hong kong: tian tan buddha

Because our guided tour will not yet start until the second day of stay in Hong Kong, I decided that we first make a trip to Ngong Ping Village while we were on our own. Since I was the one who booked this trip (who else) blindly for my parents (I booked them without them knowing, not as a surprise, but because I had to catch an airfare promo quickly haha), I racked my brain on the whole planning stage.

It was my first out-of-country trip with the two of them, so the pressure to keep things on the itinerary tidy was ON. And to make it a bit easier for me, I booked the cable car trip online, days before our departure. Thanks to my traveling gods and angels, I have managed to bring us from the hotel to the MTR, to the cable car, and finally to this village smoothly (you can see here that I can't help but to feed the pressure of making my parents see that they have nurtured an awkward but decent [still questionable] human being who can travel outside the comforts of her own country.).

One of the Offering of Six Devas

One thing that I've liked about Hong Kong, as most people did I guess, is you can have the best of both worlds -- the bustling side, and the calm side. These sides, and the transition between them were both apparent in our MTR ride from our hotel in Yau Ma Tei to Tung Chung station, which is the end point of the orange line.

We went on the 268-step climb to the Tian Tan Buddha (aka Giant Buddha) slowly -- because I did not see any other option than doing so haha (a wobbly non-athletic person can come up with many excuses as you know), and also because the trees and plants on the way to and from the top are also worth the attention as the giant destination was.

The Po Lin Monastery viewed from the steps of Tian Tan Buddha