Built by the monks of Po Lin Monastery “for the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, for the well-being of the nation and the people, for the perpetuation of the Buddha light, the ever turning of the Dharma-wheel and the peace of the world” the “Big Buddha” is the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha statue in the world at 34m high:
That’s a few qualifiers, but it’s still quite good, although what part the monks actually played in its construction is unclear as a separate company was thanked during the opening speech for building it. However, the best bit was the views from the 20-minute cable car journey to get there (yep, still in China):
And from the Buddha:
And the climb up was welcome after a travelling day yesterday.
Po Lin Monastery itself consisted of the “Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas” with an eye-catching interior of green, gold and red that sparkled against the marble floor and five big seated gold Buddhas (were they the prototypes?):
And the less impressive-looking but pleasingly realistic monks’ digs:
Then back to Hong Kong via the cable car:
And the ferry, where I rather liked this reversible bench – ingenious:
Back at the ferry terminal there was a shop with Chinese calligraphy – this is my name:
I asked why the short and long versions of my name were completely different, even though they share the same first syllable. I was astonished to be told that I had to pay to get an answer to my question. Apparently it’s good business. Except that we then didn’t buy anything despite both liking one of the t-shirts. It’s a principle thing.
An advert on the metro was a subtle indication that things are different here:
And finally back to Chungking Mansion, which deserves a little mention: apparently it’s an iconic building in HK (but I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure why – the building next to it looks much more interesting – it’s much less grand than the name suggests):
It’s bustling all day with traders, money exchangers and restaurants.
One of which did a rather nice Indian buffet for £5:
And that’s another thing about HK- after months of natives dominating the ethnic mix, I’m suddenly in a place with much more diversity. What does “eating local” mean here? Not sure, but nobody’s taking photos of me anymore. And I’m not sure how I feel about this.