Religious Experiences

I got a better start on Thursday morning - I managed to get out of the room by 11am. My plan was to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. I saw this giant statue 10 years ago, but at that time it required a long, seemingly treacherous bus ride. A cable car system was recently built that allowed visitors to skip the winding roads while offering panoramic views of the island. I was looking forward to this ride, hoping to get some nice photos of the island's mountains, shoreline, and maybe even the Hong Kong International Airport.

The cable car could be reached by subway, so off I went on another ride on the MTR. As the train emerged from underground, I noticed for the first time how hazy the skies were. The skies had been like that off and on during my stay. I'm not sure if it is from pollution or high humidity, but either way I hated the idea of going up in the cable car and not being able to see much.

I thought that if I waited a few hours, maybe this haze would burn off. What could I do in the mean time? It hadn't gone unnoticed that the subway stop for the cable car was just one stop away from the Disneyland Resort Line, the train that takes visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland. Hmm, what a great place to hang out for a few hours while waiting for the haze to clear! It wasn't a tough decision, and soon I found myself on a train with Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and lots of families with young children bouncing in their seats in anticipation of what awaited.

I visited HKDL back in 2005, just two months after it first opened. We got to see the entire park, but didn't spend a lot of time exploring anything else. Since Daniel and I are planning to see the park next week, I didn't want to try to go there. Instead, I thought it would be fun to "resort hop," visiting the two hotels that are part of the resort.

I first spent some time exploring the main entrance of the park. There were a fair number of people hanging out there and taking photos, but it didn't seem to be too crowded. From there, I walked the promenade to the Ferry terminal. This was built to allow the resort to have boat access, but as far as I could tell, had largely gone unused; it was just me and a couple of local fishermen hanging out there. Next I wandered over to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Styled similar to Orlando's Grand Floridian, this was a very elegant place - huge chandeliers dangling from stained glass domes, marble floors, and a grand piano sitting in the lobby. From there, I took the resort bus over to Disney's Hollywood Hotel. This is an Art Deco resort with a movie theme. Given a choice, this is definitely where I'd want to stay. I found a counter service restaurant here and decided it was time for lunch. I was excited to find that they had smoked turkey legs! This is one of my favorite WDW snacks. Plus, turkey is hard to find in HK, and I had resigned myself to not having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year. I think this was a good compromise: a turkey leg (served with a spiced honey dip), Japanese noodles, and some fresh fruit. Afterwards, I wandered around the resort and took some more photos.

Sadly, it was time for me to leave HKDL. I took the resort bus over to the MTR station and caught the next train. I was at Tung Chung in no time, and found my way over to the cable car terminal. This terminal was set up to handle huge crowds - it had long queues and a dozen or so ticket counters. I must be visiting on the off-season, because there was hardly anyone on line, and once I figured out what to buy, I had my ticket and boarded a cable car within 10 minutes.

The 20 minute ride up to the Buddha was quite an experience itself. The cable cars travel high, over water and steep mountains, and on a clear day, must offer quite a view. Unfortunately, the haze did not burn off as I'd hoped, moderately obscuring the scenes. Still, the haze did add some depth to the mountain ridges, and I think I was able to get a handful of interesting shots.

When I visited the Po-Lin Monastery 10 years ago, it was a fairly solemn place. There were a few souvenir and food shops, but all seemed very respectful of the true nature of the site. Now, not so much. The cable car dumps you right into a gift shop, complete with hawkers trying to sell photos that were taken as you boarded the car. There are now lots of shops selling not only souvenirs, but also brand name merchandise. There is also a couple of walking tours, a movie about Buddha's path to Enlightenment, an animated fable about a monkey, and NYC street-like acrobats. This seemed much more like a theme park than a religious experience (although I can't complain about the Starbucks mocha frappuccino I enjoyed there). I walked the many steps up to the Buddha and took some photos of the statue and surrounding area, wandered through some of the shops, and then caught another cable car ride back to reality.

While waiting to board the car, Daniel's friend Ray called. (It amazes me that there is cellphone service at such a remote location. Even more amazing is that it had cellphone service when I visited 10 years ago.) Ray knew I was on my own and invited me for dinner. We set up a place to meet, and he took me to a local Hong Kong restaurant. Great food and great company - Ray even got my cellphone charged, at a 7-11, no less. (Stupid me for not verifying that the adapter was rated at 240V before plugging it in.) I was back in my room by 11pm, feeling pretty good about the day I'd just spent.