Big Buddha and Tai O Fishing Village

So I have been in Hong Kong for about 4 months already, and as of a week ago, I hadn't done one of the most touristy things in Hong Kong: the Big Buddha. The Buddha on Lantau Island is the largest sitting Buddha in the world (I saw the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand...big difference). The Buddha is probably 1.5 hours away from where I live by the MTR (subway), so it is a long hike. Once you get there, you have to take a cable car to get up to the little village where the Buddha is. The cable car ride is quite beautiful, as you get to a view of the mountainous hills of Hong Kong (see photo). Also, you get a great view of the man-made island that the Hong Kong Airport is on. It is an impressively large island for being man-made.


The Buddha is rather anti-climactic. You have to climb up quite a few stairs to get to the top, and once at the top, there is nothing to do but look at the Buddha. It took me about 10 seconds to take in the sight of this gigantic Buddha, and then I was bored.


So after we viewed the Buddha, we traveled to the Tai O Fishing village nearby. The entire village is set up on stilts because the water levels change so dramatically throughout the year. The village is quaint and quite rural. We walked around the village for a while, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and tried to stay out of the scorching sun. I am glad that I went to see the Buddha and Tai O, but neither really compared to the many fantastic things I have seen in Asia.