After the news we received yesterday we thought today would be a good day to visit a buddha, and the largest buddha in Hong Kong. It is quite a journey to get there, via train and cable car and then nearly 300 steps up to the buddha itself. We were quite amazed at how busy the area was having visited many buddhas in Thailand which were all but deserted.
We set off on a couple of trains travelling to Tung Chung which is as far as the airport, and then got on to the Ngong Ping 260 cable car. https://www.np360.com.hk/en The cable car travels 5.7km up to the buddha visitor centre, with a variety of ticket options dependent on how much glass you gondola is made from. The Crystal gondola we took had a glass floor, great if you don’t mind looking straight down!!
Getting up to the buddha requires climbing 268 steps to reach the peak and the Buddha which is 34m tall and weighs in at over 250 tons. It’s a little daunting looking at the steps, not made any easier with the sun blazing at 31c and fairly high humidity. Any way, likes most things, pushing hard to get there was absolutely worth it, and the views from the top were spectacular. I had thought that this had been erected centuries ago, but it was completed in 1993. Coming down the steps was certainly a lot easier than going up!!
After darkness had arrived we went to the Ladies Market and Sneaker Street. Ladies Market is great for souvenirs, bags, and other bits and bobs. Most no good for us in this trip as we would have to carry everything for quite a few more weeks. Along Sneaker Street, which actually spans more than one street, every sneaker name can be found and bought; although the prices aren’t particularly good, probably because these are original shoes and not knocked off.
