Peter had
set the alarm last night to ensure that we woke up in time to leave the house with Anupam so we could get out on our day trip we had planned. I woke up about 30 minutes before the alarm so I decided to get up and ready and write some things down before I forgot. Everyone else was already up so I played with Isha some and talked a little bit. I wanted to call home but it would be about 7:30pm on Wednesday back in Florida and I knew the children and mom should have been at
church. Once we had eaten breakfast and were all ready to get going we headed on our trip. We took a bus to the train station and then took the train to Tung Chung on Lantau Island. From there we took a Crystal Cable Car that had a clear bottom and was kind of scary but not too bad. We walked around Gnong Ping for a little bit before meeting our tour guide
and taking a coach to Tai O. Tai O is an old fishing village that used to be the lead supplier for fish and salt to China but has since kind of dried up. I think it is the only place in China that still has the older stilt houses and fishing boats everywhere. The coach ride over was really interesting, our guide "Luna New Year" told us many interesting facts about the cable cars and the land. While we were
driving along the rode I saw a huge ox and thought maybe it was a statue because it was right along the pavement on the side walk and just standing there. Peter didn't see it but in just a minute we both saw another one eating the bushes and then another one wandering around. There weren't any people along the paths and really no fields for cows or anything so it was quite unusual for us. When the coach dropped us off in Tai O we walked through a lot of markets selling dried fish and then went into a Temple. Our guide told us all about the
temple and the rituals that are performed as well as the offerings. We followed her to a few more stilt houses and then Peter and I walked around a bit on our own until it was time to meet again to go back to Gnong Ping. Everywhere in Tai O screams poverty and everything was dirty with trash from construction sites and torn down buildings just piled around places on the walking paths. You wouldn't be able to drive a car there if you wanted to because the streets are far too narrow and everyone either walked or rode a bicycle. Everything smelled
like fish and it didn't matter if you were by the water or not. Lots of restaurants have tanks out front with live fish and you are supposed to tell them which one you want to eat and they take it out and cook it for you. I was interested in eating lunch there but everything was written in Cantonese and I didn't know what anything was. We headed back to Gnong
Ping on the coach and then walked over to Po Lin Monastery. The monastery was surrounded by great plants and flowers, some I had never seen before. The Po Lin Monastery is Hong Kong's largest Buddhist temple and was built in 1924. We walked around and inside the temple which was just one large room that was open to visitors but I think it closes to the public at 3:00 each day for the monks to gather and pray. There was one monk reading by himself when we got there. People were coming and going and a couple people knelt and prayed. I took a bunch of photos
of the really cool carvings on the outside pillars and of the things within the temple too. There was more to the building but I don't think it was open to the public. We walked down through the courtyard area again and then went to see the Tian Tan Buddha which sits atop a hill and has 260 steps to get up there. Today it was extremely cloudy and the clouds were really low so the view was terrible. I was disappointed because you really couldn't see anything. We ha
ve seen pictures of the Buddha that are nice and clear and you can see it miles away but even when we climbed all the way to the top you still couldn't make out his face or detailed features. We took a lot of pictures but I am not very happy with any of them. Peter and I headed back down which was much easier than the climb up and took a look at some of stores. Peter really wants to find something he can wear casually with jeans and he wants me to find some clothes too.
I saw a couple things I liked but Vandita told us where to shop with much better prices so we didn't spend any money there. We walked a bit and then stopped at some place that didn't have english writing so I don't know what it was called. We ordered a couple dishes of dumplings and spring rolls. Peter and I decided we were only going to use chopsticks which made for a very interesting meal. It probably took a lot longer than it should have but now we can say we did it! The food was pretty good but nothing I would definitely want to have a again.
After we finished the waitress brought Peter a cup of China tea, I tasted a sip but I am not really into tea and this one didn't have any sugar in it so I am not a good judge. We were both extrememly tired from all the walking before lunch but after we ate we got a bit more energy in us and were ready to go again. Peter did get a China tumbler from Starbucks and filled it with coffee so that gave him a good jump too. We stopped at a tea store and talked with the lady there. They had a large wooden instrument in the corner of the store called a Zither. The lady called another woman over and she sat down and started playing it. It was really neat to watch and of course Peter was very intrigued by it. Finally we got on the cable car to
go back to Tung Chung. We shared a car with a couple from England and their grown grandson. We had a great talk about previous travels and where we had already been on this trip. They were really funny and a very nice change up from the last two guys we shared a car with that didn't talk to us at all. On the way out of cable car drop off you walk through a souvenir shop so Peter stopped to pick up a funky looking Chinese Mountain Dew (his favorite drink back home).
I hate Mountain Dew but I had to take a sip when Peter said it tasted more citrusy than ours and I thought it tasted flat which Peter agreed with. On the way back to the train station in Tung Chung we went into a book store and found a copy of Lonely Planet Beijing. Perfect! We found our train and only took it to the next stop where we got off and onto another train to go to Disneyland Hong Kong. We weren't interested in going to the park but rather find a couple cool pins for the children's pin collections. Ticket prices were about $50, which is an awesome deal compared to Disney World's prices. We walked around the entrance area and took
several pictures then we went over to the shuttle buses and took one to the Disneyland Hotel which is pretty much exactly the same as Disney's Grand Floridian in Orlando. The shop was right inside so we walked all through it and found the trading pins. We looked at all of them and choose the coolest ones that said Disneyland Hong Kong on them, I think we ended up with about 9 overall. You can't find those pins back in the states so I wanted to make sure I had enough to go around. I know you can probably find them online but that's not as fun. We found our way back by taking the bus and then train followed by another train back to Central Hong Kong where we got off and took a final bus back up to the Peak.
It was a very long day and our feet and legs are tired. I went through the pictures we had taken and moved them onto my iPad and showed Vandita. When Anupam came home we ate dinner which Vandita had prepared. She made us authentic Indian food which was delicious but there was one plate that was little too spicy for me. Peter was in heaven and ate seconds or thirds of everything. He likes spicy but often has to settle for mild because the children and I are more sensitive to it. I think after this long day we will sleep in and maybe not do as much walking tomorrow.
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