Day 3 in Hong Kong

The jet lag is getting better  - we managed to sleep in to 5am today! We left the hotel at 7:30am and jumped on the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.  

On the Star Ferry



Star Ferry coming in to dock

As today looks like it will be our last sunny day we decided to visit the Big Buddha.  From Hong Kong Island we caught another ferry to Mui Wo on Lantau Island, and from there took a 40 minute bus journey through a number of small villages to a fishing village called Tai O - it was very interesting to see all the small villages and how people live outside of Central Hong Kong.  Tai O is the last settlement in Hong Kong that still has a large number of stilt houses.  

Another bus journey took us to the Giant Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. The Giant Buddha is a large bronze statue on top of a hill and you have to climb 240 steps to reach it - that would be bad enough on a cold day but as it was about 27 degrees and humid we were knackered by the time we got to the top (Peter had to have an ice cream to recover!).  The views were worth it and it was nice to see the Buddha up close.



Big Buddha



Only another 200 steps to go.....!!



Peter pretending to pose for a picture but really having a rest from walking up all the steps!



To get back home we went on a 25 minute cable car ride which took us back to the Metro station - the views were amazing and we could even see the planes taking off from Hong Kong International Airport. 

We were enjoying the views when suddenly the cable cars stopped and we were left swinging above a massive drop - Peter was saying why have we stopped and I was just trying to stay calm.... it was only for about 5 mins but it was the longest 5 mins of our lives.  When we got off we were talking about it and we had both been thinking if there has been a power cut how are we going to get off!!