Hongkong and Macau Weeklong trip Part 7

Day 5 of our trip. Today we were going to visit the Lantau Island and Tian Tan Buddha.

Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha, is a large bronze statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. The statue itself is 34 metres tall and you have to climb 268 steps to reach the top.

It was going to be long journey and I relied completely (as always) on google maps to take us there. We took trains on two connecting lines and got off at Tung Chung station. From there we took a bus that took us to Ngong Ping. It was a loooooooong bus ride as Ngong Ping is quite far away from Tung Chung. We were glad that we had loaded up our Octopus cards well as the cost of the bus ride was relatively high probably due to the distance. Usually cable cars would take you there but that option was not possible as the annual maintenance of cable cars was in progress. We were already aware of this fact and were not hugely disappointed.

The Buddha looked magnificent and took our breaths away. It was a very windy day and we walked up the 268 steps to reach the top. Once up we felt a different sense of calm and peace which was truly magical and no photo can capture that feeling.

Before going up the flight of steps, we had to necessarily buy meal tickets in order to visit the floors beneath the statue where a Relic (or alleged cremated remains) of Buddha Himself is showcased. We saw the Relic but I could not make out what part of his created remains was there - nothing was mentioned either. I suppose it would be pretty macabre to mention it. No pictures were allowed there.
We were there at the top for a while and then came down the same stairs to visit the Monastry's restaurant for which we had bought meal tickets. The restaurant is strictly vegetarian and signboards outside warn people to not bring anything other than vegetarian food to the open dining area. The food was good but quite a lot for the two of us. That didn't stop us from eating desserts from the Dessert bar outside - black sesame cake and mango pudding - both of which were fantastic.

Then we finished our tour by exploring Po Lin Monastry and the Hall of the thousand Buddhas. We did a couple of Buddhist rituals (which were uncannily similar to Hindu ones), like lighting incense sticks and offering it to Him and bathing a statue of Buddha with water.

For those who want to know if it's feasible to club Disneyland and TianTanBuddha on the same day because both are located on the Lantau Island -  my personal advice would be 'Dont try it'. . Even if you were to spend just a few hours at Disney (like we did) and proceed towards Tian Tan it doesn't make sense as it takes a long time to reach the place and the place closes to public by 1730. It makes no sense to squeeze both these attractions on the same day.

Completely satisfied with how the day turned out we took the long ride back to Kowloon. We still had some free passes via BigBus for the Ferry ride along the Harbour and we decided to do it today as we were leaving for Macau the next day. We got off at Star Ferry Pier and spotted a BigBus volunteer who ushered us to the Harbour Ferry entrance. We were just in time for the last ride of the day!
It was windy and cloudy day but we still managed to get some good views from our ferry. The cabin itself was quite nicely furnished like an old colonial club but the real deal was to get out and stand on the deck to enjoy the cool wind and magnificent views.

We had a big task at hand now - Packing! We were leaving for Macau the next day and we had to pack all the stuff we'd bought inside our suitcases - a difficult task indeed.  Click this link to read Part 8

Here is the link to the start of the blog: HK and Macau trip - Part 1