Golfing Through China: Lantau Island and Tian Tan Buddha

Today I took the train from Kowloon to Lantau Island, which has the Tian Tan Buddha statue, the largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha in the world. After arriving at Lantau I had to line up for about an hour to get on a cable-car which takes people on a 35-minute ride through the mountains up to where the Buddha is. The cable car had great views of the mountains, the Buddha and the Hong Kong airport. Once you get off the cable car, there's a "village" made just for tourists, with a Starbucks, 7-11, a few overpriced restaurants and countless souvenir shops. Beyond that, though, the Buddha can be reached by climbing up 260 steps. The Buddha was really cool and there were great views over the whole area. I then walked to through the "wisdom walk", which winds through the mountains for about 30 minutes.

On the way down from the Buddha, I was in a cable car with six mainland Chinese women and a British tourist. In the middle of the ride the Women started talking about the "wai guo ren" or foreigners. They took a poll and said whether they thought we were handsome, and then talked a bit more about us while saying that they were sure we didn't understand what they were saying "ting bu dong." I didn't say anything at that point, but when we got out of the cable car I said in Chinese that I understood a bit of what they were saying and they all put their heads in their hands and started laughing.

Beyond the cable car station there was an outlet mall with Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Dunhill, Nike, Adidas and a few other stores. I did a bit of damage before heading back to Hong Kong on the train. I then went to the pier for the light show and watched Hong Kong Island get lit up.

Tomorrow I have an early tee time at the Clearwater Bay Golf Club, and from then on the golf increases in frequency for a while.