate.
The Buddah itself is quite spectacular - it's kinda hard to say much about a giant statue, but I can assure you that it's very impressive in person (Or is that 'in deity'? :p)
Once I'd seen the huge Buddah on the Hill, I dropped by the Monastery itself, which was also teeming with tourists, then headed back off the hill (I didn't bother with the village or sewerage information centre). This time, I took the bus to Tung Chung, which is the area I saw when I first got off the plane, with the massive apartment buildings at the base of the massive hills. The Bus ride was spectacular, as we drove up the steep slope on one side of the mountains in the island's centre, then down the other side (they're currently expanding the currently very narrow (as in, one bus in either direction narrow) road, so it was slow going). Tung Chung itself is like airport worker central, so not too much interesting there. At any rate, I got on the train at Tung Chung and headed back to Mong Kok.
This afternoon, I walked down the length of Nathan Road, from my Hostel right to the Star Ferry terminal, then caught the ferry across to Wan Chai, where I explored the fascinating back streets for a while, and later this evening, I'm going to watch the symphony of Lights Show again, but this time from the island side for a different perspective on the whole thing.
Only a couple more days in Hong Kong, so I'm trying to do all the little bits and pieces that I missed out on before now, and tomorrow, as my last full day in HK before I leave for Shanghai, will probably involve a lot of travelling back and forth to various places, visiting markets etc etc.
'til then!
Jono
Hey again, I'm back for another report on my comings and goings in Hong Kong.
Started my day this morning with a phone call home, which I could do now that I've got a decent phone card - anyway, it was nice to hear a familiar voice at the other end of the line (thanks mum!), and to check in with everyone back there.
Ay any rate, I headed off a little later than usual this morning, on my way out to Lantau Island and the giant Buddah. When I got to the ferry terminal in Central, I had a bit of a wait, then headed off on the half hour ferry ride to Mui Wo, aka Silvermine Bay. From Mui Wo I hopped straight on across Lantau bus to Ngong Ping, the location of the Po Lin Buddhist Monastery responsible for the Tian Tan Giant Buddah Statue. Confused yet? so am I. :p
So Lantau island is in fact the largest island in Hong Kong (followed by Hong Kong and Lamma islands), and is incredibly hilly - Ngong Ping is on a plateau high up in the hills of Lantau, but the attractions there - the Po Lin Monastery, Tian Tan Buddah Statue, Ngong Ping Village (a 'recreated traditional village', think Sovereign Hill, but without the Gold Prospectors) and the Ngong Ping Waste Treatment Information Centre (seriously!) attract thousands of visitors every day - the roads up there are narrow and winding, so they've recently built a massive Skyrail from just outside the airport, right the way up the mountain. Point of all that being, there are thousands of tourists in Ngong Ping. It's a bit surreal visiting a buddhist monastery with vending machines around every corner.
At any rate, I paid my HK$23 and made my way up the stairs to the Tian Tan Buddah Statue. And believe me, this thing is is -big- 28 (I think - maybe it's 23) metres tall and made of Bronze, it sits on a 3 storey pedestal and has views in all directions. It's relatively recent (finished in 1989), but it houses some pretty ancient artifacts. Including 2 sacred Buddhist Relics.
Now, let me explain the relics, but understand that everything I know about Buddhism comes from visiting temples and reading imperfect english translations of signs at the base of a gigantic bronze statue. Anyway, apparently, when Buddah was 80 something years old, he decided that he was sone enlightening the world, so he went up to some mountain, gave his last lesson, then laid down and died. When he was cremated, his body exploded into 84,000 tiny coloured stone fragments the size of grains of rice, which were promptly scattered around the world - The Po Lin monastery obtained 2 such relics from Sri Lanka, and they're underneath a ornate glass jar at the base of the giant Buddah statue. At least, I think they are - you can't get close enough to the jar to actually see whats inside, but a photo next to it shows 2 small kinda rock shaped things on a red cushion that I assume are said relics inside their jar. Again, apologies to any Buddhists(though I don't -think- I have any Buddhist readers) if my explanations are horribly inaccurate.
The Buddah itself is quite spectacular - it's kinda hard to say much about a giant statue, but I can assure you that it's very impressive in person (Or is that 'in deity'? :p)
Once I'd seen the huge Buddah on the Hill, I dropped by the Monastery itself, which was also teeming with tourists, then headed back off the hill (I didn't bother with the village or sewerage information centre). This time, I took the bus to Tung Chung, which is the area I saw when I first got off the plane, with the massive apartment buildings at the base of the massive hills. The Bus ride was spectacular, as we drove up the steep slope on one side of the mountains in the island's centre, then down the other side (they're currently expanding the currently very narrow (as in, one bus in either direction narrow) road, so it was slow going). Tung Chung itself is like airport worker central, so not too much interesting there. At any rate, I got on the train at Tung Chung and headed back to Mong Kok.
This afternoon, I walked down the length of Nathan Road, from my Hostel right to the Star Ferry terminal, then caught the ferry across to Wan Chai, where I explored the fascinating back streets for a while, and later this evening, I'm going to watch the symphony of Lights Show again, but this time from the island side for a different perspective on the whole thing.
Only a couple more days in Hong Kong, so I'm trying to do all the little bits and pieces that I missed out on before now, and tomorrow, as my last full day in HK before I leave for Shanghai, will probably involve a lot of travelling back and forth to various places, visiting markets etc etc.
'til then!
Jono
posted by Jono Russell at 2:49 AM
4 Comments:
eek, i always get homesick on calls to home, so i avoid the choking conversation when i'm travelling (purely on my end, i think mum and dad enjoy getting rid of me :P).. enjoy what's left of Hong Kong! can't wait to see how much you pack into one day ;)is the exchange rate good? you know me with these things.. not a clue! the statue sounds incredible! have a safe trip to Shanghai!
Cass
Exchange rate is around 6 to 1 (That is, for every $1 Australian, you'll get arou$6 Hong Kong), but the actual rate you get depends on who's doing the exchanging - I get around 5.76 when I withdraw using my travelex card.
Wan Chai!! Have you broken into the Versalife office yet? You better have!
hahahahahaha!
Turns out there -isn't- a secret lab at underneath the temple!
Deus Ex lied to me!
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