02.05.2013 - DAY2 - HONG KONG

Today is our second day in Hong Kong. Our fist plan is to find a bakery to have some salty (at least something with cheese) snacks for breakfast. We found couple of bakeries and we bought many snacks but even the cheese pastries were sweet :)
After this HK style breakfast or pastry degustation trial, we headed to the closest MTR for our first tourist attraction point that we planned today. Our plan is to visit the famous Big Buddha statue and the surrounding complex on Lantau Island. It seems like a national park, which can be easily reached by metro and cable car from town as you can see below (check the Big Buddha logo):

Our hostel is close to MTR - YauMauTel. We took the MTR with a single change until the last stop of Tung Chung. Just get out of the MTR Tung Chung and walk some hundred meters to cable car station (Ngong Ping 360). It looks like a new complex combined with many things incl cable car station.  If you are interested, you can find some additional info on Ngong Ping 360 Website (www.np360.com.hk).

The duration of the journey is appr 30 mins for total of by cable car.Ngong Ping 360 is a dynamic new tourism experience, which combines a stunning 5.7km cable car journey with an impressive cultural themed village and easy access to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue, the world's largest, seated, outdoor, bronze Buddha statue. 
So, when we arrived the cable car station, we noticed the long queue for purchasing tickets on-site. Online tickets are having different queue. 
The pricing was as below:

Thanks to our friend Orkun, we made a clever move to buy our tickets 1+1 Standard & Crystal Round Trip Cable Car. In other words, we took the the normal standard cabin up to the Tian Tan Buddha and on the way back we took the crystal cabin due to long queue on the way back for standard cabin. There is a long queue on both ways but the return journey queue is much longer (min 30mins) for the standard cabins due to closing time of the cable car station.

Here are some pics, to give you some idea how it looks like in the cable car:

Hong Kong International Airport is on the left:

Big Buddha can be seen on the left:

It's closer now:

When we reached the final stop of the cable car, we started to walk inside the tourist village with some attractions inside. We walk up to the Buddha Statue. For us, it was quite impressive to see such a big sized Buddha Statue (was sitting in a Lotus Leaf):

Stairs up to Big Buddha

 For the beginners, just look at the chest of the Buddha, do you remember a similar sign in the past? 

 There is a temple near to Buddha Statue:

 Please don't touch the Bell :) The monk must be really annoyed by the tourists :-)

 Ceremonies for praying with lighting multiple candle type sticks:

Some information about the statue:

Here you can find some more additional info about impressive Big Buddha statue: 

Once merely a remote monastery hidden by lush, mountain scenery, the Po Lin Monastery made it to the world map when the extraordinary Tian Tan Buddha statue (informally known as the Big Buddha) was erected in 1993. Sitting 34 metres high and facing north to look over the Chinese people, this majestic bronze Buddha draws pilgrims from all over Asia. The eyes, lips, incline of the head and right hand, which is raised to deliver a blessing to all, combine to bring a humbling depth of character and dignity to the massive Buddha, which took 12 years to complete. Climb the 268 steps for a closer look at this remarkable statue, and to enjoy the sweeping mountain and sea views that can be seen from its base. Opposite the statue, the Po Lin Monastery is one of Hong Kong’s most important Buddhist sanctums and has been dubbed ‘the Buddhist World in the South’. Home to many a devout monk, this  monastery is rich with colorful manifestations of Buddhist iconography and its pleasant garden is alive with birdsong and flowery scents. You can also enlighten your appetite at their popular vegetarian restaurant.

Around the Big Buddha Statue, there are couple of things inside Ngong Ping Village, which can be visited like Wisdom Path, the monastery, Monkey Tail or Walking Buddha Experience etc. 

Another alternative on Lantau Island is a tour to Tai O Fishing Village as an alternative to the attractions on Tian Tan Buddha area. Here are some details about the tour to Fishing Village:

What about the food over there? There are some restaurants and cafes in the Ngong Ping Village. Expect to spend on the Ngong Ping Village area min 1.5 hours even you only visit the Buddha if not you can count 3 hour. If you combine the tour with another trip to fishing village, expect to spend more than half a day there. By the way, there are buses leaving from the Ngong Ping Village to Fishing Village.