Lantau Island Big Buddha

On Saturday we headed out early to visit Lantau Island and Tai Tan Buddha at Po Lin Monastery.

We took the train to Tung Chung near the airport on the North side of Lantau Island, and then the 'Ngong Ping 360' cable-car over the middle of the island to Ngong Ping Village.

The views over the airport and the pearl river delta were spectacular.  We could see Shenzhen to the north - my first glimpse of mainland China - and then Macau to the south.

Video:  Ngong Ping 360 cable car.

We alighted in Ngong Ping which is a reproduction Chinese mountain village with plenty of cafes and shops.   I thought it was rather attractive.

And we were very happy to have second breakfast and a coffee in the 'Euro' cafe (which also sold New Zealand honey).

Ngong Ping village is criticized for being tacky.  It is indeed tacky, but its high quality tack.

We didn't see the Buddha show....

... but I genuinely enjoyed the plastic reproduction Bodhi tree....

... and a kung fu performance by real Shaolin monks.

Video:  Shaolin monks Kung Fu

More Shaolin monks...

The ancient Tai Tan Buddha is almost 20 years old, having been erected in 1993.   According to Wiki "The Buddha is 34 metres (112 ft) tall, weighs 250 metric tons..., and was the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha prior to 2007".   (For more about giant buddhas and global 'buddha inflation' click here).

After the Ngong Ping village I was half-expecting the Buddha to have a revolving restaurant in its head.  But in fact the image has a wonderful presence and serenity that you sometimes feel in the best buddhist art.

"The Tian Tan Buddha appears serene and dignified. His right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction. The Buddha's left hand rests on his lap in a gesture of giving dhana. The Buddha faces north [to China], which is unique among the great Buddha statues, as all others face south." (Wiki)

"In addition, there are 3 floors beneath the Buddha statue: The Hall of Universe, The Hall of Benevolent Merit, and The Hall of Remembrance. One of the most renowned features inside is a relic of Gautama Buddha, consisting of some of his alleged cremated remains. "

Video:  Granny and Granddad exiting the Buddha museum through a lotus petal, and the view across Pearl River Delta towards Macau (note Granny is bathed in mystical white light).

After the Buddha we had a very nice vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin Monestery.

After lunch we took a taxi down the south coast of Lantau Island to Mui Wo (Silvermine Bay) where Hannah played in the playground and had a swim in the sea with Daddy while the rest of the party got caught in a downpour.

Finally we took the ferry back from Mui Wo back to Central, and had Peking Duck in a chinese restaurant in Sheung Wan that we used to frequent in our first month in Hong Kong.

Hannah took this photo of Granny and Granddad at the restaurant.

Birthday Party

In the afternoon Rika and I took Hannah to a birthday party at the American Club.  

Andrew, the birthday boy, is a classmate of Hannahs and had just turned six.  

It was a good chance to see Hannah playing with her class-mates and to meet some of their parents for the first time.   We also met Andrew's parents and grandparents who seemed very nice.

Video:  Birthday

The Peak

On Friday morning we visited 'The Peak'.

We took a taxi first thing to avoid the heat, going right up to the Victoria Peak Garden which is nestled in a sort of crater at the top of the mountain between its four peaks.   Id always wanted to visit this garden which is the grounds of the Old Governors mansion and seems like a little world of its own with a secluded garden of spacious lawns and few visitors.

The very tops of the peaks are fenced-off for telecommunications facilities but we could enjoy a spectacular view from the site of the governors lodge.  From Mt Kellett to the south, Pok Fu Lam, Lamma Island and Lantau Island to the West,  and north across the harbor to Tsing Yi and the bridges to the airport.

This is Pok Fu Lam and Lamma island.

We descended on foot down Mt Austin Road past various mansions to the busy Peak Tram complex at Victoria Gap.  After refreshments we walked along Lugard Road to see the views over central Hong Kong.

 Lugard Road is a concrete foot-path built into the very steep jungle-clad north slope of the mountain at about 480m.  It is part of a 4km 'Peak Circuit' and we walked along the northern quarter which affords spectacular views over Victoria Harbor, Kowloon and the north side of Hong Kong Island.

As you can see, the mountain is incredibly steep.   This is looking down to the high-rises of Mid Levels.

Video:   Granny and Grandad and the view of Hong Kong from Lugard Road

This was my first time to walk along the Peak Circuit and I'd hope we can come back again to complete it.

We had an early lunch in a Japanese restaurant in the Peak Galleria overlooking Central, and took a taxi back home to pick-up Hannah from her bus.

Granny and Granddad

This week Granny and Granddad visited us for a week on their way to Europe.  It was teriffic to see them again looking fit and healthy.

We booked them in the Emperor Hotel in Happy Valley since our apartment is not yet set-up to accommodate guests.

The Emperor disproved my theory that unlucky numbers are avoided in Hong Kong buildings.

Granny and Granddad got room '1304' which is doubly bad-luck, number 13 + 'death'.  Despite this they enjoyed the Hotel and nothing unlucky happened to them during their stay, apart perhaps from their son's choices of itinerary and restaurants.

For their first full day in Hong Kong on Thursdy  we took them to the South Coast to see Hannah's school, and Tai Tam, Stanley and Repulse Bay.

One highlight was the merchandising in the school shop where you can buy school issue teddy-bears and teddy-bear uniforms.

We then went to Stanley for lunch and a very brief tour of the sights.  It was a very sunny and blistering hot day which was tough contrast for anyone arriving from the southern winter.

We returned to Parkview to meet Hannah's school bus and take her to the Oasis pool where we had dinner.

Stuff

In early Aug, while Rika was in Japan, the moving company delivered our furniture and 'stuff'.   In total  199 boxes or items which took the team of 6 a full day to unload.  This had filled our 3-bed apartment in Tokyo, and although we'd thrown out a lot before we left, it was clearly going to be difficult to squeeze it all into our new 2-bed.

The moving company had given us lots of glossy brochures and welcome gifts.  But they put less thought into packing and storing our goods during Hong Kong's humid summer.   It was only just before delivery that it became clear the storage hadn't been humidity controlled  ("thats extra sir").

Most of the clothes had been packed with moisture-absorbing sachets and were largely mould free.  Rika's Yoji Yamamoto leather jacket was covered with mould but it cleaned easily.

The furniture and bedding was a different story since it had not been packed so carefully.  Most of the fabric and cushions had gone moldy and mould had even penetrated deep into the wood of our bed.   I didn't want to take any chances with moldy furniture in the flat so I threw-out our sofa, bed, chair-covers, cushions, and half our  futons.

We rapidly discovered that Hong Kong residents, especially 'gweilos in the mist', face a constant battle with mould and most have to keep air-con and/or dehumidifiers running to keep it under control.   Perhaps this helps explain why air-con in most Hong Kong buildings is set so low - chilling the air to 18 degrees takes out a lot of the moisture.   We don't keep our flat so cold, but we now have 3 dehumidifiers running to lower the humidity from 80%+ to 60%.  They hold 6 liters of water in total and typically have to be emptied morning and night.

Even without a sofa the flat still felt a little cluttered.

Over the last few weeks Rika has been steadily sorting her possessions.   Essential stuff that must stay in the apartment...

....stuff that can be moved into storage...

...and stuff that can be thrown-out.

We hired a storage space (humidity controlled) in a facility at an industrial estate near Aberdeen, a 15 min taxi ride away.  Its an amazing place with 30 story industrial buildings squeezed onto a small space of flat land, hacked out of a rocky hill-side.

Yesterday another team of movers came to move 45 boxes into storage.   We can now see most of the floor in the living room.  Although the 2nd bed-room/study is still too full to use as a bed-room. 

All this moving and sorting rather puts me off accumulating possessions.

It is obvious that we tend to buy too much stuff and then have to buy yet more stuff to organize it, or rent more space to store it in.  And most of this stuff is left unused until we eventually throw it out to make room for new stuff...

So I've been ruthless in throwing out clothes and storing books.  In the flat Im down to 2 boxes of files (mainly family history), 1 box of books (cooking, chinese, Hong Kong and a few key reference), my shakuhachi and music, and my PCs.   Oh, and a few draws full of classic DVDs which I paid for and cant bear to throw out before I watch them.