This is my 2nd post about my trip to Macau/Hong Kong.
I looked at the time after I finished uploading these pix and wtf, already an hour?
Woke up quite early to catch the shuttle bus from the hotel to the ferry terminal. Had breakfast at the hotel cafeteria.. buffet style – American Breakfast. People here love to eat meat, especially pork and beef. They put it in almost every dish.
My hearty western breakfast: 2 of everything – bacon, nuggets, sausages, ham, a big dollop of scrambled eggs. What diet?
The weather did not improve on the second day . Still cloudy, cold and misty. This is the exterior of the ferry terminal.. the blurriness is not due to my cam
Check out this cool massage chair! You have to put coins into the slots for it to work.
The ferry was delayed for half an hour coz of the fog, so it was too dangerous for the ferry to move. We waited.. and waited… and waited…
zzz..
zzz..
40 minutes later: ” Dear ladies and gentlemen, we are still experiencing bad weather, will be delayed for another 20 minutes” *groans from the crowd*
20 minutes later.. ” we will be delayed for another hour…” WTF!!!! We wasted two hours waiting for the ferry. Roars.
20 minutes later.. ” we will be delayed for another hour…” WTF!!!! We wasted two hours waiting for the ferry. Roars.
When we got to Hong Kong it was already 1230. There goes our plans to visit all those places.
So we decided to go see the Big Buddha statue at Lantau Island. No tour guide to take us around so we had to take the MTR ourselves.
And you can’t buy tickets at the counter, unlike in Malaysia!
It was so funny. Mum and Dad went to the counter to buy tickets. The guy changed coins for us. Then my parents were like “Er, where’s the ticket?”
He gave us this weird look. We later realised that we had to buy the ticket from the machine, which is why they give you small change.
I noticed that the people here don’t walk – they jog. Unlike Malaysians who take their own sweet time. Even when they’re on the escalator, they don’t stop. They’re also pretty rude, as I got bumped into several times and nobody said sorry -_-
Finally we reached! It’s very convenient to take the MTR if you know how to, coz all the stations are interconnected. You don’t have to buy different tickets to change to a different line, unlike in KL where you have to change from STAR to PUTRA and buy the tix all over again.
And of course, no mumbling announcements whenever the train pulls in to a station.
To get to Ngong Ping village where the Big Buddha is, we had to take a cable car! I think it is one of the longest rides in asia.. took us 25 minutes to get to the top. It’s not as steep or as scary as Genting though.
*shuts eyes*
Unlike the tropical rainforest and jungles of Malaysia, the hills here are short grass and undergrowth. Well, the upside is you’ll never have to worry about not getting spotted if you’re lost.
Hooray! After the long ride, we reached Ngong Ping 360 village. It’s touristy, with the attraction being the Buddha statue. They have many shops selling souvenirs, food and a few temples around the area.
The Big Buddha statue.
You have to climb a few hundred steps to get to the top.
Not as many as Batu Caves, but still tiring for little old ladies like me. Haha
After panting and wheezing for a couple of minutes, we reached the top.Too bad it was so misty, or else it would be much more beautiful. The buddha is made of bronze, if I’m not mistaken.
Joss sticks for prayers. Nearby are shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts, charms, etc.
Outer temple
Inner temple, decorated with fresh flowers. Isn’t it gorgeous?
The flowers here are really pretty. Probably becoz of the cool weather that they can thrive in. It’s 18 degrees Celcius (mid winter)
Inside the temple. Golden statues of the gods are surrounded by various types of flowers, fruits and other offerings.
Place where devotees can kneel and pray.
Ornate carvings of dragons and phoenixes adorn the stone pillars.
And I saw this guy!
I wonder if it’s the temple pet, or if it’s a manifestation of a God, or whatever ~ but it was just sitting there like, “I don’t care less” type of attitude. I stroked it on its back and it didn’t even flinch. It just sort of mewed at me and yawned. lmao.
More flowers
A real cow. I was only inches away from it xD
We decided to leave the place at 4pm and guess what? the queue to the cable car was freakkkinggg long.
Tired of waiting, I got myself an ice blended caramel frappucino. Nothing beats having a freezing cold drink in cold weather – it’ll freeze your brain. Ever had that sensation?
Even on the mountain top one can get Starbucks – I guess there really is no escape from commercialisation.
The sky was already darkening when we got to Tsim Tsa Shui , where we planned to visit the Avenue of Stars. This is a Hollywood-like Boulevard where celebrities have their hands imprinted on the walkway (and get stepped on by hundreds of visitors everyday)
It wasn’t anything special. They do say it is very pretty at night (if it wasn’t for the freaking fog!) coz you can see part of HK island lit up from a distance.
Sorry.. the pix here are kinda blurry coz my phone didn’t have night mode and it was so dark.
But its a pretty good place for couples to have a romantic stroll at night .
Can’t believe it! My hands are the same size as Eric Tsang’s. (you know, the short bald guy in “zheong mun yan” game show?)
I dunno whether to smile, or just run screaming away from it.
Why cant I have same size hands as Charmaine Sheh or Myolie Wu? 😦
It was late by the time we left so the subway was empty by then.
We took a ferry back to Macau, and thank God the fog had cleared up.The sea was rather choppy though and I got a massive headache coz we were sitting on the upper bunk.
Well, so far, I’ve almost tried every mode of transport imaginable.
Bus, taxi, cable car, ferry, MTR… lol.
Will be going back to hometown for grandpa’s birthday tomoro, so I’ll update my final holiday post when I come back. ^^
till then.
Eris Goes To 
Wow, great post. Macau is very high up on my wish list. You just made it even more tempting 🙂
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