HONG KONG - Big Buddha Mountain

I couldn't leave the city without posting up some pictures from my day on Lantau Island - the second largest of the islands which makes up Hong Kong. It's perhaps an hour away from the city but has such a different atmosphere - take a walk through the peaks and you'd think you were hundreds of miles from civilisation.


That's the second biggest Buddha I've ever seen. And the bronzest.

The main tourist draw on Lantau is a bronze statue of the Buddha which is touted as: the biggest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha in the world. Which means somewhere there's probably a bigger seated Buddha. Or a bronzer one. Or there's an aircraft hanger somewhere with some very devoted Buddhists in charge of the interior design. Whatever. It's still mighty impressve. It sits on a plateau high above the island next to the Po Min Monestary, which is the more beautiful of the landmarks. I was told later that the Monestary is, in fact, as much of a product of tourism as devotion: the monks of the original monestary (a few older buildings at the back of the complex) opened a vegetarian resteraunt to cater for Buddha visitors, which has paid for most of the larger buildings such as The Hall of Champions:


Hall of the Champions. Your vegetarian meal dollars as work.

I'm not quite sure how such enterprising sits with the teachings of Mr. Buddha but, hey, everyone should have a Hall of Champions to call their own.


Following the Wisdom Path you find all sorts of interesting things. These incredibly elaborate carvings are, I'm told, a visual representation of a core Buddhist chant. And their arranged around the symbol of infinity. That's something which looks like an 8 on its side for those of you who don't read as many occult mysteries as I do.

But its away from the peak and the coachloads of tourists that the real beauty of the place lies. Rather than take the bus back down to Tsung Chung and the metro, I wandered down a hiking path across Lantau Peak and down the back of the hills. Beautiful forests, stunning views and barely a person in sight. Those that you do see, ambling along in their pale blue robes, are the real monks who still live and meditate in these hills. Their tiny dwellings and, occassional monestaries set into the woods, are the only buildings you'll see on your way down.


Another of the Lantau monestaries. All of which boast exceptional gardens. It is a rather long walk to the shops... The figures on the left are, I assume, some form of scarecrows and not a bizarre Buddhist punishment ritual.

Eventually civilisation reminds you that it's there: as you cross out of the woods and onto the descent you can see the new Inernational Airport sprawled out over the headland, and the town of sixty floor tower blocks which has quickly grown to support its workers. The whole thing has been built by reclaiming land from the sea and then systematically flattening some of the hills nearest the coast, a process which will gradually make Lantau into another cityscape. Just across the water is a new convention and exhibiton complex, and somewhere around the other side of the island is where Hong Kong Disneyland is not yet drawing a crowd.

Soon even the footpath up the mountain may be rendered obsolete as a (ugh) cable car is about to open, taking folks from the town all the way up to the Buddha and his entrepreneurial monks. I'm not sure what that'll mean for his quieter soil tenders on the lower slopes of the mountain but my advice? Go pay them a visit before they start selling carrots by the roadside.