Thurs. July 19, 2012

Oh my! This sight-seeing will do me in.  I need to get to teaching 8 hours a day to get a break.
I had a slower morning and got a bit organized.   Ralph came at 9:15 and moved all my bags to the room  they had  for a month and Elizabeth was in until today.  Daisy picked Elizabeth and me up at 9:15 and we went to a "dollar store", but there a "Ten Dollar Store".   Interestingly enough, many items came from Japan, since it had been a Japanese import store.  We got some things as gifts and for school and walked to another great restaurant, The Jade Garden, for lunch.  Ralph and 3 kids were late joining us so we started right in.

   baked barbequed pork pastry buns with lemon flavor,  fresh prawns with pink soba

steamed bamboo pith rolls with black fungi and bean curd, dim sum in the cage,  stir-fried clams with chives that you rolled up in Chinese pancakes    

beef dices with crispy garlic, rolls and soba from before

  
We had:  beef dices with crispy garlic, fresh prawns with pink soba, stir-fried clams with chives that you rolled up in Chinese pancakes, steamed bamboo pith rolls with black fungi and bean curd, baked barbequed pork pastry buns with lemon flavor, chicken and mushroom rice in bamboo steamer, dim sum in the cage, grilled barbeque pork in slices stuffed with preserved egg.  Very tasty!  (In case you hadn't noticed, this is a food blog. :-)

Then we headed out to Lantau Island about 45 minutes away to see the world's tallest, outdoor, seated Buddha ATOP Ngong Ping plateau amid spectacular mountain scenery.  Notice the key word "atop".  We rode in a cable car 3 1/2 miles past 7 stations up a high mountain  overlooking the water, airport, and beautiful green scenery, much like the CA mountains in spring.   That was definitely worth the trip!  Once up there, we got snacks and walked and walked through many shops, saw a Kung Fu demonstration and finally got to the foot of the Buddha. To go up to the Buddha, you needed to climb 268 steps.  We did not.

Residential buildings, 40-50 stories!

Entrance to cable cars for the 3 1/2 mile trip to tNgong Ping
Village and the largest outdoor Buddha.

Beginning the ascent.

View of people gathering mussels.  They only
gather them during low tide.

View of airport to left and  Tung Chung on right.

Higher and higher through 7 station towers

View of the Buddha on our way up.

Elizabeth, Ranen and I in square at the top.

 Back down and not home until 7:00.  Really tired and feet hurt and I needed to unpack and get ready for class tomorrow.   Supper and a shower gave me a little energy.   I plan to be in bed soon.  My goodness, what a busy two days.  We've covered a lot of ground.