DAY 47 20 JULY Hong Kong

Today the weather seemed a little clearer but a lot of clouds around with predicted heavy showers. We had a thirty minute ferry ride with our tour group of seven people and local guide Diana to Lantau Island, Hong Kong's largest island. Arriving at what used to be called Silvermine Bay, on the southern side of the island, we drove through lush forest and soaring mountains and spotted the occasional water buffalo.

First it was to Upper Cheung Sha Beach, one of Hong Kong’s longest beaches at 3 km. It was high tide and they have a shark net but we are not sure if it is to protect people or catch them and eat them. It’s reassuring that there are surf life-savers but today they weren’t rushed off their feet.

Next stop was a traditional and historic fishing village, Tai O. What I thought was pork rinds were fish bladders and they came in a lot in all different shapes and sizes – I think they have the game sewn up. We saw the biggest puffer fish ever. There seemed to be a quota of sleeping cats scattered around the community. The houses are built on stilts and is still occupied by the Tanka boat people and it is certainly not a wealthy community.

This Buddhist temple is dedicated to a martial arts god.

Next we visited the Giant Buddha, the largest, bronze outdoor Buddha in the world. They have finger fragments of the Buddha inside, although DNA testing really isn’t possible. With the fog it was very atmospheric. 

In fact I am not sure if the Buddha could see his hand in front of his face. Later it did clear up to give us a better view..

The Buddhist temple was quite spectacular.

We had a traditional vegetarian lunch at the Buddhist Monastery which was filling, I guess, Buddhists do not eat meat which explains why the pork buns did not taste like pork. 

Making our way towards our rendezvous with a cable care we strolled through the adjacent Nyong Ping Village which “harmonises the Buddhist themes of Ngong Ping flawlessly, linking the main attractions, including the big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, Nyong Ping 360 and Wisdom Path.” (Or so the tourist brochure says.)

After lunch the weather was closing in when we took the Ngong Ping Cable Car to Tung Chung, so it was like a half-circle we did on the island. We caught glimpses of waterfalls, the 55km long Macau Bridge (the longest bridge in the world, except for the tunnel in the middle), and the Hong Kong International Airport.

 We arrived back at our hotel, luckily having missed almost any rain that was around save for a couple of drops so we felt quite lucky, given that the cable car ride had been cancelled the day before.