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Published: February 21st 2014
Big Buddha at Ngong PingAfter a long and tiring journey which involved two flights and a lengthy stopover in Sydney airport, we arrived back in Hong Kong on Wednesday evening at about 11.00 pm. Next morning, after a refreshing sleep, we decided to try our hand, using Penny Pathfinder skills, at getting to see the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. To get there we had to use the underground railway system, which involved purchasing a ticket from a machine, all in Chinese , and changing lines part way through the journey. Despite these obstacles we arrived at the right place and joined a very long queue to get the Ngong Ping 360 cable car. This cable car takes 25 minutes to get to the top of the mountain and is 4 miles long. It was well worth it, the views on the way up were spectacular and the village of Ngong Ping was very pretty. We decided not to pay extra for the crystal cable car as it had a glass floor!!!!!! Not for the faint hearted. We did the reverse journey and arrived at our hotel feeling very pleased with ourselves at managing this adventure.
Friday, and bolstered by
The Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macau shaped like a lotus flower our success of Thursdays adventure we decided to try our hand at getting to Macau using the Turbo Jet ferry boats. We managed to sort out how to buy the tickets and remembered we needed our passports and set off. The crossing took about an hour and when we arrived we were met by a cluster of sales people all trying to sell us trips. We decided to use a private taxi service and negotiated a good deal to hire a car and an English speaking driver to take us all around Macau for all of the five hours we were there. The driver was brilliant and took us to all the Main sites as well as lots of back streets all with a commentary about the history of the area and of all the buildings. He left us to walk around at our leisure and waited until we had finished at each sight. Macau has a large gambling area based on Las Vegas casinos and has expanded dramatically in the last ten years. It still retains a strong Portuguese influence in its buildings and manages to maintain the old and the new quite well together. There were lots of
The Po Lin Monastery at Ngong Pingnarrow streets with cobbled areas, and of course lots of shops. We caught the ferry back having had a great day exploring another aspect of this fascinating part of the world.
Tomorrow we are going on a trip around Hong Kong harbour on a boat and then we set off for home at 11.30 pm on Saturday night and after a 12 hour flight arrive at Heathrow at 4.50 on Sunday morning. Our big adventure comes to an end and what a memorable trip it has been. Not a day has been disappointing and we have enjoyed every second. One of the best parts about going on these trips is getting back home to be with our family again. The End.
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Jo
non-member comment
Safe trip home
Hi Penny and C had. What an adventure! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about all your adventures and seeing the photographs! Sounds like you have both had the most amazing time. We leave for Oman in a couple of hours so I wonder if our planes may cross on the skies?? Have a safe trip home and we will be in touch soon. Lots of love Jo and Graham xx