Day Three

Rised and shined early again and caught the MTR (tube) over to Tung Chung in order to get the Poi Ning cable car up to see the Tian Tan Statue of Buddah and the Po Lin Monastery. Some pretty nice views from the cable car, including Hong Kong Airport which was surprisingly interesting and mesmerising to watch planes land and take off from above.

Walked up literally thousands and thousands of steps to get up to the Buddah Statue and walked around it, it's a fair size and is about 26 odd metres in height apparently. Opened quite recently too (1997). Made a donation to feel good about myself and then walked back down the steps to head over to the Po Lin monastery. Lots of people there lighting incense to symbolise something or rather, and it was interesting to watch. Then had a "walking with Buddah" guide and their propoganda seemed to work because if I was to choose to become a member of any religion now, it would probably be Buddhism! After this enlightening tour, I decided to treat myself to two pairs of chopsticks in a box.

Got the cable car back down to Tung Chung and sat eating (disappointingly but was all I could find) a MacDonalds. My viewing position turned out to be one of the best things ever though because it was opposite one of those fountains that surprise people when they come out of the floor. Highlight was one young whipper snapper trying to impress his friends by calmly walking through and not getting hit...but then he did it again and got hit full on in the face. Luckily I had my camera to hand to embrace this moment!

Back over to Tsim Sha Tsui, and I waited until it got dark to head over to the Promenade and then get the ferry and Peak tram up to the Peak again to take some night shots of the city. Unfortunately I chose to visit the Peak tram at Peak time (great pun) and queued for about an hour and a half to get to the top. Was well worth it though, views were amazing as I hope will show in some of the photos.

Day Four

Woke up too late for breakfast as a result of my hundreds of miles walked in the last few days, so went over to the 7/11 and got a lemon cake! Had time to kill until I needed to get to the airport so walked back down to the Promenade. This being a Sunday it was absolutely buzzing and had an amazing atmosphere. Lots of people taking pictures, a few bands and singers playing, a little market, but the highlight was this random circle of drummers. Basically it consisted of one man in the middle with a microphone, and about 30 to 40 people sitting around him each with some form of percussion. You were welcome to take a seat and grab a drum and start drumming. Every now and then he would sort of conduct it and make the beat slower or faster or louder or softer. Surprisingly rather than sounding like a mish mash of crap, it actually worked really well.

After the promenade I headed over to my "local" for some lunch - this is when, after eating here for 3 days in a row, I actually found out it was Japanese and not Chinese! Well it all looks the same (can I say that?!) and I used chop sticks so it kind of counts. My punishment for this lack of touristic skill was to leave my wallet in there, and therefore lose my wallet after only 4 days of travel. Luckily I had planned for such a scenario and therefore only lost one bank card (which I cancelled) and about 20 quids worth of Hong Kong Dollars, and my lucky wet wipe :(

Thankfully got to the airport in time, and about 18 hours later arrived in Christchurch in New Zealand where I continue my adventure...