Day 5: Lantau Island: Waking up early the three of us took the tram to central and took the ferry ride to Lantau Island. It was a nice ride though I was half conscious during most of it. When we arrived and got off the ferry we took in the sights. It was quite a pretty little island. It was also hot as all balls as well. So we leisurely walked down to the beach area and took refuge at a table under a tree on the beach. At first Hilda and I sat and chatted an just enjoyed relaxing while Debbie went off and played on the beach. It was amusing to watch her. Hilda and I both commented on the about of genki that girl had and that I could not remember a time where I was just super genki for no reason. After an hour she came back to the table where we were sitting and asked if we wanted to go play with her. Since I was younger Hilda said it was my job to go. Laughing, I rolled up my pants legs and took a stroll down the beach with Debbie. We came to a place at the end where there was a pretty rock mass and both her and I took several pictures there. My pants got soaked all the way to the upper thigh but it was cool so it was nice. After that we returned to Hilda and Debbie took a rest while I took pics of Hilda on the beach. We attempted jump pictures as well and they turned out “interesting” lol.
Once we had enough of the beach we decided to take the bus to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) site. Before we left however we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was truly pleasant and the food was good as well. The bus ride to the Buddha site took much longer than I expected, but the view was absolutely beautiful. When we reached the site we had a good number of stairs to climb before we reached the top of the hill where the monument was. The Tian Tan Buddha was the largest bronze Buddha erected until recently weighing in at 250 metric tons. Us visitors also had the privilege of climbing 268 steps to get to the base. I felt every one of those steps. God I’m out of shape lol It was worth it though. If I were to have a rocky moment that moment would have been it haha.
The view was really nice from the top of the hill and many pictures were taken. Unfortunately there might not be any evidence of these events because Hilda’s camera (the one person who had a camera on this tour really) SD card got messed up. So in the end she might not be able to retrieve her photos. *crosses fingers in hopes she does* While up there I ended up purchasing a jade flower necklace from inside the shop at the base of the Buddha. In truth I think we stayed up there as long as we did simply because it took so much effort to get up there el oh el. When we finally did leave we went over to this gold(or at least it looked like gold) palace where entered, looked around for a short time in then just sat in the court yard talking and enjoying the shade. It was pretty late in the day by this point and being high up we managed a decent breeze. At one point I would have even deemed it chilly. The turning back point was the sun beginning to set. So we started the journey back to Hong Kong Island for the night.
Macau: Well today was an exciting day, not only because we were going to another island, but also because traveling to Macau requires you to have a passport, THUS getting another passport stamp. For some reason, the three of us are very anxious and excited to get a passport stamp. In reality after this Christmas I might need a new passport. Customs don’t go about stamping your passports neatly so there are things all over the place, and thus there was no effort in saving space. That and the stupid Vietnam visa that didn’t work *grumble* ANYWAY out to central and another ferry for the trip to Macau. Macau is known for its Pilipino influence as well as its reputation of being mini-Vegas. After we passed into Macau we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels.
We decided that we would try the MGM hotel first since it looked like it had some interesting things to see. Once inside I knew why they called Macau the mini-Vegas. Before entering other hotels later it was the most elegant and filthy rich hotel I had EVER been in. I could just feel my wallet crying just for standing in the lobby. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures with the zodiac replicas they made out of flowers that filled the inner mall at the MGM. We also watched the fountain display in front of the Wynn hotel before we went back to the MGM lobby to watch the dragon dancers. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a show, but when the two dancers who wore the dragon costume came on it was pure awesomeness. It was completely worth every minute I spent watching it, and besides being cool to watch it was also FREE yatta! After this we decided to head toward St. Peters (I think) arch ruins. It was a long and tasty walk. Once we got around the general area there were tons of street venders selling sweets and procured/multi-seasoned meats. We grabbed a few samples on the way to the ruins. There, we sat and chatted a while. There wasn’t much too see. It was a huge arch, but nothing compared to the architectural genius I’ve seen in France and Rome. Once we decided to head back we were on the look out to find another heritage site. A Historical Church that I can’t quite recall the name of. The fun part was stopping and tasting nearly every available sample as we walked down the street of venders and shops. It was quite yummy and both Hilda and Debbie ended up buying something. The church was also not that impressive, or at least not anymore impressive than my own church in the states, but because of it’s history it was worth a look. After that it was relax time in the square. The three of us sat on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard of the main streets. There we simply talked and goofed off for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and each other. When it became a bit dark we decided to walk back to the hotels and there we did much of the same, sitting outside talking and enjoying the night. It was so cool to see all the casinos light up and people watch. I quite liked Macau .
The last full day in Hong Kong we decided to look around at museums. We went to the art museum and the science and space museum. They were both interesting though museums at large don’t do too much for entertainment. However I do like museums depending on what type of art I’m looking at and if I just learned about what I am seeing. This was the focus of the day until the evening when I was supposed to meet up with my friend Lydia( whom I was trying to hook up with all week). Unfortunately we got the museums mixed up and I ended up missing her. It was really sad cause I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Hong Kong or when she will visit Japan. After some serious frustration and brooding on my part I watched the Symphony of lights with the others ( it was alright, but nothing of what I expected it to be) and then made our way back to the night markets on the other side of the island to do some last minute shopping. We had some money to burn because we opted out of going to HK Disneyland. That and the exchange rate back to yen would have hurt us more than just keeping the HKD. After a few more hours at the night markets we decided to call it a night on our HK trip. The following morning we packed up, at Popeyes at the airport, bought omiyage (of course) and headed back home for Japan!
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