Grand Adventure 2017 Day 10: The Big Tour
Most of the time Jenn and I like to try to slow it down on our last day in a city, but that just wasn't meant to be in Hong Kong. We originally booked todays tour to Lantau Island for two days back but we got word two weeks ago that the cable cars that operate on Lantau Island were down for maintenance. That left us with touring today, our final day in Hong Kong; and although not ideal was well worth the wait.
We woke up a little earlier today, Jenn had to do her hair so while she did that I went for a run and grabbed us Starbucks. We got ready and left our hotel at 9 AM. After ten minutes of trying to find our Uber, and watching a hummingbird crash into the side of a building and die in front of us, we finally found him hidden away in the corner of the entrance to our hotel. We got in the back of his Kia and were whisked away to Lantau Island and a metro stop our designated meeting spot. Originally, we had planned to take the subway to meet our tour but when we saw it took almost an hour and a half to get there versus a little less then 30 minutes by car, we chose to go with Uber.
We were dropped off at Tung Chung MTR station where we met our tour guide Mel a few minutes after we arrived. We had booked this as a group tour but because of the last minute reschedule it ended up being a private tour, which worked out. We met Mel and were off to the Cable Car terminal where we skipped the line and boarded the upgraded car which had a see through bottom. The cable car took us up to one of the highest peaks in Hong Kong where the big Buddha statue (called Tian Tan Buddha) is located. The cable car ride up the hill took about twenty minutes and gave stunning views all around us. Usually these sort of rides are tourist traps, but todays ride up was amazing from start to finish.
When we made it up the hill the three of us made our way through a recently constructed welcome zone equipped with plenty of convenience stores, a Starbucks and a Subway. From the base, there are 268 steps that lead you up to the giant Buddha statue that overlooks Hong Kong and mainland China. It was quite the climb but worth every step. The statue which was built in the early 1990's is stunning. Although its called “Big Buddha” I was still shocked with how big it ended up being. We made our way up, took a ton of pictures and even went inside the Big Buddha which is home to hundreds of family shrines for passed loved ones. We got to learn a ton about both Taoism (Chinese religion) and Buddhism which was fascinating. Jenn and I are always insanely curious about other cultures and religions.
Once we toured the Big Buddha and took a ton of photos we walked down the 200+ steps and made our way to Po Lin Monastery which is at the base of the statue. We went in and saw the many offerings (fruit and flowers) along with a stunning area of worship. After we got done we stopped for a tapioca mango juice (what we called Boba) which I loved but Jenn didn’t care for at all. After ten minutes of resting we were on our way to Tai O, a fishing village that they call the Venice of Hong Kong.
To get to Tao O we had to board a public bus (not something we’ve done all that often in our lives) to take us to the village. The ride was about a half hour and when we were dropped off we walked through a fish market and on to a private boat. The boat took us through the fishing village which was humbling to say the least. These small homes on stilts lined both sides of the canal and looked as though they were on their last leg. Sadly, in the past couple of weeks a typhoon had ravaged the area and some of the effects could be seen on some of the older homes. The entire experience of going through these homes was something I’ll never forget. And even in all of this poverty house after house had people sitting around laughing, waving, and smiling. It puts things in perspective.
After going through the village, we went out to sea in search of pink dolphins and to take a look at the construction of an underground tunnel between Hong Kong and Macau which will cut the commute from those two places from multiple hours to a half hour. After our search for the pink dolphins ended up unsuccessful we stopped at Tai O Heritage Hotel for lunch. Jenn had fish and chips and I had fried rice with a Japanese beer. It was one of the better tour lunches we’ve ever had.
We got done with lunch a little after 1 PM and made our way through two more temples and through the main fish market which smelled terrible but was fascinating. We ended the tour at a lookout point before walking back through the market and back to the public bus to take us back to our starting point. We missed the first bus that we lined up for and were one of the last few on the next bus. We made our way back to Tung Chung metro stop a 45-minute ride. When we arrived we parted ways with Mel, grabbed a water from a nearby Starbucks and got an Uber back. We had a couple of drivers cancel on us and after twenty-minutes a tricked-out Prius picked us up and took us back to our hotel.
At about 6 PM we got back to our hotel completely exhausted. We had dinner at our hotel at a restaurant called Main St. Deli, the hotels take on an American diner. Jenn had beef lasagna and I had a roast beef dip with fries. Both meals were fine, nothing special, but hit the goal of a quick dinner. When we were done we were back in our room and packing up for our flight tomorrow to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Today being our last day in Hong Kong was bitter sweet. It was such a busy day, but it ended up being one of the best tours we’ve ever taken. We learned so much about Hong Kong, Buddhism, Taoism, and just had a great time with Mel. Although our time in Hong Kong is ending we still have a ton of trip left, and today just gave us both the momentum we needed to keep going on this grand adventure.
