We mist Buddha

After a tasty peanut butter sandwich we set out for Lantau Island, the largest of the islands surrounding Hong Kong. Of course it rained again today. Spike Milligan was wrong when he said rain is thin. It's not. We spent most of the day drenched or looking super cool with our waterproofs on over our rucksacks. 

We arrived at Tung Chung on Lantau and got a cable car up to Ngong Ping. You could hardly see in front of you so the cable car was the worst idea and a waste of money. At Ngong Ping we walked through the village to a monastery which was holding a service when we arrived. Buddhists and other special visitors were chanting and kneeling, praying for something. It was quite lovely, hearing the chants, especially in the rain. From what I could see of the monastery the building looked impressive but obviously the full extent of the architecture was covered in mist. 

Next on the list of things to see was Big Buddha. Guessing we were going in the right direction, we climbed a load of steps, disappearing into the clouds. Big Buddha was in fact at the top but her head was barely visible. It's a shame that my pictures were rubbish but one can always google it to see what it looks like (a really big Buddha statue). 

There was also a wisdom path which I didn't think would be worth visiting as we wouldn't be able to see a thing. Quite the contrary. It probably wasn't as amazing as it could be with perfect weather but the mist added an eeriness to the figure of eight created by wooden columns, each column having some Chinese words enscrined. 

Another slow, dull cable car ride later and we were back in Tung Chung but then we chose to get a bus to a little fishing village we knew was meant to be rather interesting. The bus took about 45 minutes and wound up and down huge hills (the down was a little too fast for a bus), along the coast showing us beautiful beaches (even with all the rain). Tai O (the name of the village) was like nowhere I've ever been before. I'm guessing it's what proper old Chinese fishing villages looked like, many houses perched on wooden stilts and others made completely of sheets of metal but all tiny in size. The metal ones even had their measurements written on the outside. It was a little unsanitary, a couple of frogs were jumping round the public toilet I attempted to use, but quite spectacular. We followed a trail leading up, just out of the village, to a white Chinese dolphin viewing spot. Unfortunately, we didn't see any dolphins, however, the view of the village and the hills beyond was something special. 

It was starting to get dark as we headed back to the bus stop, lights in the little houses were on and the streets were quite empty, everyone having shut up shop and gone home. Tai O is definitely one of the most different and interesting places I have been so far.