Day 174: Lantau Island

Yesterday I decided to tackle Lantau Island in the southwest part of Hong Kong, near the airport. The area has a few notable landmarks, but is also just known for mostly empty wooded mountains and good hiking. My priority was seeing the sights, since I can do hiking in lots of places in the area. I took the metro out in the morning to Tung Chung, which is the only really built up part of the island. From there I got a local bus to take me on the winding narrow roads through the mountains to the village of Tai O on the opposite side.

As soon as I got off the bus in Tai O I was offered a boat tour to see the purple dolphins of the area. I'm normally a bit reluctant about things I'm approached with right after getting off a bus, but it cost like $2.50 CDN, so I figured there was no harm in trying. The boat ride took us part of the way down the central canal in Tai O's stilted fishing village, then out into the harbor. We didn't actually see any dolphins, but the trip out cutting through surf surrounded by mountains in a barely seaworthy boat was easily worth the price.

Once back in the town I went for a pretty long walk through the entire town and looping around the outer edge. It's a very cool town, as the central part is all makeshift houses and shops on stilts in the water and mud, all connected together by bridges and walkways.

From there I took the bus to Ngong Ping which is probably the most famouse part of the island. It contains the giant Tian Tan bronze Buddha (I'm getting quite the collection of giant Buddha visits) and the Po Lin monastery. The main temple is under renovation, but there is a smaller one out front you can visit, and of course, the Buddha. There is a staircase up to the Buddha, and while I didn't find it very challenging many others seem to, and the ice cream/soda shop built into the base was doing steady business. There were two Buddhist monks at the top eating chocolate ice cream bars which would have made an awesome picture, but I felt it would be a bit rude!

There was a trail around to the side pointing to the "Wisdom Path". I decided to walk along that, and got a good look at the surrounding woods and mountains. The Wisdom Path itself was a circle of large boards stuck into the ground saying things I can't read! I left the main path to work my way up to the top of the hill for a better view and just sat for awhile on some rocks enjoying the landscape.

I decided to hike from there back down to Tung Chung, which was about 8km away. It was pretty late in the afternoon though, so I hurried a bit to make sure I got back by dark. I got a bit lost towards the end when I was at the end of the city, but eventually got myself oriented properly and found my way back. Before heading back to Hong Kong island I decided to check out Citygate Outlets in Tung Chung. It's a shopping mall, but made up entirely of chain outlets and considerably cheaper. I ended up buying a Puma jogging shirt since I wanted something light and breatheable for all the humidity here. After I got some dinner at the food court, which was made up of pavilions of different types (mostly asian) of cuisine. I ended up getting a nice meal of Thai red curry beef. There was also a theater in the mall, and since I haven't gone to a movie since Scotland I decided to go see the new Resident Evil movie. It was pretty terrible, but fun just to get out and see something.

After that it was the long subway ride back to the hostel.