Day in Lantau Island, Hong Kong

I am staying in Tung Chung, Lantau Island, so it made sense for me to begin my Hong Kong adventure on Lantau Island. If you ever come to Hong Kong, you must come here - its amazing!! I purchased a day pass for buses on Lantau Island and a one-way cable car package for 98HK (approx 15NZD), and did four bus rides around the island aswell as the 5km cable car trip for Tung Chung to Ngong Ping, so it was well worth it.

First stop was Tai O Fishing Village (will upload pics soon, just can't find a memory card slot on Caleb's computer). This village is very cool - market, monasteries, houses on stilts in the lagoon, and cheap boats out to see the white dolphin (they are actually pink) if you have time. I spent my time there wandering around the village - alot of the villagers sell goods outside their houses. Alot of the goods were dried fish (yuck) but it was cool to have a look around. On my next bus from Tai O to Mui Wo I met a german backpacker who was doing the same thing as me - just completed a degree so celebrating by backpacking Hong Kong and China. He had to catch a ferry to central at the Mui Wo pier. My original plan was to catch a ferry to Cheng Chau Island, but the ferry times didn't suit, so I decided to stay at Mui Wo and explore. Lucky I did - Mui Wo is sooo much fun! The main method of transport there is bicycles (no car access to most of the town) so I rented a flash little bike from one of the few bike shops in town. Only 30HKD (5NZD) for a day's bike rental! I spent the next couple of hours exploring through the shanty little village and biked along the beach.

Next stop - Tung Chung central to catch cable car up to the Buddha. Bus trip to Tung Chung was entertaining as I sat next to a Russian girl - from Siberia. She corrected my perspective of Siberia as a place with barely any people (her city has a population of 1 million, and there are bigger cities nearby), and I corrected her perspective of New Zealanders when she asked where I was from. "Ohhh, I thought New Zealanders were all dark skinned with all that sun!". She said Siberia snows six months of the year, not every Russian likes to drink vodka, and bears can only be found in the zoo. Now, the buddha - this is more touristed, and I actually enjoyed it less than exploring, but it is one of the must-do attractions in Hong Kong and everyone is taking their picture in front of the buddha. Ngong Ping village is set up as a tourist village with souvenier shops and restaurants and is very clean and pretty!

Tomorrow, haven't got anything planned yet - maybe the Victoria Peak. And the boys are playing rugby at Causeway Bay, so will hit the shops and look around town before watching the game. Then will check out the Hong Kong nightlife - can't wait!!