Singing Teaching in Paradise: Up to the Big Buddha

We went to Lantau Island today after first visiting the huge electronics and computing store in Wan Chai. We almost missed our coach through being so engrossed in the world of gadgets!

The coach took us over to the island to the cable car terminus where we boarded a car and set off for a 5.7 km ride up to the top of the mountain - well I say the top, but actually when we arrived there we were still some distance from the big Buddha on the very peak. It was exhilarating to be so high, and the Po Lin Monestary was very beautiful. When we finally reached the Buddha our super guide, Luna, took us into the exhibition which sits neatly inside the Buddha's tummy ! The 34 metre high bronze statue was quite stunning both close to and at a distance.

The statue was only built 20 years ago, in honour of Hong Kong becoming once again a part of China, and although every Buddha in the world faces South, this one faces North directly towards Beijing, to honour china and the fact that China paid for it ! She told us that with a rather rye smile I think !

After leaving there we visited an old fishing village where the shanty type houses are on stilts, and clearly a village which is somewhat poverty stricken. Oddly it was walking around this place which reminded Sara of her childhood here. It was how she remembered the region, stray dogs, broken down hovels, rather dirty sea water and very smelly dried fish for sale ! Her memories are of the 70's, and the change to a high rise city bustling with finance and bright lights had not happened then.

We arrived back at the hotel at around 8pm and had yet another meal which was what the grandchildren would call 'surprise pie', in other words we had no idea what would arrive !

An early night as we are going into china tomorrow and the coach picks us up at 7.10am - very reminiscent of when I was adjudicating...............