Day 35 - The Big Buddha

Another morning where we are not required to be up too early. Randy asked to meet us at 9:30 AM which gives us plenty of time to sleep in a little, shower and have our breakfast at Cafe M. So, that's exactly what we did. A quick pitstop before heading down to the lobby had me arriving exactly at 9:30 AM. Laureen had made her way down there a bit earlier. 

This morning we are heading over to Lantau Island, also known as the New Territories, to see the Big Buddha. This is the same location as the airport, so it's a bit of a trial run to see how long it takes to get there given that we are only a few days away from heading home. The drive took about 40 minutes, and during the time Randy provided a bit more information about Lantau island, the largest island in Hong Kong at 57 square miles. Historically, it was home to indigenous communities, farmers, and monastic settlements. Today, around 180,000 people live on the island. Much of Lantau remains protected and is not open for public driving, with access primarily reserved for indigenous residents. However, the airport and the surrounding airport city are fully accessible to the public. Interestingly, the island is only about 20 minutes from the mainland China border, adding to its strategic importance.

We arrived at the Tung Chung Station of the Ngong Ping Cable Car company. This is the base station that takes you up the mountainside to the Buddhist monastery and one of the most awe-inspiring sights on Lantau Island, the Big Buddha, also known as the Tian Tan Buddha. This bronze statue sits atop Ngong Ping and was completed in 1993 after 12 years of meticulous planning and construction. Standing at 34 meters (112 feet) high and weighing over 250 metric tons, the statue symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man, nature, and religion. It faces north towards Beijing (not its normal south facing direction) to look over the Chinese people and rests on a lotus throne above a three-tiered platform. To get to the bronze sight, visitors must climb 268 steps to reach the base of the Buddha. Apparently, over a million people make the journey each year, many of them seeking peace, reflection, or simply the stunning views. 

To reach the Big Buddha, we took the Ngong Ping Cable Car—a 25-minute ride that quickly became one of the highlights of our day. The views along the way were incredible, starting with a glide over Tung Chung Bay, then climbing up through lush green mountains with glimpses of the airport, the South China Sea, and even the Buddha itself appearing in the distance as we got closer. It’s a peaceful ride, surprisingly quiet, giving you time to soak in the scenery. The cable car drops you off at Ngong Ping Village, a touristy but charming spot that sets the stage for the climb up the stairs.

Once we arrived at the top, there was a bit of a walk to get to the base of the Buddha.

Laureen and Randy sat this one out - I was on my own to do the stairs. If you've been reading the blog, you'll know that stairs and I have had a few encounters over this trip, so I should be prepared for this. Although the weather was quite warm (I think it was near 30 degrees celsius), I made the trip up all in one go. Later, Laureen would mention that Randy stepped away for a moment and came back to look and exclaimed, "He's already half way!"

I made it to the top without having to stop, but was a little out of breath. Not too bad. The view from the top was pretty spectacular.

The Buddha itself was actually accessible if you walked part way around the platform and then made your way up a few more flights of stairs. I was able to actually touch it. The second picture below is of a doorway that you can actually go in and you have entered the lotus flower that the Buddha is sitting on. I did not go in - just took a picture.

Next, it was time to make the trek down. Down is quite a bit easier than up.

At the bottom, Laureen and Randy were sitting in the shade.  Laureen took a photo of me close to the end.

When I got to the bottom, Randy and Laureen sort of indicated that I could do it again for them. I offered to do so, but wanted them to give me a personal item of theirs to carry to the top on their behalf. They both offered me their disposable water bottles. Randy said tht if I did it twice, he'd tell all of his other customers about it. In the end, I didn't. The water bottle was just not personal enough to make it worth while.

On the grounds of the Big Buddha are two distinct monastery buildings, which was the next place Randy took us through. The original Po Lin Monastery dates back to 1906 and still serves as a tranquil place of worship, with its ornate temples, incense-filled halls, and resident monks carrying out daily rituals. Just steps away is a newer, more modern structure—built to accommodate the growing number of visitors and expand the monastery’s role as a cultural and spiritual centre. The contrast between the old and new adds depth to the experience, blending tradition with the present.

One of the most impressive parts of our visit was stepping inside the Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the newer of the two main buildings at Po Lin Monastery. Completed in 2014, this five-story hall is beautifully designed in the style of the ancient Song Dynasty. While only the ground floor is open to the public, it’s more than enough to take your breath away—the walls are lined with thousands of small golden Buddha statues (ten thousand Buddha’s apparently), each one quietly watching over the space. The ceiling is incredibly intricate. It’s peaceful, almost otherworldly, and a striking contrast to the open mountain views just outside. 

Even the eave's of the building were intricately crafted. Laureen and I posed near one of the dragon covered pilers on the outside of the building.

From here, as part of our monastery experience, was an included lunch with some of the kinds of things the monk's would eat. They are vegetarians, so the lunch was in this same style.

There was a pumpkin soup, vegetable spring rolls, lemon tofu (chicken), mushrooms on greens, a mushroom cashew stir fry (beef) and some sticky white rice. There was also green tea and Randy showed us how to say thank you using finger gestures for when the tea get's poured. He noted that it's often poured while eating, so there is a hand gesture that means thank you.  It happens to be the same hand gesture you use in Vegas when you are looking for another card to be dealt to you. Two fingers. tap tap. Thank you.

Rady also did something that I had never seen before, he used the tea to clean the chopsticks (although he said they are already clean, this was just another step,) the bowls and the teacups. I thought that was cool. Maybe the next time I go to Beijing Beijing in Edmonton (Randy's brother is one of the owners), I'll make sure to do this step and tell them "Randy told me to do it".

The food was good and more than we could manage to finish, Randy waited outside as they do not provide for the guides. It would have been better if he could eat with us. It would have helped to clean it up better, rather than us leave some of it behind. 

Next, we went to the shopping area that was on site, and Randy waited by the entrance to the tram, which would be our mode of transportation back down. Laureen wandered through some of the shops while I got side tracked by a place that takes a picture of your iris and then magnifies it and turns it into an art piece. As a demo, the dude took a picture of both of my iris' and then it took about 3 minutes for him to show me the image on the mac screen.  It was very cool! Here is a sample of what it would look like (this is not my eyes - I tried to distract the guy who was doing it to look away long enough for me to take a photo of his screen - but there was never enough time to capture it). This might be an idea for Laureen and I to do and hang up in our travel room. Oh, the sights these eyes have seen.

Just a sample - but my iris was similar to the top left one (the orange stuff)

We made our way to find Randy, and when he looked at us he saw no purchases in our hands. Not quite the things we are looking for. I think we are both anticipating a bit of a different outcome a little later as we make our way to the "ladies market". 

We boarded the gondola and started to make our way down to the starting point. I have to admit, I was a tad bit nervous. The towers seem SO far apart and the wind had picked up a little so the car had a bit of a sway to it. The view was stunning. The first picture is a bridge that leads to a tunnel under the South China Sea on it's way to Macau. If you look close you can see where it come up out of the water. They did this because they did not want to restrict the flow of ships with a bridge.

The Airport

When we got to the bottom, Randy called Stanley (the driver we had yesterday) to come and get us. It took a few minutes for him to get to where we were, so we just chatted with Randy while waiting. They were going to take us to the start of the Ladies Market where we would say goodby to both Stanley and Randy. 

On the way there, we stopped by one of the government housing complexes and I snapped this photo out of the window of the car. There are dozens and dozens of complexes like this in Hong Kong. Randy explained that nearly half of Hong Kong’s population, over 3 million people, live in public housing. These complexes are designed to provide affordable homes for lower-income residents, with rent calculated based on income levels. To qualify, families must meet specific financial criteria and go through a waiting process that can take years (he said 6 years). The units themselves vary in size, but most are small by Western standards—often just a few hundred square feet, designed for efficiency in one of the world’s most densely populated cities. It’s an eye-opening look at how the city manages space and housing for so many people.

I also took a candid shot of a street as we approached the spot where we would depart the car. See how many apartments crowd the street. 

Stanley stopped the car at the designated location and Randy got out with Laureen and I.  The area we drove through was the area he grew up in as a kid and he was reminiscing a little as we may our way through the crowded streets. He pointed us in the direction of the market, showed us where the flower/bird markets would be (a few blocks away) and we took one final picture before parting ways. Randy is good people.

Next was the Ladies Market. It lives up to it's name for sure. This market is a bustling stretch of stalls packed with everything from souvenirs and clothing to electronics and knockoff handbags. It’s loud, colourful, and full of energy—a great spot to test your bargaining skills and soak up some local street market culture. And yes, you can see the smile on her face as she enters the first street (it's about 4 blocks long in total).

We purchased a few items here for ourselves and some gifts. It was fun to walk through and see all of the items. We took our time and just looked through things before deciding on a purchase as per Randy's advice. I picked up a hat for Hong Kong (so now I have one from every country we have visited on this trip). Laureen was coaxed to try on a few jade rings, but didn't think she would wear them so she passed on a purchase. We walked back and forth in the market which took us just under two hours. We were going to make our way to the flower market, and decided we had enough of the street for today, so we hailed an Uber and made our way back to the hotel. There we dropped our purchases in our room and I started the blog. 

It was now after 6:00 PM and we were starting to get hungry, so we wandered out into the street in the direction that we saw a bunch of restaurants. We finally ended up on the second floor of a place that served some food we recognized. We had calamari and a pineapple and bacon pizza (and we both had cream soda fountain drinks). The food was - ok and very small portions. We stopped at McDonalds and each had a caramel sundae. As we walked out to the pedestrian street outside of the building, we found a place to sit down and finish our sundae's, which happened to be right in front of a place called Mammy Pancake. Laureen looked it up and it actually had a Michelin rating. So, being curious, and having a few Hong Kong dollars to spend, we purchased a Chocolate Chip Egg Puff. Laureen said it was as good as the Japanese pancakes that Margaret was so fond of. We finished that and were satisfied.

Back to the hotel to finish the blog and get some rest.  We have nothing planned for tomorrow, so we will see how things go. I have to go pick up my shirts tomorrow after 3:00 PM, so we might arrange something around that. For now, it's nice not to have a planed activity. Only one more day and we begin the journey home.  What an amazing trip this has been.

Curt & Laureen in Hong Kong