Day 2~Big Buddha

Since we were up at an incredibly early hour, we ordered room service for breakfast. Mickey waffles and pancakes for the boys and omelets. It was quite the spread. Then we burned off some energy in the maze before taking the shuttle bus to the Disneyland MTR station. We took the train to its one and only stop at Sunny Bay and transferred to another line to Tung Chung.



You have to love a subway car with Mickey Mouse shaped windows and hand grips, and Disney character statues!

At Tung Chung, it was a short walk to the Ngong Ping 360 Skyrail for a glass bottom cable car ride to Ngong Ping Village, Po Lin Monastery and Big Buddha.



The cable car ride is 5.7 km, and about 25 minutes long. It makes a couple of turns on the journey over the Tung Chung Bay and the mountains. I still can't believe we did this! But it was beautiful, and despite the haze, the view was spectacular.
We wandered around the village for a while and then stopped to watch the Shaolin Monks' kung fu display. The show was amazing, and the skills were impressive. Alex enjoyed seeing the monks perform, and we've been talking about earning different colors of belts in kung fu and how you have to practice a lot to become a master. It was good for him to see what years of practice leads to, and the monks are wonderful showmen too!

The men hanging upside down, were filling cups with water and then doing sit-ups to pour the water into the hanging buckets.


We continued on to the staircase leading to Big Buddha. Alex walked all the way to the top and Zachary walked more than half of the way. Once at the top, we were able to walk around the base of the statue and enjoy the beautiful view and the breeze.

Big Buddha is 79 feet tall and made of brass.

We strolled around the grounds of Po Lin Monastery and through the temples. They are in the process of building a new temple, and it is going to be very large. While we were walking, we smelled lots of incense and saw a few of the monks. As we were leaving, the monks began some prayer chants. Even among all of the tourist and shops, it was a peaceful place.


Before leaving the village, the boys tried out some of the Shaolin monk training exercises at stations throughout the village. This one, they came up with on their own!
On the cable car ride back down the mountain, we noticed a few people walking in the low tide mud flats of Tung Chung Bay. As we got further out over the water, we noticed a lot of people. We can only assume they were clamming.

We returned to the hotel via MTR and shuttle bus and went down for dinner, even though the boys wanted to go back to the pool. We would have gone to the pool afterward, but Alex fell asleep at the table! Zachary wasn't ready to sleep, so he and Phil went for a nice long walk. When they returned, Zachary was more than ready to go to sleep!