Lantau Island

One of the must sees while in Hong Kong is apparently the cable car up Lantau Island… shock, stun, amazement, it was out of action during my visit, however there was an economical day trip which included a visit to the Giant Buddha and Ancient Fishing Town, so I decided to tube it to Lantau Island and see what all of the fuss was about.

I was pleased to find myself on a bus with an English speaking tour guide! As well as passengers from a range of different countries, although I did feel my uniqueness of being a Westerner slipping away – HK is a lot more multi cultural than my home town. There was a couple from England who I had a bit of a chat with, some from Germany, some who given the violent nature of their language I imagined hailed from Russia or somewhere close by, the rest seemed to have some kind of Asian background.

On the way to our first stop we passed what appeared to be a nice island resort, but we were soon informed was actually a high security prison… If I do so feel inclined to commit any crimes while in China I will be requesting a cell with a view here.

We arrived at Tai O, a small traditional fishing village. Although an obvious tourist destination it, unlike many towns I’ve visited in China, seems to have retained its originality and history. I suppose Hong Kong and its islands missed out on the Cultural Revolution of the 80’s, so nothing has been rebuilt, repainted, reconstructed or re-anything – thank goodness. I have a sneaking suspicion Mao wasn’t a history buff or someone with any concern around authenticity or historical integrity. Imagine he was busy with other matters… like marching orchestrations.

 

Tai O is about 300 years old with a history which includes piracy and smuggling. During the ‘English Occupation’ it was also a place that Chinese fled to during Moa’s Chairmanship, its also been a place that the ethnic groups of Hong Kong have moved to, associating the area with their own history.

It is a place that retains an ancient fishing lifestyle that seems to be dying out, so being here you feel as though you are taking a step back in history, and for me, hoping my tourism and money will enable the lifestyle to continue.

Divided into two groups we boarded small motorised long boats and weaved through a channel between make-shift apartments that seemed to be floating on the water themselves, before making our way out to the open water, past the island hills that emerged left and right. 

There was an exceptionally long bridge to our right which I later discovered was actually an overpass between Hong Kong and the main land! I would not be driving on that, thank you very much – while looking at the photo now I can just see a crack opening on the road before me and then… well I’ll let your imagination do the rest.

We buoyed for a time on the inlet, waiting for… OH! A Dolphin! The boat rocked as passengers stood and strained to get a glimpse of the animals. I didn’t…  A fortunate thing about being an Aussie that’s spent a lot of time on or around the water, I’ve seen many a dolphin. Later I was told that this was a pink dolphin, very few people get to see them apparently and they are also endangered – so it seems a dolphin is not a dolphin is not a dolphin, and I should be less arrogant about having seen every ocean creature just cos I’m from Oz!

We were ferried back in from the coast and along the ‘estuaries’? I’m not sure what to call them, before boarding at a traditional fishermans hut. When I say traditional, it is one of the relatively more recent establishments, built of corrugated iron and wooden planks… as I ascended the stairs and entered the ‘hut’ I could see a hole in the floor, just a small square, which is apparently used for evening dinner catching – now that’s a fresh meal!

The old wooden huts are those that are up to 300 years old, however there are ‘squatters’ that, over the last thirty years have popped up, not often regulated, fishermen will come and using cheap materials, put together a hut so that they can fish during the season and earn money for the family.

As I walked through the village I saw people hanging ACTUAL fish on a washing line, a man drying egg yokes – a skill I doubt I’ll ever hone – a small market place of dried seafood, the wafting stench almost quaint. Then there were stall of shell chimes, blown-up blow fish, tofu, dried seaweed, necklaces and everything in between.

I tried some of the local FISH BALLS, not realising the heat… and when I say heat I mean chilli heat, your tongue burning and a desire to go back in time and NOT eat the fish ball! I ran to the local store and grabbed the coldest cider in a bottle in the hopes that my tongue would not drop off completely…

I headed back to the meeting place for the bus and tried to strike up a conversation with the tour guide… unfortunately it resulted in her offering me another delicacy from Tai O which, because one doesn’t decline such an offer… I accepted, and it turned out I was chewing on fish bones… thank goodness I took drama at school because when she said “Good” I smiled (while tears of pain snuck down my cheeks) and nodded in agreement…

A good month of no seafood was had thereafter!

Back on the bus we headed further up the mountain toward the Monastery with the second largest sitting Buddha in the world. Completed in 1994 there are 260 steps (trust me!) to get to the bronze statue. It was completed in 1994 – so for me, wasn’t the main event… I liked Po Lin Monastery, established in 1906… the architecture, hearing the humming of the monks… ok – admittedly tofu three ways… its still tofu.

I did traipse up the stairs and took a moment to enjoy the scenery, the mountains – the monastery tucked between the valleys, bought a jade bracelet to commemorate the experience and then took the bus back to the hotel.

Tomorrow? Well its Saturday… so no visa, no documents, I must entertain myself… maybe another island? Who knows!