Hong Kong

This year the Tahitian Princess was docked right in Hong Kong Harbor, right next to the Star Ferry Terminal. We were off the ship and onto a ferry. We went back to the Po Lin Monastery because it was so special for us last year and we were not disappointed. There has been a lot of construction at the village by the Monastery, including a new tram station which could make the trip shorter. We preferred retracing our path, though, so we took the ferry to Lantau and bus number 2 from Mui Wo to the village. Those 2 rides take nearly 2 hours.

Once we arrived at Lantau, the bus was waiting for the 50-minute ride up and down the steep slopes and around corners of the mountain. The narrow roads barely accommodated the passing of one bus in each direction and the edge of the road was the edge of a cliff. We walked through the ongoing construction to the world’s largest bronze seated Buddha. We climbed the 250 steps to the base of the Buddha, walked all around it, and through the museum inside the Buddha. Going down the steps was much easier.

We walked through the Temple and past golden Buddha statues, where people were lighting incense and praying. The Monastery serves lunch family style in a large restaurant, so we purchased a meal ticket and sat down to a fabulous meal. There was so much vegan food that we were unable to finish all they served to us. And we ate with chopsticks and a ceramic Asian spoon. We made a bit of a mess but we did it!

After lunch, we walked back to the Temple, where we heard chanting being broadcast. The monks and others at the service were chanting and drumming. At first we listened on the first floor where the monks were, but then we went upstairs to a large empty room. There was a sound system broadcasting the sounds from below and filling the room with marvelous, reverberating sound. As we headed back to the bus stop, the chanting faded in the background.

While riding on the ferry back, we saw the skyscrapers of Hong Kong silhouetted against the bright sun. From the ferry, we walked to Nathan Road, the 5th Avenue of Hong Kong with 50 % more people crowding the streets and sidewalks. From there we walked back to Ocean Terminal and the Tahitian Princess, but the day was not over.

After dinner, we were on the open decks just in time for the nightly light show, when a dozen of the highest skyscrapers on the Hong Kong side are programmed to flash neon lights and spotlights in changing designs and colors up and down the buildings and into the night sky. What a farewell to a magical city.