Discover Hongkong : The Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery

Aug 2015

The Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery was actually in my itinerary last 2 years but I cancelled because we were so tired and exhausted. Plus the weather was freaking hot, no wonder shopping in Citygate Outlet is more interesting. 

We went to Ngong Ping in the noon time after having Sunday Mass at Rosary Church. The best way to travel from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping maybe is by cable car, however we took bus No. 23 form Tung Chung Bus Terminus, which is cheaper but takes longer times.

There are no obvious signboards form the Citygate Outlet to the bus No.23 terminus. Turn out the terminus is in the corner, behind Citygate Outlet and next to Cable Car terminus. The bus terminus is outdoors. 

One hour bus journey from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping was very scenic with beautiful hilly island, lush-green forests, and beaches. The bus makes several stop between Tung Chung Town Centre Bus Terminus  and Po Lin Monastery Bus Terminus.

Arrived the Tian Tan Giant Buddha (free entrance fee) in main entrance, there was a series of giant statue of The Twelve Divine General, each represents 2 hours of a day. First thought, I think it was Chinese Zodiac Statue :D

When I arrived, the Buddha was invisible, the fog swallowed up the Buddha Statue. The fog actually gave the statue a haunting image.

The Buddha is ringed by six smaller statues known as the “Offering of the Six Divas”. There were signs in front of every Deva statue telling people not to throw coins in several different languages, however there were a lot of people trying to get the coins into the statues’ hands.

When we finally got down of the Buddha steps, I thought of going straight ahead to The Wisdom Path. Wisdom Path traces a series of 38 wooden steles (upright monuments) containing verses from the centuries-old Heart Sutra (source http://www.discoverhongkong.com). 

We just follow the sign to the Wisdom Path, after 5 minutes walked in the wilderness, we couldn't saw anybody else walking on this path with us, moreover it's rather silent at some point. I was worried that we might have lost out way somewhere in the wilderness..haha..so we decided to went back to the Ngong Ping Village :D

It says ‘village’ because it was a collection of shops and restaurants. Starbucks and Subways also available here. We went back to Tung Chung by taking the same bus number.

Bus No. 23  
Tung Chung Town Centre Bus Terminus - Po Lin Monastery Bus Terminus
Fare Weekdays : HKD 16/person
Fare Weekend : HKD 25/person