Friday, December 08, 2006

Path of Wisdom to the Buddha's Shrine


The World's Largest Outdoor Sitting Buddha


30 minutes cable car ride from Tung Chung MRT


SkyRail



The Path of Wisdom

Going from one place to another in Hong Kong was a common thing for me now already... so when I had the chance to go back to Hong Kong for a few days... I decided to go to newly renovated areas in Hong Kong...

Hong Kong features the world largest outdoor sitting bronzed Buddha located in Lantau Island... Actually 3 years back I visited this place... taking a one hour ferry ride from the Star Ferry terminal and another bus ride to the top of the mountain... Well, the since the Hong Kong Government had money to spend, they decided to build a skyrail system (cable car) going to the Buddha in Lantau island... Since the cable car was only operational sometime in October or November, I wasn't able to use this mode of transportation at such a long distance way back last June...

The ride was a 30 minute cable car ride known as Ngong Ping 360 / Skyrail... The ride was a bit jaw dropping, heart beat stopping and an exhilarating experience... Why??? First, you get hoisted up high wherein you could see the different views... the mountains, the ports, and even the airport... Next, the cable car ride last a full 30 minutes.... this is a lot longer than cable car rides I took at Ocean Adventure and Sentosa... and lastly, since it's still quite new and probably still in the experimental stage, there were part of the ride that the cable car stopped a few minutes... a bit scary considering the altitude... (my cousin told me that before the stopping took hours)...

Among the improvement was an integration of a Ngong Ping Village which featured restaurants, shops and other attractions... There was also the monkey tale show, an animated version showing that giving is better than receiving... the animation is quite funny... The other show is called walking with Buddha, where you get a glimpse of who Buddha was... and what he represents... The cable car ride to and from the area is about HK$88 and if you would get the package which include the Monkey's Tale and Walking With Buddha, it would cost you HK$145.

There are several spots too like the path of wisdom.... 15 minutes walk from the bottom of the Buddha where several stone carvings of Confucius teachings where located in the mountains... (actually it took me 30 minutes since I got lost in the woods as I took a wrong turn in the path)... The view was breath taking as it was both windy and you can see the surrounding mountain range...

Finally, the World's Largest Outdoor Sitting Bronzed Buddha is accessible after ascending a long path of stairs... A mini museum seats below Buddha which would lead you to the highest point you can reach the Statue... The entrance cost HK$23, without meals but includes a free tea which you may consume at a nearby Po Lin Monastery...

Places like this provide you a different appreciation of culture apart from your own and at the same time, with an open mind try to assimilate some lessons which you could grab with an open mind...

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