Big Buddha

Our last day in Hong Kong. It was easier getting up this morning, though it was still the alarm at 8.00am that woke us. We had breakfast again in the lounge, Ed was disappointed with the curry being vegetable!

We eventually packed our bags - we are going to have to get better at doing this when we are moving around more often in New Zealand, though I guess we will have less time to unpack stuff too. And it's already obvious we are definitely going to have to buy another bag, panda related souvenirs are already starting to fill up the spare space we came with.

After checking out and booking a car to the airport at 4.30 - managed to convince them a 22 seater would be overkill and an MPV would fit everything in fine - we headed off to the MTR to go on the Cable Car to the Big Buddha.

The train took about half an hour with one change, then a short walk to the cable car ticket office. We just booked the standard cabin rather than the crystal version with a glass floor. The cable car was much longer than we thought, taking about 25 minutes and changing direction a couple of times during the trip.

We got off and Ed was very hungry (!) so we went into Subway and had sandwiches and a drink. Then we walked over to the Buddha, where we had to climb 100 or so steps to get up to his base - very tiring in the weather and we were dripping with sweat at the top. Fortunately the area under the Buddha was shady and colder and had some big fans blasting out cool air.

Going down the stairs was easier and we headed back to the cable car for the return trip with one eye on the clock for our 4.30 car. We were paired (possibly not accidentally) with another western family in the cable car. They turned out to be from New Zealand - Invercargill - and had been holidaying in Japan with a stop off on the way home in Hong Kong. They said Japan was a very nice place to visit and easy to get around with a transport pass - one for another year. They gave us there number in Invercargill (Bob and Di) should we need anything whilst passing by and recommended calling in to the museum to see the Tuatara.

Off the cable car and a quick drink purchased in a 7/11 then back on the tube, arriving at hotel at just after 4. We changed out of shorts into warmer weather gear for NZ. The car arrived and the luggage all fitted! We got to airport at 5 and checked in and ate in lounge - very tasty.Read more