Day 5

Woke up feeling refreshed after a long, and much needed sleep. After a quick shower we strolled down to the harbour and caught the Star Ferry across the river to Hong Kong Island. Upon arrival we searched high and low for a shop or stall serving something that even vaguely resembled breakfast. As luck would have it, we came across a rather unfriendly looking lady at a stall and purchased fresh (warm) pineapple smoothies and two tubs of Dim Sum. Oh how I laughed after taking a big bite and discovering they were full of bile-inducing fish paste. But hey, at least I had warm, juiced pineapple to keep me going, right?

We boarded a First Ferry to Moi Wu, which took about 45 minutes, and then a 30 min bus ride from Moi Wu to Ngong Ping, one of the highest points on the island and also home to the Tian Tan Buddha, which holds the rather tenuous accolade of being the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha. We took plenty of photos and ascended the 268 steps to the platform on which the Buddha sits. After taking in some fantastic views of the Island we had a look around the three floors inside the Buddha and saw one of it's renowned features, a relic of Sakyamuni.

After an hour or so exploring the Buddha we headed to the Po Lin Monastery for a quick look around and some lunch before making our way through the woods to the Wisdom Path.

Next up, we took the Ngong Ping 360 cable car down to Tung Chung, which afforded us panoramic views over the Buddha and the Monastery, as well as Ngong Ping Plateau, the Tung Chung valley, Hong Kong International Airport, the South China Sea and the North Lantau Country Park.

At the Tung Chung terminal, we took a bus out West to a fishing village called Tai O. The journey took close to an hour but was well worth it. Tai O is a tiny village and although this wasn't my first experience of 'real China', it was certainly a humbling one nontheless. As I walked around trying the food at local stalls and taking photos it dawned on me that my clothes, camera and whatever else I had in my backpack were probably worth more that some of the houses in the village. For me that was very difficult to comprehend, especially as I had been complaining that morning about the air conditioning in our room not being very good, yet here were people living in constructions made from sheets of welded metal with nothing but the clothes on their back, just getting on with life and dealing with the hands life had dealt them.

We spent a couple of hours in Tai O, by which time the sun was beginning to set and there wasn't enough natural light to make a boat trip to see pink dolphins worthwhile, so it was back on the bus to Moi Wu to catch a ferry back to Hong Kong Island for dinner. We decided to have a break from Chinese food and went for Mexican at Taco Loco and finished off the day watching football in a bar with a couple of beers.

This was definitely the best day I have had so far and I feel like the experience at the fishing village has given me a fresh perspective on life, money and happiness. Long may that continue.