Hong Kong 2015 Day 3: Ngong Ping & Tai O

DAY 3: 2 DEC 2015

So it's another day trip today!

We planned to visit Lantau Island, in particular Ngong Ping followed by Tai-O.
To get to Ngong Ping, you can either take the cable car ride or the new lantau bus 23.
As the cable car was closed for maintenance, we had to take the bus to Ngong Ping.
All you have to do is head to the bus terminal for new lantau bus services which is
a five minutes walk from Tung Chung MTR.
The buses come every 20-30 minutes.
Each ride costs HK$17.20 and you can pay using your octopus card!
The traffic was really smooth and we arrived within 35 minutes.

There are several sites to visit at Ngong Ping and we spent three hours exploring them!

Our first stop was Tian Tan Buddha, also known as The Big Buddha.

Tian Tan Buddha is a large bronze statue of Buddha Shakyamuni completed in 1993.

There is no entrance fee imposed, but there are donation boxes around if you wish to donate.

There are 268 steps for you to climb before getting up close with the giant buddha.

It was a relatively easy climb for both of us.

If you are afraid that you do not have the stamina to climb, you can always take a break at the side!

Tian Tan Buddha

Once you have reached the top, you will be greeted by a lovely view of Ngong Ping and

other parts of Lantau Island.

There is a prayer room at the top as well so you can pop in if you wish to.

After spending some time enjoying the scenery, we moved on to the next site: Wisdom Path.

Wisdom Path is lined with 38 wooden monuments inscribed with the Heart Sutra prayer.

It was a 15 minutes walk from Tian Tan Buddha to the Wisdom Path.

Perhaps we were there really early, because we were the only ones making our way to the path.

There were directional signs for us and we found the path without much difficulty.

Wisdom path 

It was a nice walk on the path for me, but I would think people who are into 

Buddhist scriptures will be in a better position to appreciate this.

The next site to visit was Po-lin Monastery, located directly opposite the Tian Tan Buddha.

 
We bought a snack coupon at the entrance to Tian Tan Buddha.
HK$38 for a plate of vegetarian beehoon, a bowl of soya beancurd and 2 snacks of your choice.
They were also selling the deluxe vegetarian meal coupon at HK$138 per pax on that day,
but it was too expensive for me so we decided to go ahead with the snack coupon instead.
It was a yummy meal for me even though they intended for it to be a snack.
The portion is huge too!

Thereafter, we walked around the Monastery for some time.
You can purchase incense at the entrance, which my mum did.

As we had some time before the next scheduled bus to Tai-O fishing village,
we explored the Ngong Ping village which houses retail stores selling various unique items.
If you need a coffee break, there is always Starbucks around the corner.

We took bus 21 to Tai-O and it was a rather quick ride as well.
Each ride costs HK$6.60.
Do note that the bus only comes every hour so do reach the bus stop in advance to secure a seat!

Tai-O is actually a fishing village and the streets are packed with shops mostly
selling seafood merchandises.
We bought two bottles of preserved shrimp paste produced by the locals for HK$30 each.
No regrets.
We will usually add shrimp paste to steamed pork with fresh cuts of chilli.
And this bottle of shrimp paste was really rich in flavour without being too overpowering and salty.

While walking around the streets without any thoughts, we chanced upon the stilt houses.
We were literally a step away from the locals' front yard.
Not a bad idea to walk aimlessly as many opt to take the boat rides just to view the stilt houses.
But the catch to the boat rides is they tend to bring you out to watch dolphins
instead of having a ride around the stilt houses.

Marinated boiled squid

When we first entered the streets, we saw this stall selling boiled squid...so why not?

Turned out that this squid is really tender and well seasoned.

So do try it if you happen to see this stall!

Before leaving Tai-O, both of us took a stroll on a bridge leading to the other side of Tai-O.

The walk was really scenic with mountains and waters all around us.

If you wish to get away from the hustle and bustle in the cities, this will be a good place to visit.

We were done by 3pm and we took bus 11 back to Tung Chung.

The ride costs HK$11.80 and the ride took approximately 50 minutes.

When we arrived back in Tung Chung, we decided to go shopping at citygates outlet!

This outlet houses many famous international brands, from sports to high-end brands like Prada.

I was more interested in the sports section as I wanted another set of yoga attire.

Sadly, I didn't manage to get anything.

But I must say the Nike outlet has lots of good deals and my mum managed to score

a pair of Nike free shoes for less than S$80!

When we were done exploring the outlet mall, it was already close to 6.30pm.

We took a train down to Sham Shui Po as we wanted to have Tim Ho Wan for dinner.

It was a 10 minutes walk from the MTR to Tim Ho Wan and we got a seat instantly!

We ordered the baked barbeque pork bun, glutinous rice in lotus leaf, vegetable dumplings

and the steamed minced beef balls.

The dishes were better in HK than in SG by a slight margin.

Definitely a good meal even if it was for dinner.

The prices were reasonable too!

Anyway, that marks the end of our day trip to Lantau Island!