Off to See The Buddha

Yesterday, as per normal-I got sort of a later start at the hostel. After getting dressed and typing away at my computer, I set off to see the giant Buddha in Hong Kong, which is on the same island I visited the other day-Lantau Island.

This time I took the MTR/metro to the same station that I was at the other day, when I returned from the walk to nature. (the station with the good but cheap sushi). I bought one pack of sushi for around $3.00, and then waited in line to take the cable car for 45 minutes.

Once getting on the cable car-with a friendly Chinese family who had a talkative 4 year old (today was the 4 year old's birthday and he spoke better English than most American 4 year old's), the cable car took off for the 25 minute ride, up the hill, past the Hong Kong International Airport, down another hill, up another hill, and down another hill, where the Buddha came into sight, and finally to an authentic Chinese Village (complete with 7-11, Starbucks, and Subway), and next to the Buddha. 268 steps leads to the tallest bronze Buddha statue in the world, Of course, I bought a ticket for around $15.00, which included a vegetarian lunch at the nearly Buddhist monastery, and climbed all of the steps to the Buddha. I found you can walk into the Buddha, where there was a small exhibit on the Buddha, which was built in 1993. The exhibit showed a dedication by the Chinese Government, which proclaimed freedom of religion long ago, and therefore respected the Buddhists (according to the proclamation).

After the Buddha, I walked over to the monastery for lunch, which was a giant pot of rice, some mushrooms, and other vegetables. Plus there was a hearty bowl of soup. (I could have paid around $20.00 and received a deluxe lunch, but this was quite filling). I than walked around, observing Buddhist's praying, and then up a path, which is called a Wisdom Path, which consisted of 38 monuments from the Heart Sutra, which are words of wisdom.

I rested for a while at the top of the path, and then walked back to the cable car. It was already around 6:00 pm, and the sun was going down, I took the cable car back, over the lights of the airport. Then I had 3 big packs of Sushi again at the Metro station, and took the metro back.