Lantau Island

This past Sunday I went to Lantau Island with some of my housemates. It went Julia, Heiko, Dra, and Varena, who are all my housemates from Germany. We started out the day by taking the MTR (subway system) to a cable car, called the Ngong Ping 360. This cable car took us from Tung Chung to North Lantau Island. The ride took about 25 min.

 Once we got off the cable car we began our journey to the Giant Buddha. The Tin Tan Buddha was built in the 1990's and symbolises the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion. It is made of copper and stands 112ft tall. Once we reached the base of the Buddha we had to climb 268 steps of get to the statue.

Near the giant Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery, which we visited next. The main temple houses 3 bronze statues of the Buddha representing his past, present and future lives as well as many Buddhist scriptures. There is no meat or alcohol allowed anywhere on the monastery grounds, and there are signs posted everywhere saying 'No meat or alcohol,' which I thought was pretty funny. Needless to say there were not very many Americans spending a lot of time on the grounds :)
 Next we took a bus to TaiO, a historical fishing town. It has been dubbed 'the Venice of Asia' because many of the houses are on stilts along the waterways that run through the village. It is a very small fishing town. A lot less modernized than most of Hong Kong. It is one of the most 'rural' places I have been so far, without a McDonalds or Seven Eleven around every corner.  It is also known for its seafood, such as dried fish, which I saw (and smelled) a lot of.

We then took another bus across the island to Mui Wo for something to eat. We ate some Chinese food at a great place that had a deck on the water. We walked on the beach in Mui Wo for a bit before it got dark. We were all exhausted from site seeing the whole day so we took a back to Hong Kong Island around sunset.
It was great to do some more tourist stuff. As happy as I am to be adjusting to life here and start falling into a daily routine of work, I keep reminding myself not to get stuck in my comfort zone. I need to get out and see new things and experience the culture and take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.