Lantau Island - Tai O, Big Buddha & Ngong Ping Cable Car

Hello all!

I'm not as exhausted today. We went on a guided tour to Lantau Island so someone else showed us around and transported us everywhere which meant a lot less time in the heat!!

This morning we set off to walk to the meeting point and stopped at our favourite little bakery on the way. We've been buying breakfast here every morning and trying all sorts of interesting rolls and things. Today we had a roll with blueberries, cranberries and cream cheese. Was delish!!

We found the meeting point and waited for our bus. Whilst waiting we noticed lots of kids walking to school. We've noticed that the school uniforms here either make kids look like they work in an asylum or look like a nurse from about the 1960s. They don't look very practical or comfortable and the boys' pants are usually white! I'm glad the school I work at has much nicer uniforms. 

We got picked up a 8.30 and drove to a meeting point where other buses were supposedly bringing the other people from our tour. This didn't happen for quite some time though. Annoyingly, we sat and waited for close to 40 minutes, and we began to wonder if we would have been better off simply going to Lantau by ourselves. 

Once we finally met the group we continued wondering the same thing. Our guide seemed very abrupt and disinterested and the group had some very sullen looking people - a Spanish woman honestly looked like being on the tour was torture. She had the best 'resting bitch face' (excuse the language - sorry nan and pa - that's a thing I promise!) I had ever seen!!

We drove to the ferry terminal and caught a ferry to Lantau which took about half an hour. Mum and I watched with horror as a man ate hot glutinous rice and drank a steaming hot coffee as the boat rocked. Somehow he didn't spill any of it or burn himself!

Once we got to Lantau the tour started to improve. The guide told us her name was Crystal and started telling us facts about our surroundings. Lantau island is the largest of Hong Kong's approximately 260 islands and is twice the size of Hong Kong island (where we are staying) at 147 square kilometres. 10,000 people live in Mui Wo (the main village) and lots of these people catch the ferry to HK city every day for work. We kept driving and saw a turtle crossing the street and lots of ox sitting by the roadside. 

Our first stop was Cheung Sha Beach. No time to swim but mum and I had a look around and dipped our feet in. Water temperature was 24 degrees which from what I've been told was 14 degrees more than the air temperature in Melbourne today (sorry guys!!). It was 31 here again today (sorry again!). 

Then we stopped at Tai O, a small fishing village. A lady I used to work with had recommended we go here and I hadn't known our tour stopped here! We walked through the village and saw some very smelly markets selling various dried fish parts, puffer fish and God knows what else! Then we went on a quick boat trip to see some houses on stilts. We visited a temple that was built in 1488 and was extremely hot inside. 

Next, we visited the Tian Tan Buddha (aka the 'Big Buddha'). It was amazing! 32m tall and made of bronze, and surrounded by the beautiful mountains and lush greenery of Lantau Island. I think most people ('myself included until I did some research) picture Hong Kong as a huge concrete jungle and that's it, but there's so much more to it than that. The Buddha looked quite mystic and old, but I'm actually older than the statue! It was erected in 1993. We started at the top and went into the memorial hall, where Buddhist people who had passed away's names and photos were up. Some were covered with red paper and Crystal told us these are people with no family who want their name up there, so they pre-purchase the name and photo while they're alive. Bit morbid if you ask me! 

Then we walked around the Buddha. It faces towards the temple of Tian Tan in Beijing. Crystal had made a big deal about how many steps there were and was adamant we wouldn't have time to climb. I didn't see the point of coming all this way and not climbing, as the best views of the Buddha are actually as you start to walk further away from it. Turned out it was only 260 odd steps, and mum and I climbed all the way down and then back up again with ease, not even panting at all. She got a bit funny with us when we told her on the bus, but to be honest she was a bit funny in general, hot and cold! The whole tour group was. No cohesion or introductions or anything. Mum and I were each very glad we had the other!!

We then caught the bus back down the hill and walked towards the Po Lin Monastery. Here we had a vegetarian (delicious!) lunch. Again no one in the tour spoke, very weird group. Mum and I went walking in our free time afterwards and we went to the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which was lined with (you guessed it!) ten thousand small Buddhas. 

We walked to our meeting point in Ngong Ping Village and meandered through the tacky souvenir shops and other tourists until we reached the cable car. This was included in our tour price and was a real highlight. The sun even came out at this point (no rain today but a bit cloudy) and we had some amazing views of the Buddha, islands and mountains. The cable car was 5.7km long and lasted for 25 minutes, at the end of which we had a Birdseye view of the airport. Once we finished we got back onto a bus to take us back to the city. Not wanting a repeat of this morning, we told the driver we would get off at the first stop and decided to make our way back from there. The traffic was hideous and our hotel was the furthest away. So we looked in H&M and a couple of other shops and then caught the metro back. Now we are resting in the room and are considering heading out to Victoria Peak late tonight if the weather permits and we aren't too tired. 

So another great day, just a bit of a weird tour group. But I've had so many amazing tour groups that I guess I was due for a strange one!!!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox 

Walking tour, HK Museum of History, Temple Street Night Market

Hi all!

Another big day! We had a bit of a lie in due to yesterday being so crazy and set off about 9.30am. Firstly we had a quick look at Chungking Mansions, a random and seedy looking complex with lots of different shops and businesses. We were considering staying at a hotel in there and after visiting are very glad we didn't!!

Next we had a look around inside the Cultural Centre. It was beautifully air conditioned and we read about some upcoming shows. We had a look around for the 'Avenue of Stars', but due to improvement works it's closed for the next couple of years. 

At 11am we started a free walking tour. Our guide's name was Tiffany and she was really great, but had a bad habit of walking off way too fast from the group! She did tell us lots of interesting information though. Our starting point was the Kowloon Clock Tower, it is one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong. It was proposed in 1910 but delayed due to the war and due to this wasn't finished until 1916. It used to be attached to a beautiful train station but this was damaged badly during WWII and the Japanese occupation. Though fixed afterwards, it was still demolished in 1976 except for the tower. 

We passed the cultural centre which Charles and Diana opened in 1989. Apparently before 2006 people in Hong Kong had to visit a cultural centre or similar to get married. But nowadays they can get married wherever they like. 

Tiffany told us Victoria Peak (which we visited on Monday) has over 6 million visitors per year. Apparently it costs $80,000 Hong Kong dollars (approx. $14,000 Aussie) per metre squared for land up there. Sheesh!!! 

Hong Kong is named so because 'Hong' means "fragrant" and 'Kong' means "harbour". Hong Kong used to be a fishing village and traded fragrant goods. Tiffany also mentioned Feng Shui to do with the harbour and various buildings in the harbour. This has to do with wind and water and the fact that these should still be able to pass through or the area in which you build. I also found out that the same guy who designed the HSBC building designed Millennium Bridge in London!

Tiffany took us past Chungking Mansions again. She told us about its dark past of drugs, rape and murder and mum and I became increasingly glad we didn't stay in that area. Apparently it's a lot better these days but I much prefer our area - chilled out Causeway Bay :) She also said 130 different nationalities either live or work there. 

Our next stop was the 'Garden of Stars' which is where all the handprints and statues from the avenue have been temporarily relocated during the improvement works. There was a Bruce Lee statue, but overall it wasn't very exciting. "Gardens" here also generally consist of open space mostly paved with concrete. No nice grass to sit down on or anything like that!!

We continued through Tsim Sha Tsui and stopped at a street food stall. We tried fish balls, a chicken and mushroom bun and a mango mochi (whole mango pieces inside rice flour dough). All were delicious!! Unfortunately it started absolutely tipping down rain at this point, but we didn't let that stop us. We continued on and walked through a Dai pai dong (an open dining area) and kept going. 

Our last stop on the tour was the Heritage Hotel 1881. Even though it was completed in 1884, they put 1881 in the name because that's the year works began on the building, and in Chinese the word for number four sounds like 'death'. Apparently this is why at home houses with number 4 in them don't sell to Chinese people, they believe it is unlucky to buy them! Anyway. The hotel was the former marine police headquarters, and the Japanese navy used it as an air raid shelter during WWII. 

We said goodbye to Tiffany and our group (which included two other Melbournian teachers who knew two people I studied with at uni!!) and had a quick look in some shops. Then we walked to Kowloon park. You couldn't hear any traffic noises which was quite amazing as it was in the middle of the city, but was also partly due to the crazy cicadas here that are so loud you would think it's a chainsaw or something!!! We found it strange that there was a McDonald's in the park, but admired the extremely cool public pool that meandered it's way around the park underneath bridges etc. 

Next we walked to the Hong Kong Museum of History. On the way we had to stop at Starbucks for a fruit smoothie as the rain/humidity/heat had zapped my energy so badly at this point that I felt really strange. We rested for a bit and then walked the rest of the way to the museum. As we approached the torrential rain began again! But we made it inside and were really happy to find out that admission was free on Wednesdays - BONUS! :)

The museum was fantastic and I loved the layout. It reminded me of my favourite museum in London - the London's City Museum. Why was this my favourite? Because it was set out in the most logical way possible - in a one way, chronologically ordered route with lots of visuals and rooms made to look like what you were reading about (eg a ship or a jail). And the Hong Kong Museum of History was very similar, and very extensive!!

The museum opened in 2001 and comprises 8 galleries and 7000 square metres of exhibitions. We started off in an area about the formation of the landscape, the weather etc. The oldest rock in Hong Kong that has been found was 400 million years old, and we read that that weather drops to a 16 degree average during winter. I really can't imagine that!! We also read that 80% of Hong Kong's rainfall occurs between May and September - after today, that I can believe!!

The fourth gallery was about Hong Kong folk culture. We read about different ethnic groups from the 1100s; Punti (local people), Hakka (guest people who migrated later), boat dwellers who lived at sea and Hokklo (fisher folk). This hall had many brightly coloured temples, statues, festival props etc. The most interesting were the huge bun mountains that people in Cheung Chau create during their bun festival to climb up and eat!! They were massive! We watched a short video about festivals and traditions and found out that our station 'Tin Hau' is named after the queen of heaven. 

The next couple galleries had to do with why the British took over Hong Kong. Long story short, the British loved Chinese tea and were buying a lot of it but the Chinese weren't fans of any British products. The British sourced opium from British East India and started trading that with the Chinese. What occurred next was a massive trade imbalance, as 4000 chests were traded in the early 19th century, and this soon rose to 35,000 chests in 1838. The imbalance meant China were spending a lot more money than England and this drained China's economy. Addiction was a huge problem and up to 10 million Chinese people were addicted to opium during this time, with widespread health and economical detriments. The Chinese destroyed many chests of opium that were shipped over in June 1839 and this along with a Chinese man being murdered by some drunk British sailors meant that hostility levels rose. The opium wars were the result and these eventually led to Britain securing Hong Kong Island (after the first Opium War) and Kowloon (after the second one). The British fostered a division and created a Chinese 'elite' class, but the people of Hong Kong would later realise this was the least of their problems...

During World War Two the Japanese bombed Hong Kong on 8th December 1941. Hong Kong was caught unawares and surrendered on 25th December the same year. Japan occupied Hong Kong for three years and eight months and during this time there were massive food shortages, an education crisis (just 4,000 children attended school during this time), the currency was replaced and virtually became worthless and many other problems. The occupation ended when the USA dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, followed three days later by another in Nagasaki. Then Japan surrendered. But the damage was done, the occupation had caused mass starvation and an increase in the cost of living in Hong Kong by over 500%. 

Once the British were back in power, measures were put in place to try and eliminate racial division. Government positions were offered to Chinese people, and Chinese people were allowed to live up on the peak. However, food rationing remained unbelievably until 1955. Education numbers rose dramatically to 420,000 students and the population also grew dramatically. This was partly due to the Japanese having left, but also to a civil war erupting in mainland China. 

In 1898 for some reason (after the museum visit and some googling I'm still unsure why!) Emperor Qing leased the 'New Territories' part of Hong Kong (everything north of Kowloon) to the British for 99 years. This is why on July 1, 1997 Hong Kong was put back under Chinese rule. The British decided it was too complicated and illogical to only give back the new territories. 

The museum was fantastic and all set out to look like a village for the exhibitions about the British and Japanese. We walked through shops, houses etc and found it very easy to navigate and learn about the history of Hong Kong. 

Our last stop for the day was the Temple Street Night Market. On our way there we tried a delicious Hong Kong speciality - egg tarts. When we arrived, we walked through the souvenir stalls being chased by shop owners and eventually sat down in the street food section for some dinner. We ordered a beef and broccoli dish as well as a noodle dish. I was very proud of myself because I used chopsticks for the whole meal. Two reasons I was proud: 1) I'm normally hopeless with chopsticks and 2) for the past three weeks I've had a very sore wrist/hand that has limited me using my right hand, but I managed to use chopsticks and it didn't hurt very much! Little victories! Our dinner was delicious and we also had a much deserved local beer each which was massive. Then we had one more look at the souvenirs and each bought a framed picture and a keyring with our names written in Chinese. The lady hand wrote mine as she had run out of 'Claire' key rings. Once finished she turned to me and said "you polite - I have gift for you!" She gave me a magnet for free and explained to us in broken English that a lot of people are rude to her when she tries to sell her products. So there you go, it pays to be nice! :)

We have had an earlyish night back in the hotel and are very excited for our day trip to the Lantau Island Giant Buddha tomorrow. 

Talk then!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox