I had one full day to myself on my Hong Kong trip. Originally I was going to tag along with my travel mate who wanted to see the Big Buddha, but she decided to get a head start on her work that day instead. So I just went on my own. After some research in the room I figured out how to get there. The train would’ve taken a long time, and cabs only stick to certain territories so I couldn’t get a cab from the hotel all the way to the Buddha. Instead I took a cab to Lantau Island/Ngong Ping cable car & took the cable car the rest of the way. It was a pricier way to travel there but it was worth it. I opted for the glass bottom cable car and the views the whole way were great. The ride takes you over water & hills, right to a little village which leads to Tian Tan Buddha & Po Lin Monastery.
The day was overcast, and I arrived early which couldn’t have been better. The tour buses & crowds didn’t start showing up until I was getting ready to leave.
When I got ready to leave it started raining, so I went back to the hotel to try to wait it out. The rain didn’t stop & didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon, so I went back out. I took a ferry across the water to Hong Kong island and hopped on one of the bus tours. I don’t know why, but I went straight to the top level where all the seats were covered in water. It was too late in my mind to turn around so I just sat in a puddle and then there was no point in moving since my butt was already wet. Obviously I was the only person on the top level until the lower level became full and people had to go to the upper level.
I only got off on one stop, at Aberdeen Harbor in order to take a Sampan ride. When I told my parents about my upcoming trip, my dad was telling me all about the “junks” and his time spent in Hong Kong when he was in the service. So I made sure to take the tour that included that, and got to take a boat ride around the harbor too which was pretty fun.
The boats were run by a group of older women, and each Sampan was decorated differently. I couldn’t help but think what a great way to make a living this is for those women.
We weaved in and out of all the boats and then she took us to the giant floating restaurant & took photos for everyone. It would have been fun to have actually eaten here!
By the time the bus picked us up again there was just enough time to get back to the ferry before the “night” bus tours started. I hung out near the ferry terminal for awhile, then went back to Kowloon and took in the cityscape and at about 7pm I was dead tired so went back to the room and knocked out!
Jessica Kay 