3/4 Hong Kong Day3

3/4/2013: I got up at a reasonable time and once again failed to get my laundry done (the place was still closed). My plan for today was to go to Lantau Island, the biggest island in Hong Kong. I took the train from Causeway Bay to Tung Chung on Lantau Island and then stood in line for a while for the cable car. It was a total tourist trap, with photographers for each cable car rider and mascots at the top of the ride, but it was actually a really beautiful view from the cable car. The cable car covers about 3.5 miles, from Tung Chung on the coast, inland to Ngong Ping. Ngong Ping is an even bigger tourist trap, but it is also a spot where you can access the Lantau Trail, which runs a large distance across the island. I wandered through Ngong Ping briefly. It is the site of the largest outdoor bronze buddha , which is pretty impressive as you approach the area from the cable car. I talked to some elderly Aussies briefly so I could borrow their sunscreen (it was sunny and I sought out the whitest people I could find). I stopped in a souvenir shop to ask about finding the Lantau Trail, but the girl had never heard of it and said it sounded dangerous to walk all the way from Ngong Ping to Tai O, the fishing village on the southwest part of the island. A little discouraged,I walked about 50 feet from her shop and found a nice big informative sign showing all the details of the Lantau Trail and how to access it from Ngong Ping, so I was re-encouraged. The Lantau Trail followed the road for about a mile, then diverged and climbed up into the mountains. I had to climb up a few different little peaks but the views were excellent. To the south I could see ocean and other smaller islands, and to the north I could see the large mountains that made up the spine of the island. Up high, these mountains were just covered in short grass, so I had unobstructed panoramic views from the various little peaks I was hiking over. I eventually dropped down onto the other side of the mountains and met up with the Tai O Road and followed that all the way into the village. It was a total hike of around 6 miles.

 I sat at the pier for a while and snacked on an orange, since I hadn't eaten much that day and it was already 3:30pm or so (I'd already tightened my belt to the 4th notch, so I suppose I haven't been eating enough). I wandered through the market, where people were selling all sorts of sea creatures, some alive and some dried. There were also some stalls selling egg yolks, which apparently is a common local appetizer. I was stopped looking at some cats (sadly, yes that's what I was doing but I swear it was just to get a funny picture so I could make a cat joke), but a local guy came up to talk to me because I think he assumed I was looking at the shrine that was behind the cats.

He started telling me in very broken English that Tai O is a very religious town. They have different shrines throughout the town, each one with its own purpose - for prosperity, longevity, successful marriage, health, etc. He started walking with me and took me around through parts of the town that I wouldn't have otherwise explored. This town also has many houses on stilts, and it is referred to as the "Venice of Hong Kong" because there are a number of water ways and each house seems to have its own boat for getting around. The old man, "Ping Ki" (at least that's what it sounded like his name is…he said it means Miracle, so I'll call him Miracle from here on out because that's funny), said he's a translator because not many people know English in Tai O. I could barely understand him though, so I'm guessing there's not a lot of translation work. We walked past the old salt workers' quarters, and a few other shrines, and passed a number of dragon boats, which are about 50 feet long and are used in dragon boat races against other local towns as well as international teams (he said they raced against "my people").

Miracle said we should sit down for a while, so we sat at a park and I was wishing I could be on my way and catch the bus to Mui Wo so I could head back to the city. I'd been a little suspicious of him since the beginning, and at this point he started pulling out all these "charms" - just little cards with Taoist images on them for good luck in various categories. He also fed me some dried kumquats and a box of grape juice. He showed me all his charms, some bracelets, some flimsy fans, and I just nodded, not knowing if he was trying to sell me something or give me something as a gift. I reluctantly took some sea goddess charm and he stuffed about 4 other charms into the sea goddess' ziploc bag, then said usually he charges $80 HKD (around $9 USD) for all that. I should have said screw that I don't want your charms, but he had been nice and showed me around, told me about the history of his town, and gave me kumquats and grape juice (I realize how weird that sounds) so I just bitterly gave him some cash. I have perpetuated his belief that white people are easy prey. We left the park, passed some feral cows and feral dogs, and he waited at the bus station with me until my bus arrived. I took a 35 minute bus ride to Mui Wo, where I caught a 7:30ish ferry back to Central.

The guide book that Rosy gave me recommended a restaurant near the Central Piers (in the IFC mall, a very swanky mall), so I went to the Crystal Jade for dinner. I got some ma po tofu, one of my favorite dishes from our trip to China, and I also got their specialty - steamed pork buns. Both were phenomenal. Probably my best meal in HK. I talked to Korean girl at the restaurant for a little while, who was surprised when I said I thought Korean people were nice and that I'd wished I'd spent more time in Seoul. Apparently I liked the place and the people more than she. Then I returned to my hostel for my final night in Hong Kong.