A day of pilgrimages

First, Eric and I went to see the big Buddha. Getting there was a bit of an adventure. To start things off, you take one of the subway lines to its terminus. Then, you ride a bus for an hour. Our Frommer’s guidebook stated that the bus ride was “hair-raising,” so I had envisioned breakneck speed and lurching around corners. This was not the case. Although there were sharp mountain curves, the buses didn’t move that fast. Rather, the thing that made the bus ride scary was the fact that the road was basically one lane. About every 600 feet or so (?), there’d be a lay-by where oncoming traffic could pull over. Good thing that there wasn’t much oncoming traffic. Except all the other buses.

Anyway, we arrived at the monastery in one piece after driving by some very nice beaches (Hong Kong has beautiful beaches. Who knew?). This is the world’s largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha (not sure how much competition there is in that category, though). For some unknown reason, I was always think that Buddha statues are very old, but this one was unveiled in 1993.

After walking around the Buddha (and up the 260 steps), we went to eat at the Temple’s vegetarian restaurant. The food was very good.

Then we took the bus and the subway back to Hong Kong. By the way, for those who think that Hong Kong is all city, the countryside looks like this:

Our second pilgrimage was to a restaurant (recommended to us by our friend who lives here) that specializes in spicy Chinese food. You know the food is going to be spicy when the outside of the restaurant looks like this:There was, blissfully, food on the menu that wasn’t super-hot, so I was okay. Eric loved his food (which looked so hot that I didn't even dare to taste it), and is thinking of going back on Monday.

Our third pilgrimage was to a place that has the best cakes in Hong Kong (again, suggested by our friend).

I am now so full that I won’t be able to eat anything until, oh, tomorrow.