Lantau Island Tour

top lft: Jet Li's Star and Prints at Walkway of the Stars

top rt: Tai-O Fishing Village on Lantau Island

bot lft: Sitting Buddha

bot rt: Po-Lin Monastery

The tour began at the Tsimshatsui Walk of the Stars.  This did not exist when I went before to HK...a nice tribute to HK movie stars......you can see the handprints,stars, and signatures of stars like Jet Li, Samo Hung, Brigitte Lin, Michelle Yeoh,Jackie Chan, and even Chow Yun Faat....but he has no handprints, he doesn't want people stepping on his hands!   I was here the nite before but it was hard to see the stars...but they had the spectacular Symphony of Lights....they used laser lights and music to do a light show from the tops of major buildings on both sides of the HK Harbour. After this it was a long bus ride to Lantau Island to catch a Ferry to Tai-O Fishing Village. The captain of the boat was really nice took us out to see the Dolphins of the South China Seas.  They are a unique pink color...and quite playful but awfully hard to try and photograph.....most of the time I just caught their splashes.  Tai-O Fishing Village, a small village built on stilts...whose major product is salted fish...Hamm Yue in Cantonese...Yummy with a big bowl of rice!!  It's unfortunate that we cannot bring any of their products back to US...Anyway next was onto the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery.  The Sitting Buddha is the biggest sitting one in the world, all made from bronze assembled one piece at a time.  It was very impressive with a great explanation of Chinese Buddhism...which is blended with Taoism......this was necessary to incorporate reincarnation into Chinese cosmology.  Then we went down to the Po Lin Monastery for a vegetarian meal, quite excellent........included fake Lemon Chicken, Buddhist Delight, Taro Balls, and vegetarian egg rolls!  But the best was the Dofu Fa.....Finally, the monastery had a interactive animated story of Buddha to show us....used animation, lights, sounds, water, to dramatize the life of Buddha...must admit chinese have learned how to market their culture to the West.  After this it was a Ferry ride thru the Hong Kong Harbour.  All in all it was a full day, everyone really liked our Tour Guide Tony.....he is a semi retired Lantau Island resident who only does small private tours...he was knowlegeable and a fun guy.  Next dining in HK....some of my favorite places.