A day in Lantau Island and Tai O village! To tell you the truth, is really an awesome place to be because it has fantastic scenery and is really educational especially if you have children. We had a sumptuous breakfast at our apartment, charged up before we headed out for a great day.
We took the MTR (we called it MRT in Singapore) to Tung Chung Station then to the Ngong Ping Cable Car to get on our cable car ride to Lantau Island. Friends have recommended us to take the crystal cable car for a better experience because of its glass bottom and indeed we had a great ride with all the nice scenery around us. (Warning! If you have height phobia, this is NOT for you.) The cable car ride is around 25 minutes and it carried us over the mountain with breath-taking views before we actually reached Ngong Ping village. The ride was awesome. We get to soak ourselves with the scenery left, right and bottom. The top is not transparent though.
Looking out of our cable car.
The glass bottom of the cable car.
Nearing the village.
It was a pretty hot and sunny day when we reached. The first thing we touched down, grandma took an umbrella out for the smarties but…. mei mei is too short for gor gor! He had to walk like a duck while sharing the umbrella because mei mei insisted on holding it.
After some “fight”, they gave up on the umbrella and mei mei sashayed along the streets with her sunglass instead.
My little GPS man got “hot” from the fight and wanted to cool down with some ice-cream. He checked through the map that he got before the cable car ride and search for his ice-cream.
Little GPS man.
Found the ice-cream store!
Enjoying his ice-cream.
We had a little walk along the village shop houses till lunch time. We went to the famous Po Lin Monastery for the lunch. It’s a vegetarian lunch by the way as its served in the monastery.
After our sumptous lunch, we took a bus ride to Tai O fishing village. This peaceful little fishing village is sometimes called “Venice of Hong Kong” and it has became a tourist attraction for people around the world for its lifestyle where the people live in stilt houses over the water.
Before we get to explore the shops in the village, we were heading off to their “jetty” for a boat ride to catch pink dolphins. Unfortunately, we didn’t mange to catch any and mei mei actually fell asleep while waiting for the pink dolphins to appear. People coming to Tai O village not only buy their products but also to catch a glimpse of the pink dolphins. It has became a popular eco-toursim attraction in Hong Kong.
On the boat to catch a glimpse of the pink dolphins.
Stilt houses.
While were were back on land (Tai O Village), we had some time to shop around. Smarties were excited to explore the different shophouses because each shops sells very unique products which we seldom see in Singapore.
Shop that sells decorative products made of sea shells.
We managed to catch the people setting up their signboard and painting it.
We got to see how the salted fishes were being “made”.
Not forgetting the live fish stalls selling fishes.
Before we head back to Lantau Island, we bought some fish balls to try. It was huge and yummy!
After the fish balls, it’s time for a work out! We climbed the 250 steps to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue. Mei mei was very focused on climbing up the stairs. When we were half way up, she looked up and the first thing she said is:”Look! The buddha is saying hi to me!”. We had a great laugh!
Why she said that is because the Buddha right hand is raised and she thought the Buddha is saying hi. Such innocence! If you do not know, the raised of the Buddha’s right hand is representing the removal of affliction and left hand rests on his lap in a gesture of giving chana.
When we reached the top, the scenery was marvellous. Not only that, you feel calm and peaceful. We walked around the area and took some pictures while enjoying the fresh air. No haze! We try to take in as much fresh air as possible!
We had a great time at the Lantau Island and Tai O village! It’s our favorite part of the trip to Hong Kong and a great place to visit for both the young and the old.
Ooh I have been wanting to explore this part of HK! This post would come in handy 🙂 Thanks!!
Hope this info helps you plan 😉
Both my kids and my parents were well entertained throughout the trip, not forgetting myself too! 🙂