Hong Kong - Day 5

I got to call my parents. The hostel sold cheap long distance cards so I talked to my parents and chatted for awhile before heading out. For $7 Cdn, I could talk to them for 200 minutes!

We went to go see the Big Buddha. Because of the storm the day before and the possibility that the water was still stormy, we opted to take the subway / train to Lantau Island. We took a local bus that gave us the best tour yet for next to nothing. The route up was winding with lots of incredibly narrow roads with 2 way traffic and switchbacks. The terrain on the island was lush and natural, with homes dotted here and there. A huge difference from the skyscrapers in HK.

The Tian Tan Buddha statue is the world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue. We climbed the 260 steps to the top and took in the serenity up there. With the occasional mist rolling by, it was just the right ambience.

On our way back though, I had to check out the outlet mall that was at the subway station. It felt sort of wrong to go from the Buddha to outlet mall shopping but I had to take advantage. I had to laugh at lunch. The food court was filled with different types of good Chinese food. It was funny cause in Canada, there’s always that one or two Chinese food option and here the whole court was Chinese :)