This was to be our day to explore some new sights. We met Jonathan and Karen at 9:15 am. and headed out for our adventure to Lantau Island. We cabbed it to Hong Kong island to catch the ferry. The attraction was The Big Buddha, and the Monastery. After 35 minutes we arrived. One thing you always are aware of here is how quickly you can be out of the urban and into the countryside. It is quite remarkable. Lantau is a mountainous island, which is quite large. We didn't know what was ahead, as none of us had done any research. What unfolded was one of the best days yet.
When you are in a cab here, the cabbie is usually on the phone the entire trip. This cabbie sped through and up winding switchback roads for another 30 minutes, tossing us around the cab while he spoke to someone in rapid Mandarin. Suddenly we were at the base of the big Buddha. There were huge crowds here, and we wandered up a corridor lined with stone statues of Chinese zodiac figures, to the stairway to the Buddha. Ok, this is when I was glad I had been in the gym so much - as there were about 300 stone stairs to climb. This was not an easy climb. Many people were clearly struggling up, including some overweight young people who were literally gasping for air. I am happy to say we all did it without too much difficulty. Of course Karen, who is the most fit, did it easily. Those making the trek were a mix of other Amsterdam passengers, locals, and the devout, including monks. As we approached the top, the smell of flowers wafted over us. We decided later that this came from all the blossom trees on the hill beside the steps.
We have been to Christ the Redeemer in Rio, but I must say this was just as affecting. This lovely Buddha gazes out over the landscape and seems to offer everyone who comes the opportunity to find peace. I cannot explain it but we were all affected by the feeling here.
We descended to the ground, and spent a half hour drinking water, eating ice cream, dried mangoes and ginger. Then we wandered over to the Monastery. They are building a very very large extension to the old one. Here there were many devout worshippers who were burning incense that could be bought in nearby stalls, on burning platforms set up along the entrance, and at the exits from the actual monastery. Many people were filing into the temple to kneel in front of the 3 golden buddhas encased in glass. On the alter before them were huge displays of gorgeous flowers. A donation box was outside, presumably to help with the new addition. I noted that we had observed this same devotion last year in India, and that we seldom see it in North America.
We wanted to ride on the cable car, but didn't understand how that was going to work. Would we do a round trip, or where would it drop us? Jeff had also told us not to miss an original fishing village on the north shore, call Tao-O. The girl in the ticket wicket suggested we go to Tao first. Thank goodness. What a serendipitous delight this side trip was. We taxied there in about 10 minutes. Although the parking lot was full of tour buses, the village was a working fishing village, which really is a throwback to old China. The houses are built on stilts lining the river that goes out the sea. We turned a corner and we were in a market of fish, fresh, and dried, fruits and vegetables, dried herbs, coffee shops etc. Over the bridge we found even more shops, and we all delighted in peering into baskets of things that were stranger than strange, asking questions to find out what they were. Karen gets the bravery award for eating here. She bought a scallop in garlic that a woman was cooking on a little stove. The rest of us bought bananas, then had a freshly made donut and pineapple tart. The village is dirty and many of the little shops were horrors. I took a picture of a kitchen in a herbal shop that looked like it had never been cleaned or tidied for centuries. The people were all working very hard and seemed immune to our curiosity, except in one place where a group of men were gambling and playing ma jong, and they shouted at me to stop taking their picture. I had crossed a line, and felt badly about it.
Back we went in a taxi to the cable car, where we bought a ticket on the "crystal car", which had a glass floor. Wow - what a surprise this was. Spectacular views! This cable car took us over Lantau island to the other side, passing over the new Hong Kong airport built on reclaimed land, and over the harbour where people were clamming right next to the airport, out in the tidal waters, over the bridge to Hong Kong. By now there was the usual smog hanging in the air over the city. We jumped in yet another cab with a woman cabbie who was one of the most ambitious we have ever seen. Her dashboard had 9 phones and a sort of switchboard device that she had rigged up, and small tablets. She was driving through the new throughway at breakneck speed, talking on one or more of these phones loudly.
Although she dropped us at the wrong terminal, it was only a short walk for Barry and me to go to pick up my new glasses, and for Jonathan and Karen to walk back to the ship.
We got back, quickly showered and changed and met them again for an evening out the Peking House restaurant, where we had an elegant Asian meal, finished off with walking through the deluxe mall, ogling all the merchandise. Karen and Jonathan remarked that on their walk back in the afternoon, there were huge lineups outside Chanel and many others - only so many shoppers are permitted in at once, but one guest who was born in Hong Kong told them these people often dropped $40,000 per trip. There is tremendous wealth here and it is in evidence all around us. But there is also tremendous poverty too, and I wonder how many of the new generation will be willing to be street sweepers like former generations who keep this city spotlessly clean, by sweeping and hosing the streets and parks down every day.
Crash in bed ready for yet another day in Hong Kong tomorrow.
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