Final tour today to the largest of the 260 or so islands that make up Hong Kong, Lantau Island.

Different tour operator today, so getting it all sorted was a bit of a faff, multiple pick ups, bus swaps and getting the ferry over to Lantau meant although I was picked up at 8am we didn't actually get to Lantau until 10am. We again took the very crowded tunnel through to Hong Kong Island and then a ferry to Lantau, when we could have very easily taken the bridge from Kowloon across to Lantau, which is not crowded and great as it's new to support transfer from the airport.

Anyway, Lantau is really undeveloped and underpopulated compared to the other main areas of Hong Kong, as it was part of the New Territories, which were a undeveloped buffer zone between Hong Kong and China, so it is all old villages and lots of green vacant parks. The island has masses of camping areas and hiking areas and loads of little vacation rentals, so it appeals generally to the outdoorsy types. It's very hilly, so lots of up & down in our coach.

First brief stop was at Cheung Sha beach which was cute and completely deserted. Some of the others on the tour thought the water was too cold, but for those of us used to paddling in the Channel, I thought it was okay. Beach was lovely, but not really worth a 20 min stop???

Next stop was Tai O Fishing village, which is one of those old fashioned places, full of houses on stilts on the water and people (well some) earning their living from fishing. Mostly now they work at the airport or the monastery on the island, but it's still a quaint little spot. Got a quick tour of the fishing village in a boat and then had a wander through the fishing market - which given my allergy to seafood was a trip to try my stomach - the sights and smells were a sore trial on my gag reflex.... but I survived.

From there we drove up to the Po Lin Monastery where the giant Buddha is. The statue is huge and can be seen from various points on the island on a clear day. It is made from about 200 cast bronze pieces and was barged down from China and took months to reassemble up on it's plinth. There's a little exhibition centre underneath it explaining the life of Buddha and showing all the people who donated to get the thing built. There are also two of the 84,000 relics from the cremation of Buddha in a little glass case there (although they are so small and you cannot get even remotely close, you can't really tell - you could just be worshipping a glass case for all I know) which apparently make the site a very holy one.

From there we went to the monastery for a veggie lunch, which wasn't too bad. The monastery is one of the richest in this part of Asia and is embarking on a huge development project, despite the fact that the monk population has dropped down to 16. Apparently the congregation has grown exceedingly...... Again the temple was heaving with tourists and locals, so couldn't really get inside to see much. Outside though, there were some really impressive incense devotional areas and a couple of great views of the Buddha statue.

After lunch we were supposed to get the cable car down to the airport area to get our transfer bus back, but the Cable car is currently closed for maintenance, so we had to make do with a slightly cheesey animated interactive film about the life of Buddha - the film wasn't too bad, but the interactive bit was a tad pointless.

Left Lantau at 3pm and got back to Kowloon very shortly after, but due to the traffic and a mess up by our coach driver, it took over 2 hours to get back to my hotel - honestly I could have walked it faster from the first drop off point. Never mind, it's my last day & the only thing I have to do is pack, so I wasn't too stressed about it.

Overall it was a good tour, the guide was very knowledgeable and spoke really good english, but I thought it could have easily been a half day tour, rather than a full day one, especially if they hadn't bothered with the ferry, which just seemed like a waste of time to me. Really all people wanted to see was the Buddha, which is impressive, and the fishing village is a nice little add on. Could have done the village, drove up to the Buddha, then taken the cable car back down and bridge back across and made it back to Kowloon for lunch.

Updated blog again in the business centre and hit Starbucks in the mall for a muffin and latte. Will probably get an earlyish night, as got a pre 9am pick up for my flight to Singapore tomorrow.