Lantau Island China. Situated at the mouth of the Peal River Lantau Island is the largest island in Hong Kong with an area of around 145 kms - apart from the 85 foot high Giant Buddha statue - Tian Tan Buddha - the Island contains Hong Kong's Disneyland and also Hong Kong's International Aiport. Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha are open to the public between the hours of 10:00 and 17:45
Getting to Lantau Island. If you are staying at Kowloon you have to take the Star Ferry across
to Hong Kong Island - then take the Lantau Ferry which leaves from just along the jetty. Once at Mui Wo the bus station is right next to the terminal ferry with buses
leaving frequently for the Monastery and the Big Buddha - you need to catch bus
no.2. The ferry option makes quite an
enjoyable hour long way to get over to Lantau Island with - smog permitting - really good views of both Hong Kong
Island and it's huge skyscrapers and the Kowloon side whose skyscrapers anywhere else would be equally impressive. There are also loads of boats crossing and going through the Victoria Harbour area from junks to ferries
to small container ships - this waterway is so busy that it's almost like watching a "boat motorway" at times.
Another way to get to Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha is via MTR - this is
on the Tung Chung Line from Hong Kong - get off at Tung Chung Station and then
take bus 23 to Ngong Ping.
Po Lin Monastery - also known as the "Buddhist Kingdom in the South" - was built in 1920 by three Zen masters and is an international Buddhist retreat. The Monastery is really colourfull and impressive with the many dragons and other Chinese mythical figures painted on the walls and ceilings - it's easy to take lots of photographs around and inside the building.
Once you have visited the monastery it is not too difficult to spot the
Big
Buddha - this impressive statue was completed on the 29th December 1993
which also marked the birthday of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. You have to pay a small entrance fee but this does include the right to
a free vegetarian meal once you finsihed looking round. The 268 steps of
climbing up to the top is quite
significant if the weather is hot and/or humid but well worth it of course with
excellent views across the island.
When back down the steps make sure you retain your entrance ticket - head
back to the Monastery and you will find on it's left a vegetarian cafe where
your ticket entitles you to a meal and a drink. Actually this vegetarian meal
plus a nice sweet was really delicious - heaped plate full and most tasty.
The plan was then to head over to Tai O and the bus for this fishing village leaves on the road leading out from the bus terminal
(not at the bus terminal) at a bus stop on the left hand side of the
road out.
The Chinese fishing town of Tai O is situated on the Northwest of Lantau Island and is over 300 years old - it has quite a few really interesting houses particularly because they are built on wooden stilts out in the water - there is also a fish market on it's narrow main street selling amongst other things salted fish and shrimp paste.
You can easily wander around the side streets for some time just picking up the atmosphere of the place - the various waterways, fishing boats and stilt houses (pangwu).
From Tai O a frequent bus service takes you back over the island to the ferry at Mui Wo. However if time permits do not just head back to Hong Kong, instead walk out inland alongside the river - apart from lots of wildlife on the river itself you also soon reach the centre.
By the bridge there are several paths marked out to follow - for instance if you continue on you can walk out into some pleasant countryside and then on to the old village - along here we saw many butterflies and birds.
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