Once we arrive at the cable car terminal, we'll make our way up to the window to purchase our tickets which we reserved on line thanks to the advise of the friendly and helpful people on Trip Advisor. Apparently, although they do not require payment on line, making the reservation on line helps you to avoid a long wait (which can be up to 2 hours according to some reviews) once you arrive. We've decided to purchase the 360 Sky-Land-Sea Day Pass for about $33 US. We're doing the one with the Standard Cabin cable car ride on the way over and the Crystal Cabin cable car ride on the way back. In addition to the roundtrip cable car ride, it includes unlimited NLB bus rides and a Tai O Boat excursion.
Reviewing the NP360 website, we have decided to use one of their suggested itineraries for the day. So once we arrive at the Ngong Ping Cable Car terminal we will take a walk through Ngong Ping Village. This will take about an hour and allows time for photo taking and a little shopping if we pass by something interesting. We'll also have time to enjoy the "Walking with Buddha" and "Monkey's Tail Theater" shows before stopping at one of the many cafes for a leisurely lunch. Going through the website one of stops that stuck out for me was the Li-nong Tea House. So I know that I will be stopping there for tea. Yesterday after I finished writing about the first day, my travel buddy, Jenny told me she was on board for this trip. Since she and I both have a great love for tea, the tea house will be a must for us. So, I am not sure if we will have tea directly after lunch or after we have visited the Buddha. But tea will be had.
The next item on our list of things to do today while enjoying the NP360 experience is visiting Lantau Island including Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. This is where we take our cable car ride. We'll be in a standard cable car on the ride over and the views of the Buddha from the air are magnificent. Once we arrive, we can walk up the 268 steps to the base of the Buddha (which is incidentally the largest outdoor sitting bronze Buddha in the world) and witness the fantastic 360 degree views of Lantau and the South China Sea. Work on the Tian Tan Buddha only began in 1976 and was completed in 1993. So this is a fairly new religious monument. It is located directly next to the Po Lin Monastery which we will visit next. While at Po Lin you are welcome to enjoy the vegetarian delicacies and aromatic tea to refresh your body, mind and soul before heading out on one of the hiking trails. The itinerary suggests that this portion of our day will only take an hour. But I know me and Jenny and I have a feeling we will be spending several hours around the Buddha and monastery. 
But once we have completed that part of the day and take the crystal cable car back to Ngong Ping the balance of our day will be spent at Tai O. Our tickets include the bus ride from the Ngong Ping bus station to Tai O and we've bought the package that includes a boat excursion around Tai O which is a fishing village. So this ought to be a lot of fun. At Tai O we can spend the rest of the day shopping in markets, just walking around and seeing the day to day life of residents who live on the water or hiring a boat to take us out to see the pink dolphins. The website suggests that we allow three hours for this portion of the day. So, it sounds like there is plenty to do. There are several temples to tour in Tai O and from the looks of things we'll be able to use up a memory card or two before the day is over. Jenny doesn't know it yet, but we're having an adventurous authentic Chinese seafood meal for dinner in Tai O. Hey! If you want to come along with me on my mind trip, these are some of the things you have to deal with.
No comments:
Post a Comment