Hong Kong: Day 6

This was my last full day in Hong Kong, and I had yet to see the Tian Tan Buddha! The Buddha is the largest bronze Buddha in the world, and can supposedly be seen from as far away as Macao on a clear day. So it was my goal to make it to Lantau island. I eventually made it, but it was certainly a journey. The group of girls I was with this day didn't quite have the same agenda as I did, since they had two full days to sight see. The weather was also drizzly, foggy and generally not conducive to sight seeing yesterday. But, I went to Lantau island anyway, with three girls in tow. Because we got there so late, the round trip cable car tickets were sold out (which makes absolutely no sense to me), so we would have to take a bus from the top back down. I was determined, so I didn't care. It was so foggy as we ascended the mountain, that the cable car was completely encased in fog—I couldn't even see the car in front or behind us!! We eventually make it to the top, only to learn that the bus is departing in 5 minutes OR in one hour. Mind you, there are no other tourists walking around, they are all getting in the cable cars to go back down. I literally took one picture, and had to get on the bus to go back down, since the sun had long set and it was getting pretty dark.  I didn't get to see the Tian Tan Buddha under ideal conditions, but I'm glad I went, however brief my time was.

Hong Kong: Day 4

Today was super hot in Hong Kong, about 80 degrees. We decided to do some sight seeing today, so Lauren and I tried to go to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin. But, once we got off the MTR, we had to take a taxi there because it's not that easy to get to. We didn't know the name in Cantonese or how to write it in traditional characters, so we tried our best to get there. Our taxi ended up taking us to a different monastery, who's name I don't remember. It only had one courtyard though, compared to the ones in Shanghai and Putuoshan which have several courtyards.

After we walked around for a bit, we decided to go back to the Mong Kok market because I needed to pick up a few gifts for people at home. Since I was there, I asked how much the Tory Burch reva flats were. This guy said only $380 hkd! I bargained two pairs down to $600hkd for both. They look so real. All the stitching, and the logos on the sole, everything looks so real. Lauren thinks they might be rejects from the actual factory. They even came in a Tory Burch box, which I wish I could keep. It's so pretty! I'm totally kicking myself for not using a larger suitcase when I knew I would be shopping in Hong Kong. I really like the two pairs I got. I literally have one pair of flats, and they hurt the back of my ankles because they're pretty high cut (if that makes sense). I can't wait to wear them in Shanghai, compared to my disgusting Converse that are falling apart.

Putuoshan

Over the weekend, I went to the island of Putuoshan with NYU as part of my Contemporary China class. Putuoshan is one of the four sacred islands in Chinese Buddhism. Putuoshan stands out amongst the four because it is the only one that is an island. In fact, the entire island is considered a national park, so there is an entrance fee to enter the island. Since there are so many temples on the island, the majority of the visitors are visiting for religious reasons. We seemed to be the only visitors there for the cultural aspect.

Putuoshan is only accessible by ferry, so we had to take a two hour bus ride to the harbor, and then a four hour (pretty rocky) ferry ride. Once on the island, the main mode of transportation is walking and buses. The island is 12.5 km squared, so not too big, but big enough that you might not want to walk to all the temples. The temples we visited were the Puji Temple, Fayu Temple and the Huiji Temple, which is located on the mountain and has 1,888 steps to the peak! The climb only took me and my friends about half an hour, and we were going pretty slow. In our free time, we visited the SiTian Cave, another cave, and the Guanyin statue. The Guanyin statue is 33m tall and is situated on Putuoshan's coast, so you see it looming in the distance while you're on the ferry. But there are over 80 monasteries on the island. These three are the biggest, and therefore the most crowded. 

I don't know much about Buddhism, but I do know that the Guanyin is a really important bodhisattva that was originally thought to be male, but later discovered to be female. All Buddhist temples are also built on a North-South, East-West axis, much like the city of Beijing. There are only 3,000 inhabitants of Putuoshan, 1,000 of which are Monks. Since monks are vegetarian, the majority of the food on the island is also vegetarian. There is also a lot of good seafood, but not all of my friends were willing to try the fish.

I thought it was a good weekend and it's definitely not something I see in my everyday life. I would certainly recommend going to a Buddhist temple. The architecture and iconography are always exquisite, and some of the incense smells good, but not all of them.

yummy smelling incense and pretty lotus candles

the Guanyin