Monday, May 16, 2005
Lantau Island..... No mean feat
(Backdated post from Singapore)
Today, we head to Lantau Island. We will be heading to Po Lin Temple, this is where that huge gigantic Buddha is located.
First, We have to figure out where to take the ferry from. We ended up at the Star Ferry pier. Please note that this is the WRONG pier if you want to go to Lantau Island. You have to go to another pier just next to it for the ferry trip. The cost of the ferry trip depends on whether it is an express ferry and also the peak/offpeak seasons. After about 30 mins, we reach Lantau Island, now we begin the exciting hunt for the bus to the temple... thankfully it was not that difficult. We made our way to the temple. In order to go up all the way to the giant Buddha you need to buy tickets. You may also purchase meal tickets at a total cost of 60HKD. I suggest skipping the meal there unless you are really hungry. The food...... sucks. Totally bland, tastless but ultra oily vegetarian food. Do a kind deed and don't waste the food.
Anyway we made our way up to the giant Buddha, took the required photos and visited the exhibition hall they had. My friend discovered that Anita Mui was actually interred there! For the rest of the time, I spent it contemplating how many people can't tell the difference between Taoism and Buddhism. I don't know about Hong Kong, but this situation is RAMPANT in Singapore. So many Taoist do not know they are Taoists but instead claim they are Buddhist. That's fine and dandy... but when you hear some of the comments they make.... that makes you really want to laugh in their faces.
The clouds really hang just over you here.
Very nice place. I wish I could visit a Taoist temple like this....
Also, this is a shot for you Chinese Orchestral people.....
The sign explained
At the end of the temple excursion, we took a bus back to the ferry terminal, however, we had just missed the ferry and would have to wait about an hour for the next one. A suggestion was made to take a bus to thearea near the Airport and try to take the MTR. In order to pull this off, the bus ride would have to be shorter then the wait for the ferry, and that's not counting the MTR ride against the ferry ride. It really felt like The Amazing Race where one tries alternative transport in a bid to beat the timing by just a bit. By my calculations however, I think we ould have been better off waiting for the ferry, but hey, it was fun triapsing around the place and seeing the local scenes.
Point to note. Transportation on Lantau Island is expensive. Make sure you have enough money on you or your octupus card before venturing further!! The bus trip to the temple costs 25 HKD (~5 SGD) one way, the bus ride to airport/city are costs about 20HKD so all in all, we probably spent about 150HKD (~SGD31) getting to and around Lantau Island alone.
Tomorrow is another day.
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(Backdated post from Singapore)
Today, we head to Lantau Island. We will be heading to Po Lin Temple, this is where that huge gigantic Buddha is located.
First, We have to figure out where to take the ferry from. We ended up at the Star Ferry pier. Please note that this is the WRONG pier if you want to go to Lantau Island. You have to go to another pier just next to it for the ferry trip. The cost of the ferry trip depends on whether it is an express ferry and also the peak/offpeak seasons. After about 30 mins, we reach Lantau Island, now we begin the exciting hunt for the bus to the temple... thankfully it was not that difficult. We made our way to the temple. In order to go up all the way to the giant Buddha you need to buy tickets. You may also purchase meal tickets at a total cost of 60HKD. I suggest skipping the meal there unless you are really hungry. The food...... sucks. Totally bland, tastless but ultra oily vegetarian food. Do a kind deed and don't waste the food.
Anyway we made our way up to the giant Buddha, took the required photos and visited the exhibition hall they had. My friend discovered that Anita Mui was actually interred there! For the rest of the time, I spent it contemplating how many people can't tell the difference between Taoism and Buddhism. I don't know about Hong Kong, but this situation is RAMPANT in Singapore. So many Taoist do not know they are Taoists but instead claim they are Buddhist. That's fine and dandy... but when you hear some of the comments they make.... that makes you really want to laugh in their faces.
The clouds really hang just over you here.
Very nice place. I wish I could visit a Taoist temple like this....
Also, this is a shot for you Chinese Orchestral people.....
The sign explained
At the end of the temple excursion, we took a bus back to the ferry terminal, however, we had just missed the ferry and would have to wait about an hour for the next one. A suggestion was made to take a bus to thearea near the Airport and try to take the MTR. In order to pull this off, the bus ride would have to be shorter then the wait for the ferry, and that's not counting the MTR ride against the ferry ride. It really felt like The Amazing Race where one tries alternative transport in a bid to beat the timing by just a bit. By my calculations however, I think we ould have been better off waiting for the ferry, but hey, it was fun triapsing around the place and seeing the local scenes.
Point to note. Transportation on Lantau Island is expensive. Make sure you have enough money on you or your octupus card before venturing further!! The bus trip to the temple costs 25 HKD (~5 SGD) one way, the bus ride to airport/city are costs about 20HKD so all in all, we probably spent about 150HKD (~SGD31) getting to and around Lantau Island alone.
Tomorrow is another day.
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