We
had planned to spend today on the Kowloon side, seeing some museums
and going round a couple of markets but neither of us really felt
like doing that. We changed tack and instead got a ferry across to
the island of Lantau, the largest island in the region at twice the
size of Hong Kong Island and the last inhabited island west of Hong
Kong Island before you reach Macau.
The
ferry was clean and fast and whizzed us across to the island in
about half an hour. Hong Kong’s waterways are almost as busy as its
roads. There is a never ending stream of ferries and boats plying
across the water either taking people between the Island and Kowloon
or bringing cargo in from the container ships moored up outside the
harbour.
We landed at Mui Wo and from here got the number 2 bus along
the south of the island to Ngong Ping. This island is much quieter
than Hong Kong and the villages we passed along the way were more
reminiscent of South America or small seaside villages you see in
Europe. Here the pace of life seems much slower, although somebody
seems to have forgotten to tell the bus driver that! The road
followed the shoreline for much of the way passing long, narrow
sandy beaches that must be packed to capacity in the summer.
Lantau is home to three prisons and we passed one on the right,
perched on top of the hills and with views that holiday home estate
agents would pay a fortune for. Soon we were crossing over the dam
of the Shek Pik Reservoir which supplies drinking water for Lantau
and for Hong Kong Island. The sloping dam wall has been grassed over
and cows were grazing contentedly. Beneath the dam is what at first
sight seems to be a big holiday complex. I thought it was a strange
location because of what would happen if the dam ever failed. Closer
inspection revealed this to be another of the island’s prisons.
The road started to climb and wind its way up towards Ngong
Ping home to a Bhuddist temple and monastery and, since 1993, the
world’s largest outdoor, seated statue of a Buddha. Here too
building work is underway. A new cable car will link Ngong Ping to
the Tung Chung MTR station next year. It looks like a massive
construction project.
Dominating the Temple setting is the Buddha. It is seated on a
raised mound with 260 steps to climb up to get to the Buddha. I have
now decided that people here are very astute and canny business
people. The Buddha has three different levels inside it. The first
is open to all but if you want to see the other two you have to buy
a meal ticket for a meal in the temple’s vegetarian restaurant.
Intrigued we bought our ticket but with hindsight I think it was
worth it for the meal rather than the Buddha museum.
It felt like a long climb to the top and I suppose it was
designed in that way to make it a mini act of pilgrimage. All the
way up people were stopping to pray to Buddha. The Buddha is a
pretty big guy and the first floor inside relates the tale of how
Buddha came about and talks about the project that resulted in this
statue. It was a massive undertaking and took about seven years to
bring to fruition. The Buddha is made of 200 pieces of cast bronze,
each of which was hauled up hill before being assembled. The design
of the Buddha is full of symbolic meanings.
Going up to the second floor you pass a large bronze bell which
is rung one hundred and eight times a day as a reminder of the
hundred and eight troubles of mankind. The second and third floors
house a museum but our lack of ability to decipher Chinese
characters meant we came out none the wiser. Around the Buddha are
viewing platforms with fantastic views out over the island and its
tropical vegetation. It is a very tranquil spot (or must be without
the construction work).
We resisted the (not very great) temptation to buy tourist
souvenirs, even though they have been blessed by the monks, and went
to see the rest of the Temple site. Now it is full of tourists
coming for a look than people coming to the temple for religious
reasons. On the path leading up to the Temple people have left
burning incense sticks, some of which must have been a centimetre in
diameter.
The first temple building was a small pavilion leading through
into a bigger courtyard. Whereas incense filled the air outside, the
pungent scent of lilies and orchids filled the air inside. Ornate
decoration in red and yellow surrounded a central “altar” on which
were large golden statues. Behind this temple was the old and
original temple building, a much more modest affair which looks
destined for the demolition ball to make way for a big new multi
storey building.
We went to get our lunch in the Temple’s vegetarian restaurant
(no meat or alcohol is allowed on the premises). It was a very
generous affair with soup, spring rolls, sweet corn and tofu,
mushrooms and pak choi, stir fried vegetables and rice all washed
down with a big pot of tea. The flavours were intense and the
textures all different making for a very tasty and enjoyable meal.
Unfortunately for me it brought the inevitable onset of traveller’s
tummy and I was much relieved to find a proper toilet rather than
just a hole in the floor!
Leaving the temple behind we made our way back to the ferry and
up to the Prince Edward MTR stop in the north of Kowloon. As in the
centre of Kowloon this whole area is full of shops with glaring neon
signs and bright lights to attract your attention. A short walk from
here is Flower Market Road, aptly named as every shop for two blocks
is a retail florist. Most were selling pretty much the same things,
orchids, lilies, chrysanthemums and roses but the difference here to
the UK is that these flowers actually had scent and it became quite
overwhelming.
At Yuen Po bird garden
At the end of the flower market is a small area called the Yuen
Po Street Bird Garden. Apparently Chinese men are very proud of
their birds and this is a key area they come to to show them off.
The area though is really a bird market. Anything you want from the
birds themselves to beautifully made wooden/wicker cages to bird
food (including live locusts) can be found here. It is an area with
pungent smells of its own (ammonia from the bird’s droppings) and
the cacophony of sound of hundreds of birds squawking at the same
time was deafening. For me though I also found it a little sad and
frustrating as some of the cages had so many birds in them they had
little room to move around.
By this stage we had decided we had earned ourselves a little
drink and as we are moving on to Macau tomorrow we decided to splash
out and head for the bar at the top of the Peninsula hotel, one of
Hong Kong’s finest. Still dressed in our travel gear (as its all we
have) and sandals we fully expected to be turned away but we were
actually more neat and tidy than many of the people who came in.
We had an (well, two in the end) aptly named Platinum Traveller
cocktail (Absolut citron, Tio Pepe, Cointreau, Lime and soda) as we
watched the world go by from the height of the eighteenth floor.
Following a Lonely Planet recommendation Stef went to check out the
Gents and came back with a very self satisfied look. The urinals,
green marble bowls, are lined up by the window so that you can see
the view while you take a pee! Intrigued I went to see if the Ladies
could live up to standard but it failed miserably, although they had
the heaviest marble doors I have ever come across.
We had planned to go and ride the Central Mid Levels escalator
but both agreed we were by then too tired to do so. It is an
intriguing idea. Most people live at the mid levels (part way up the
hill) but work at sea level. The walk home uphill was pretty gutty
so they have built a series of moving walkways and escalators to
take away they pain. They come down in the morning rush hour but
from a little after ten o’clock turn direction and take people back
up hill. Neat!!
