Since the weather wasn’t too hot, I figured I would take a ride out to Lantau Island and visit the Giant Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. I wanted to go since a cable car system was finished since the last time I was in Hong Kong. I had seen a show about the construction of the cable car system and towers and had heard about some of the problems initially (including cars getting stuck). But it had been about a year since I had heard about any of those problems, so I figured I would give it a go.
When you get off the MTR stop at Tung Chung and walk over to the Ngong Ping ticket area, there is one large line for everyone unless you have already bought tickets. Since it was early in the morning (10AM or so), it wasn’t too bad. You wait in one line to get to the ticket counter and then you are given a wide choice of different packages and options. Basic round-trip on the cable car is $115HK (about $15US).
But if you do go, I would highly recommend the $153HK option which includes a Crystal Cabin ride on the way to Lantau Island, and then a regular cable car trip on the way back. My experience with tourist attractions like the Sears Tower, Empire Building, Eiffel Tower, etc. is that the line is always a problem on the way up, but much less so when you are leaving. I don’t know why this is the case since all of the people have to leave also, but it just works out that way. The Crystal Cabin has its own line which allows you to cut in front of everyone else. So in the picture above, I got to cut in front of all of those people.
There is also a warning I have to give though. You can’t be afraid of heights. Since your ride will look like this for about 20 minutes:
Each car fits 8 very comfortably. In my car on the way to Lantau, I had three Americans (two Korean-Americans and one Chinese-American, all from Seattle) and two Spanish couples who were altogether and spoke no English. I actually had to help them out in Spanish since they had an issue with one of their tickets and I translated with the staff at Tung Chung. Everyone was very nice and just awestruck by the views. One of the Korean women had on these cute shoes, so I had to include them into a photo.
While the Buddha is great, I think many people don’t pay enough attention to the Po Lin Monastery that is there also. Very beautiful place that is going thru an extremely large expansion.
In this picture above, the smaller building on the right is the current structure. Everything on the left side is to be built. Also on the sign, you can see the price of various donations you can make and what you get for each dollar amount. Since I had just won a considerable amount playing poker in Macau, I thought it would be bad karma if I didn’t make a donation, so I bought a brick for $200HK.
Since I had been before I didn’t feel the need to pay the separate admission to climb up to the Buddha. But if you do go, you have an option of buying a meal with your admission fee. There are two meal options (both vegetarian). The first one is a credit for some items from a food court. I advise skipping this option since the food isn’t that good.
The second option is a little more expensive and I did it last time I went with my cousin, sisters, and dad. It is a banquet-style meal. Since the meals are made by the Buddhist monastery, all of the items are vegetarian and it was one of the best vegetarian meals I have had in my life. Same conclusion for my dad and he is just about a carnivore. I would love to eat like that every day if possible. The bigger the group you go with the better, since you get the same number of dishes as you have people, so bigger groups get more variety.
Here is a picture of the bus stop to the Po Lin Monastery at Tung Chung if you don’t want to take the cable car or want to save some money (I think it was something like $20HK one-way). You see a totally different set of scenery and it is pretty cool. Takes about 45 minutes each way. But don’t go this route if you get car sick at all. The roads are extremely windy and there are a ton of switchbacks.
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