Big Buddha On A Hill

Today I braved wet and windy weather (Hong Kong style, chucking it down with a helpful gale-force wind blowing the rain sideways...) to go visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. the GLAMOUR that is globetrotting. I hope you're all jealous of my sopping shoes and soggy Afro hair! In case anyone's wondering, it wasn't raining when I left the hotel... I'm NOT a glutton for punishment!

Apparently the bad weather kept all sane people away, so I had a private transfer from the end of the MTR Subway up to Po Lin Monastery. One hour on windy, wet and windy roads with just the driver, a 60 seater bus, and moi! All the buses coming back the other way were packed to bursting, people scared away by a little water... Hah!

The setting is amazing - on the top of a hill on Lantau Island. Along the way we passed small villages, beautiful beaches (would've been if not for the weather), and a huge...prison. Oh well. There are 251 steps leading up to the main plateau that the Buddha sits on. I counted them, but I think I may have passed out at some point and not counted the ones I crawled up. Certainly seemed more like 1000! Hey, at least I didn't have to take my travel bag up there... now at 29kg and counting!

I closed off a memorable day by drying off in the cinema watching Die Hard 4.0. Just biding my time until Transformers comes out and I can watch it in Chinese!