We spent the second day in HK outside of HK proper. We took a tour to Lantau Island just to the west of HK Island.

On the way out we stopped at the Tsing Ma Bridge. This is the world’s longest double-deck suspension bridge and is the centerpiece of the new bridge/causeway structure linking HK Island with Lantau Island and the new HK International Airport. For Bonnie, it was “interesting” stop and for me it was a “thrill” stop. I still get a kick out of unique and massive structures, even though I don’t participate actively in the design or construction anymore.

You-know-who and bridge.

After our bridge stop, we continued to new town of Tung Chung and a different bus. It seems that in China there are some rather byzantine rules and regulations governing just about everything. One of these sets of rules dictates that on Lantau Island, one must have a very specific permit to use the roads. SO …on to a different bus. Our next stop was the small fishing village of Tai O. Our guide/interpreter, Ryan, was from that village and we had a real treat since he knew just about everybody and could take us on a very special tour of an authentic country village that seemed far removed from bustling HK, although only about 25 road miles away. This village dated back to the 15th century and it was interesting to see that the people lived, while taking advantage of modernity like electricity and running water, still clinging to the old village ways. We saw one woman fishmonger hacking up a large fish and weighing it in a hand-held balance scale that would have been right at home with Marco Polo. The street vendors and homes were just as they had been for hundreds of years. We went to a Taoist temple that dated back to the Ming Dynasty.

We were on the tiny drawbridge separating the halves of the town.

A few views of this old village. All the vendors sell either dried or fresh goods. Dried means just what it implies, but fresh means live!

More of the old village. That is the Ming Dynasty Taoist Temple in the middle and a street vendor at work on the right.

It was a great way to see how a lot of China lives that is not within a city or near a tourist attraction. After about a half-hour of exploring, we were back on the bus and on our way to the main attraction of Lantau Island – at least for us: the Po Lin Monastery. The monastery houses the Tian Tan Buddha, the largest Bronze Buddha in China, and the monastery itself which dates back to the mid-20^th century.  The Buddha statue was constructed in 1992 at a cost of HK$68 million (~US$10 million). Most of the money was gathered by donations over several decades, but the largest single “donation” came from the Chinese government in 1998, after the HK turnover from the British. The Monastery was originally constructed in the 1920s and expanded in 1970. The most recent addition, the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, was only opened a few months ago, in October 2014.

I got to stand on the sacred spot at the base of the Buddha. This is a circular stone and marble enclosure situated at the foot of the hill upon which the Buddha statue sits. It is considered sacred because the acoustics of the enclosure are such that even if one speaks in a normal voice, it can’t be heard unless you are standing directly in front of the speaker. The worshipful believe that this gives them a direct conduit to the Buddha. Actually, it was a little spooky…

Communing with the Buddha. It was so still in the enclosure that you could hear a pin drop.

Left top: the huge Buddha on the mountain top; right top: view from the top. The large building is the monastery. In the center is another view of the monastery. At bottom right is a detail of the monastery. At right is the hall of 10,000 Buddhas.

After communing with the Buddha, we had a very nice vegetarian lunch at the monastery. The first course was a not-to-appetizing soup (read: slimy and tepid). Not a sign of good things to come. We were, however, pleased to find that the next course was a family-style arrangement of several dishes  - all based on vegetables and tofu – that turned out to be surprisingly good. Well, except for the taro cake and the lotus root. The taro cake was a large lump of taro that had been pounded into a paste and deep-fried. The crust had that good deep fried taste (deep frying forgives many sins…), but the inside was pasty and tasteless. The lotus root was off-putting because of its purple color, hard-to-cut texture, and odd (read: slimy) dressing.

After leaving the monastery grounds, we walked through a Disneyesque row of shops, statues of cartoon characters, and restaurant stalls on our way to catch our ride back to the bus depot. Our ride was a 4.7 KM (~ 3 miles) aerial tramway! Several of the cars had glass bottoms and for an extra fee you could ride in one of those cars. Several of our group did so, but we wussed out. The aerial ride took us over a mountainous landscape at elevations of anywhere from 50’-60’ to over 500’ above the ground or water. The ride also paralleled the new airport and we could see the takeoffs and landings as well as the entire countryside spread out below us.

Some views from the aerial tram.

By the time we got back to the ship we were exhausted. Even though the ship would not sail until about 10:30 that evening, we opted for dinner aboard and early to be. Much as we wanted to sample the local cuisine, we just would not have been able to do it justice. Ah well, another excuse to return to HK.

Overall, our bottom line for HK was simple: we want to return! We fell that we could easily spend a week, or two, and still want more. OK, on the list for future trips.

HK has a very different vibe from most of the other large cities we have visited so far. For one thing, there is a different concept of personal space. Even though HK is the most densely populated city on earth, people seem to have a way of keeping their personal space, no matter how small, to themselves. There was not nearly as much pushing, shoving and jostling as we expected. It was tightly packed, but not body-to-body. The people we met, the shopkeepers, the service personnel, even the bus drivers, were not only courteous, but almost friendly. Of course, HK still considers itself apart from China rather than a part of China. Time will tell…

As we leave HK, we begin the next leg of our journey. Here’s a preview:

We have overnights in Saigon (HCM City), Bangkok, and Singapore.

We will only be a few minutes in Chan May. It is a drop-off point for Hoi An, Hue, and Da Nang. We will see little of those places on this trip as we are heading to Cambodia by air and temples at Angkor Wat. We are off the ship for two and a half days for this side trip, but I will be blogging about it as we go.

Stay tuned…