Lantau Island and the Statue of Buddha

This weekend we decided to head to the biggest island in Hong Kong, Lantau Island. This large island, home to Hong Kong International Airport is also home to the Tian Tian Buddhist statue of the Buddha which sits atop a hill in a mountainous region of the island. The solid bronze statue of Buddha is one of the most impressive sights that I have seen since arriving in Hong Kong and the personable looking Deity dominates the skyline from a number of viewpoints in the region, as can be seen from the pictures from the cable car on our way up to the to top of the mountain.

A close-up of the Big Buddha

The statue is a famous sight of pilgrimage for many Buddhists all around the world, and you could tell that many of the people at the statue were deeply affected by being so close to the huge colossus. The features on the statute are supposed to represent the deity's personable nature and this is definitely obvious when you stand and take a close look at the bronze sculpture.

The Solid Bronze Statue of Buddha

 After heading back down from the statue were headed to the Po Lin Monestary which has grown massively since the building of the statue in 1993. This small buddhist enclave has swiftly become a major sight of pilgrimage, but I am pleased to say that it has still managed to withhold its bhuddist beliefs and core teachings. With our ticket to see the Buddha we we also given the chance to sample some authentic Buddhist vegetarian dim sum, and after trying to decide what to have, we both decided that the food alone was worth the price of the ticket let alone the chance to see the massive deity up close.

The 200 stairs to Buddha 

Inside Po Lin Monestary

Decorations around the Monestary

Buddha sitting atop the mountain

One of the 12 warrior kings that guard the Monestary with statue of Buddha in background

Buddha from the Cable Car

Cable Car Ride

Rather haunting image of our cable car trip up to see the statue

 Unfortunately, as with the growth of tourism around the monestary and statue, the people in power in HK have decided that it is necessary build a 'Disney Style' authentic Chinese village full of tourist and souvenir shops. This slightly patronising view of life in China was unfortunately the busiest spot of the day, so we headed straight through and back to the cable car to take us back down the mountain to the MTR station. (It was not until we researched our trip when we got home that we found out about the cable cars chequered past! See the article http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=46616&sid=14019242&con_type=3 I think we may have taken the bus up to the statue if we had read this before we left, as we were both nervous enough in the cable car without this prior knowledge.

There is also a pogo display team at the top of the hill doing stunts, and this seemed the perfect excuse to post a picture I got of one of the guys doing a 'backflip' on a pogo stick, needless to say pogo sticks have got a bit more technicl since I was a kid.

Crazy pogo-ing man!

 We have started to plan our future trips outside of HK and I will keep you posted as to other trips and tours we take. We are looking to get go Vietnam, Japan and Beijing when we get the chance.

 Will catch up again soon! J