On the road to Big Buddha

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Hong Kong is the sui generis of eccentric lifestyles. Talk about cramming into a train and a city that never sleeps and Hong Kong would most likely be no.1 on the list. However, an energetic city like this is not to be taken for granted. Among the crowds and craze, one can always find a characteristic about this city to fall in love with.

I, for one, love the food, shopping and convenience this city provides. 90% of my diet is Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. Maybe I'll try Thai tomorrow. I haven't chose to eat "Western" food because I need to savo(u)r every minute I have with homemade Chinese food. We do, however, have an electic choice of restaurant such as the Belgian restaurant I went to the first week I arrived. There's pretty good Greek food, German, Russian, Indian, Lebanese etc. I went to a Russian restaurant once - ask me how authentic it is? I can't tell you but I can tell you it was a fun experience.

Speaking of convenience, Hong Kong recently built a route for cable cars to Nnong Ping where the Po Lin monestry was built in 1942 - a top destination for prayers and tourists - and also a place where the Big Buddha lives. The Big Buddha is the world's largest Buddha statue. Made with bronze, it is 34 metres tall and weighs 250 tonnes.

Ten years ago, public transportation was how people got up to Nnong Ping but it took longer. The place was also looked more of a shamble than what the tourism board would dub as the winning tourist attraction. I personally think leaving the way things were gives it more character but that's how things goes. Winnie, her colleague and I took the cable car to Nnong Ping to see for ourselves. Although the common area has been commercialised, the monestry and Buddha has been left alone giving people the legitimate Hong Kong cultural experience.

Oh and the local snack store is still intact. They make all these HK snacks the traditional way and even I have never seen it before.

It is absolutely a place worth seeing but I will warn you, if you are afraid of heights then the cable car may not be the best option to travel.

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Photos

Line to the cable car
Going back to "downtown" Hong Kong

Cable car of the world
China

Cable car of the world
Switzerland