I really recommend that you to put this is a MUST GO when you visit Hong Kong.
“If you didn’t go to see the Big Buddha, you haven’t been to Hong Kong…” That’s what they all say!
No! You really don’t need the tour package! Just take the subway to Tung Chung, when you get off you will see the sign to Ngong Ping 360 ticket station.
The queue to take the cable car was extremely long! They had to queue up downstairs, it was poor English communication but we could guess that we had to stay in the left line…but if you would like to take the bus, you can keep right and walk to the bus line…
We stayed in line for about 10 minutes until they let us go upstairs where there is a LONGER line…!
Good luck that I saw a lady trying to sell some package to the other tourist, so I called her to ask!
Her packages are for the crystal cabin, it’s what I wanted to ride anyway!!! The Package is $HK272 for a round trip in the crystal cabin, plus entrance to the Walking Buddha and Monkey’s Tale shows…
So why not to buy it with her. She took us out of the line and walked past hundreds of tourists… I think if we had to stay in line, it would take at least an hour!
The price for Crystal Cabin roundtrip at the ticket counter is $HK278, we saved about $HK6 and 60mins (get out of that line!)
While waiting for the cable ride, you can find a nice bathroom which is not easy to find for public and tourist areas in China…
It’s our time to ride! Each cabin is for 10 person.
When we got to sit, there was a camera guy taking all passengers pictures – no doubt that they will sell the picture to you later!
Great that we paid more but saved our time queuing! The view is so worth the money!
The baby that we shared the car with enjoyed the ride too!
You can look through the cabin and see the mountains all around you and the sea just under your feet. Really beautiful!
It takes about 25 minutes to ride each leg of the 5.7 kg sky ride. But if we do the calculation, it’s about $16 or 500 Thai Baht per trip – not bad!
As we get closer we start to see the Big Buddha from our cabin!
And when we arrived, somebody was waiting and holding our pictures!
The package of our photo is $HK400 ($55 or 1,656baht) so I got 6×8” photo, 2 key chains and photo water globe…they did a very good job, I like them but it’s kind of expensive of those touristy photo places…. But shopping is shopping!
You can see the price list at the cashier counter, and just pick the items you want.
From here it’s only one to way walk to the Big Buddha which is lined by many shops on both sides. You can find good food, Coffee and sandwich or keep walking to Po Lin Monastery where the Big Buddha statue is…
I found some Thai sign says “Sa Was Dee Ka”, no surprise for the Buddhist places are always popular places for most Thais to visit…
Along the path, there are 12 divine general stone statues; each general represents one of the twelve Chinese zodiacs.
You can read the sign or look at the general’s hat to find your general for the year of your birth…
In fact, you can see the Big Buddha from far and the view is really stunning! Lots of photos to take so make sure you have your batteries charged and film loaded!
Tian Tan, the Big Buddha statue is about 26 meters high and about 202 tons. This Buddha took about 12 years to complete.
To get inside the Big Buddha, you have to buy a “Snack Ticket”, it was $HK30 for person. You will walk through the museum but not allowed to take pictures there. It was a short walk inside and when we got out of the big Buddha the view of the mountains is magnificent.
We got a free drink and ice-cream from the Snack ticket stub after we came down from the Big Buddha, nice treat!
Walking back, we stopped to see the Walking Buddha show as it’s included in our cable ride package. It’s a nice story about Lord Buddha depicted through a big screen comic type character, the show is about 15 minutes. We didn’t stay for the Monkey’s tale as we tired and it was getting late.
But it’s great that our crystal cabin wasn’t a long queue on the way down, we arrived back to the first station about 4pm then took the subway back to our hotel….
At night, we tried a real Chinese restaurant!
That means we have to try harder when ordering Chinese food as they don’t speak English here…
At the end we got goose, fried fish and the most expensive cold crab at $HK730 or ~3,000 Baht or $100!!! But it was soooooooo good! I wish that I can speak Chinese better!
Tonight, the last night and I should start packing for tomorrow, it’s time to go home!
And I think I should say sorry that I did too much shopping, now I can’t take the Airport express (train), and I’ll have to get a taxi from the Hotel to the Airport at $HK180 or 745baht or $35…
FYI – Most of Asia airlines are in Terminal 2, Hong Kong Airport. I got some mooncake at the airport for my sister, the most favorite local cake at about $HK16 each or $HK500 for a big package.
End of the Hong Kong Trip, 4 days 3 nights – we recommend that you put Hong Kong as one of your destinations soon, it’s easy to get around and a nice vacation for all ages!
