Fifth Day in Hong Kong

Another 2 fleece + raincoat day - it is just getting colder. After morning latte at Starbuck's we took a cab to the Pier to catch our boat for the morning cruise of Victoria harbor. The harbor, as many other things in Hong Kong, is named after Queen Victoria of England.
Following the cruise we landed at Hong Kong Cultural Center for Dim Sum lunch, which is basically a bunch of steamed slimy stuff. After lunch we boarded a bus to Lantau, one of the many islands in Hong Kong (there are a couple of hundred islands, but only around 20 are populated.)

To get to Lantau we had to drive across Tsing Ma bridge, which is 2.2 km and the world's longest road- and rail suspension bridge. In Lantau we got on the Ngong Ping cable car that took us up in the clouds to the giant buddha. The cable car ride was about 25 minutes, 5.7 km sky rail across the lush terrains of Lantau and the South China Sea.

On top of the Ngong Ping plateu sits the world's tallest seated outdoor bronze buddha. Inside the buddha are 3 floors with paintings and a relic. The relic was a piece of a neck bone. There was also a giant bell from Shanghai as well as a carved wooden buddha made from 600 year old wood from the forbidden city in Beijing. The bus broke down and we had to walk the 256 steps down to the Po Lin monastery. The monastery was founded in 1906 by three monks visiting from Jiangsu and was initially known as "The Big Hut". It was renamed to its present name in 1924. The main temple houses 3 bronze statues of the Buddha representing his past, present and future lives as well as many Buddhist scriptures. Tian Tan Buddha, the giant Buddha statue was completed in 1993,and is an extension of the monastery.

We got a new bus that took us down from the mountain to the historic Tai O fishing village. It is distinguished by its stilt houses in its main creek. It is inhabited mainly by the Tanka people, decendents of Hong Kong's first settlers. This humble village is popular for its dry sea food and traditional life. We walked through the village market where they offered "yummy treats", such as dry fish bladder, dried and salted egg yolk, seahorses, sharks and puffer fish. Mmmmmm! 

We missed the 6 o'clock ferry so we enjoyed McDonald's coffee and french fries while we were waiting. The coffee was awful but a good hand warmer as we were all freezing from being up in the mountain where it was even colder than in Hong Kong. Only around 4 or 5 Celcius - I guess lower 40'sF. Brrr! 

Back on Hong Kong island we took a cab back to the hotel. We had planned to hit the night market on Temple Street, but decided we are too tired. So we will just get some food and stay in!