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Today we went to the Po Lin Monastery where the Giant Buddha on top of the hill is located. On a clear day you could see this giant statue from the airport. However today like most of the days we've had here on Hong Kong so far, it has been smoggy. Per the concierge it takes us two hours to get to the statues and includes taking the metro and a bus. So we had an early breakfast and were out the door by 7am. We just walked to the MTR (their version of the metro here) which is about a block away. Then we just kept switching line until we got to the end of one where we took a bus up to the Po Lin Monastery. The bus ride was very winding full of steep cliff edges and an occasional one lane as they were doing construction on the road too. It did take us about two hours to get to the place but what they forgot to mention was that you couldn't climb the steps until 10am and we got there about 9am! So we wandered around the grounds, bought some postcards and waited.
The climb was 240 steps to the top where the Buddha was sitting on top of a lotus and on each side of him were three statues of girls offering him different things. Let me tell you that was a rough climb because ever since I got here at Hong Kong I've had a cold, due to the change in weather, and every 80 steps I would have to stop to take a breather. The weather up at the top was chilly but the view was awesome, you could see the other side of Lantau Island with the bay and all the trees.
We took a taxi to Hong Kong Disneyland after visiting the Giant Buddha. Yes, I know it is a little cheesy to visit something so Americana in Asia. But my cousins and Jen have never been to Disneyland, though Jen has gone to Disney World. To me it was a bit small, but then I am used to the slightly bigger park in Anaheim. However my cousins and Jen enjoyed themselves and it was rather interesting to hear them give out the instructions in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. We watched the Lion King show, where they sang all the songs and told the Lion King story. But the interesting part of it was that the hyenas would speak in Mandarin and Cantonese. J There were plenty of kids around and I must say those kids really ham it up when you put a camera in front of them. Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day! We left around 4:30pm and got to our hotel by 6pm to take a short rest before going to dinner.
Now here is an interesting side note. I couldn't find a bathroom down at the MTR station. They had escalators, elevators, moving sidewalks, ATM machines and even a 7-eleven but not one bathroom could be found!
Dinner was interesting too. Picture three very tired looking people (Bing-bing just went straight to bed and skipped dinner), wearing jeans and very casual clothing walking into a restaurant where there is a chandelier, waiters that move very quietly and quickly….all so very elegant. But that is what we did! We were so tired we just picked a place that the concierge recommended to me the night before and was in the building next to our hotel. The food was delicious! T-bone steak marinated and tender, double shrimp wrapped in rice noodles and hot and sour soup (the real Schezwan style! Not American taste). Fortunately the staff was very polite and didn't make a fuss at our appearance. Then it was back to the hotel to rest and go to sleep…except for me, I had to write and tell you all about it.
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