April 12, 2018 (Thursday) -- A Short Trip to Hong Kong and Taiwan
Woke up to a cloudy morning but the sight outside our window still gave us the goosebumps that we get whenever we look at Victoria Harbor here in Hong Kong.
Our plan for the day is to go to Lantau Island on the Ngong Ping 360, which we have never done before. When I was a kid growing up in Hong Kong, Lantau Island seemed like a very faraway land that it would take forever to get there. Only ferries would provide the needed transportation then. Nowadays there are plenty of choices to get people to and from that big island where the HKIA is located, including trains, buses, and taxis. Today, we will take the train to the island, and then the cable car up to the Big Buddha. To avoid the heavy crowds on weekends, this would be the perfect day to go. Just hoping for good weather with no wind or rain.
The uniquely shaped iSquare building on the other side of Nathan Road.
The first buildings on the right is the Holiday Inn Golden Mile right outside our window.
Convention Center in Wanchai and the Intercontinental Hotel (brown building) on each side of the harbor.
Breakfast at our favorite spot--Wo Mei Porridge Shop in Jordan. Still the best to get fish porridge for us. Strangely though, the place was quite empty this morning. It used to be jammed with tourists and locals and sometimes there would be long wait to get a table. Not this morning, we walked right in and we were able to choose the table we wanted. I asked the woman there why it was so empty, she said it was still early. Hmmm,.. Anyway we still enjoyed the great porridge just the same as we had many times before.
Delicious fried fish balls! Must have!
Trip to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island
After breakfast, we took the Tsuen Wan subway (red) from Jordan to Lai King, then changed to the yellow line from Lai King to Tung Chung. All very easy and not crowded since this is a weekday morning.
Inside the train.
map
Arrived and out of the Tung Chung station. Walked past this big open square with a water fountain...
go straight toward this direction, past the bus station...
then walk up to the Ngong Ping cable car station where you would join the line for tickets and ride.
The line wasn't bad at all even though we were in the long line on the left because we did not pre-book our tickets. It moved quickly. The line on the right is for groups and will-call. I believe the stairs going up was for people who already have their pre-booked, pre-paid tickets. That one was the shortest of all.
Some Fun passes on sale, but we did not need those. In fact, we only purchased the one-way ticket because we were not planning on coming back to Tung Chung on the cable car.
Some of these cars have crystal bottom where you can pay more to get on if height is not a problem.
We shared a regular cabin with a family from Scotland and a solo tourist from somewhere.
Leaving the city of Tung Chung behind as our cable car slowly moving on.
making a 90-degree turn here
closest to the airport
Then a constant climb up to the mountain top.
Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok.
There are actually hiking trails if you want to hike instead of taking the cable cars.
Our 'companion' helped us with this picture.
The Big Buddha in the distance.
I believe that's the man-made island connecting the bridge that is being built between Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai.
After the long cable car ride, we arrived at the top of the hill. Not as scary as I thought it would be.
There is a gift shop inside the station if souvenir is needed.
Entering the 'ancient village' across from the station exit.
Lower shopping area lined with restaurants, snack bars, and shops.
There are coupons in the flyer that we got with the tickets and we used one of them for a quick snack here.
A pineapple icee and a red bean tofu fa.
Wall of butterflies.
It was a short walk to the temple but a hike up to the Buddha. We decided it was not for us...
...but many others did though.
Gate to the temple
gigantic decorative incense burner
Tai-O, the fishing village
After the Big Buddha, we took the bus (#21) from the bus station behind the shops in the shopping area to the fishing village of Tai-O. I believe we have distant relatives living there, but I don't know any of them now. They own a shop on the main street there but as hard as I tried, I couldn't remember which one it was.
Turn right here making our way to the village after getting off the bus.
Stalls and shops selling many different kind of dried seafood products.
Houses on stilts. Didn't look too great when the water is so dried up..
It was interesting walking around these houses but I felt like invading their privacy as we walked on the wooden walkway passing through the front or back of their living quarters.
We were told about this bar/restaurant but it was closed and locked up.
Before this bridge was built, people would have to take a short boat ride crossing the canal.
After spending about an hour in the village we decided it was time to go back in town. We thought of having lunch here but nothing really appealed to us.
Originally, we planned on taking the number 1 bus to Mui Wo, then take the ferry back to central, walk to the subway station and take the train back to the hotel. After thinking through it a little bit more, we decided to take the #11 bus back to Tung Chung and then the subway back to the hotel. Much easier and faster because we were kind of tired with jet lag sinking in.
Back to Tung Chung station.
When we got back to the hotel, we just went across the street to the (Silver Dragon) Ngan Lung Cafe for an afternoon 'tea'. We knew we would have a big dinner that evening with my cousin so just a little something to tie us over.
Fish ball noodle for MOR.
Hong Kong style hot milk tea, yummy!
Pork chop bun for me.
Delicious!
Passed by a bakery and got a piece of freshly baked cake to go...
very good, but
we only finished half of it.
Look out at the view of the habor is just magnificent!
We were there early so it was peaceful and quiet. It did get busy later on though.
Fish with fried minced bean, excellent! Fish was definitely fresh.
Thank you, Milly and Simon, for a wonderful dinner.
steamed buns (Shiao Lung Bao)
Our duck! A whole duck just for the four of us.
Oh, what can I say...! Those very thin wrappers made it much easier for us to savor the taste of the roasted duck.
After the wonderful dinner and saying 'good-bye' to Milly and Simon, we just took the short walk back to the hotel for the night.
Fresh fruit in the room waiting for our return.
No comments:
Post a Comment