Hong Kong: Kowloon

After a morning in Stanley, we wandered to Kowloon for the remainder of the day.  Our first stop, high tea at the Peninsula Hotel.

Tea service starts at 2pm but following the advice of other travelers, we arrived around 1:30pm. After a short 15 minute wait, we were seated. Fellow diners who arrived after 2pm were treated to a wait of over an hour. While the tea was delicious, I'm pretty sure my feelings towards it would have soured had we needed to wait that long for a table. 

After filling out bellies with scones and finger sandwiches we retired to our hotel for a short rest. Then it was back to Kowloon to check out the Temple Street night market, a colorful street fair full of food and wares being peddled by locals.

After exploring the night market, we made our way to Aqua for dinner, drinks, and incredible views of Hong Kong.

We capped off the night with a ride across the harbor on the iconic Star Ferry. And with that, we bid farewell to  a fabulous few days in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: Stanley

We headed to Stanley, on the south east coast of Hong Kong Island, on our second day in Hong Kong. It was quickly clear that this area of Hong Kong was dripping with money and reminded me quite a bit of the California coast.

Our first stop of the day was Stanley Market. There was stall after stall of ornaments, pictures, artwork, and clothing including a selection of both Chinese goods as well as western brands at discount prices. I can understand the appeal of this market to many tourists, but I found the items to be much the same as I can find in Shanghai and we found ourselves walking through rather quickly.

Our next adventure was perhaps my favorite of the entire trip. As we rounded the corner, we suddenly heard the excited cries of children and promptly saw a heard of small schoolmates running towards us, limbs waving wildly.

They were students at a local school, working on a project about tourism in Hong Kong. They asked us questions about where we came from, how long we planned to visit, if we liked Hong Kong, and what our favorite attraction had been thus far.

We finished our interviews with the first group of children, only to be approached by another group seconds later. And then another. And another. And another. 

I debated hiding from the kids at this point, but then I would have missed out on amusing photos such as this one.

Hong Kong: Tian Tan Buddah and Po Lin Monastery

After showing our friends around Shanghai, we jetted off to Hong Kong for a few days. With images of a crystal clear sky and 360 views of Hong Kong in my head, we headed to Lantau Island to visit Tian Tan Buddah and Po Lin Monastery.

Unfortunately for us, the cable car to the top of the mountain was under construction. Whomp whomp. This meant that instead of a calm ride up the mountain, we had to endure a 45 minute trip in a bus which bumped along while constantly hugging the guardrails.

Once at the top of the mountain, we were greeted by the 115 foot (34 meter) tall bronze statue, completed in 1993.

 

 

And after a whopping 240 step climb, we found ourselves at the top. 

The day was much colder than expected, so we hurried along to Po Lin Monastery which sits at the base of Tian Tan Buddah. Founded in 1906, the monastery continues to serve as an international Buddhist retreat even today.

While a visit to the Big Buddah and Monastery is technically free, I would encourage you to pay the small fee to enter the three floors beneath the Buddah. Mostly because your entry ticket entitles you to hot tea and vegetarian snacks upon arrival at the Monastery. And yes, one of those snacks just happened to be my beloved bōluó bāo.

To visit these attractions, ride the subway to Tung Chung metro station. From there, you can choose to ride the cable car to the top or take the New Lantau Bus 23 to Ngong Ping. Either will probably be mildly terrifying.