Friday, April 13, 2012

Hong Kong - Day 1

It was three years ago when I was first introduced to Hong Kong. That was my first international trip then and my first plane ride, hehe. I was with my family. After three years, I'm back again but this time with a new set of companions, my husband Gigie and bestfriend Vicky. We arrived at the HK airport past midnight and as planned, we settled at the airport till morning of the next day. Since Vicky gets to spend only 2 days with us, we have to maximize our time to cover as many places as possible. And so being in charge of planning our itenerary, I chose the nearest tourist spot to the airport as our first stop which is the Ngong Ping 360 in Tung Chung. With our baggages in hand, we left the airport early morning the next day and headed to Tung Chung through bus S1. 

Hong Kong airport is ranked of the best and biggest airports in the world
  
    
Just before the Ngong Ping terminal is a shopping mall, the Tung Chung Town Center. We had our breakfast there at McDo.

A building in Tung C'hung which caught our eyes. Its amazing how this seemingly heavy structure is only supported by a few pillars. It looks like a floating building, hehe. I think those are residential units, not sure though.

Ngong Ping terminus
Amazingly, Ngong Ping terminal provides a locker facility where you can keep your things for HKD40 per 3 hours. Its self service by the way. Just input how many hours you will rent a locker, then insert your payment and your assigned locker will automatically open. 

lockers for rent at Ngong Ping terminus
In order to get to the Ngong Ping village, you have to take the cable car, which according to their website will cover a 5.7km journey.  Round trip ticket costs HKD187 for standard cabin and HKD250 for crystal cabin. The crystal cabin has a glass bottom so you'll have a view of what's underneath. It kinda looks scary though, as if the glass will break anytime, haha.. Since we are only 3 in our group and the cabin can accomodate 8, we have to  share it with another group. Our cabinmates were Thailanders.


The whole 25-minute cable car ride gives you a panoramic view of the HK airport, the South China sea, the mountains of Lantau Island, and the Tan Tian Buddha Statue. Along the way, you will be lulled by the soft breeze and your eyes will be fed with scenic views. Everything you see is so breathtaking that you have to savor it in silence and after a while you get to utter the word "woooooww". Indeed, God has bestowed us with wonderful creatures that we have to be thankful for.


After the cable car ride, you will now enter the Ngong Ping Village. 


Inside this village are retail stores and restaurants.

Adjacent to the Ngong Ping village is the giant Buddha. According to their website, "the story begins with a unique Bodhi Tree experience in the courtyard. Through the mist and incense, the voice of the Bodhi Tree introduces the story of a man who asked himself 'Who am I and why am I here?'. This is the story of how a man named Siddhartha became Buddha"

the giant Buddha behind us
Many people come here to pray so guests are requested to maintain silence as a respect. Under the Buddha is a temple but we did not enter anymore. 

We spent 3 hours in Ngong Ping, afterwhich we headed for Macau and spend the night there. The day after we went back to Hong Kong and visited more sights before Vicky comes back to Pinas. 

To be continued in the next blog, hehe...

No comments:

Post a Comment