Saturday (03/09/2005)
On Saturday, I went for the Lantau Island tour organised by City U and my gosh.. it had alot of walkin!!! I do not mind the walking but the lack of sleep and hot weather didn't make it easy.
As I woke up late, I was in a rush thus forgot about the water and biscuits that I intended to bring... was soooo hungry and thirsty!!! Thankfully, Eddy being the friend, bodyguard, nanny, entertainer, shared his water with me.. if not think I will be totally dehydrated like some salted fish in Tai O. Anyway 1st stop was Po Lam Monastry and the Big Buddha.
Po Lam Monastry and the Big Buddha
The bus ride here is like 1hr 45 mins.. soo long, soo many winding road and sooo cramp! Cannot explain my relief when we finally arrived but then we have to conquer this long flight of stairs to reach the top. This is the start of my endless walking for the day. This is a picture of the Big Buddha.. think some might seen it in movies or HK's tourism promotion materials.
 However, the climb was worth it cause of the wonderful view! Wanted to upload a picture showing all 4 of us (Rubee, Janice, Eddy and me) but its all in Eddy's camera as he brought a tripod for the day!!! We better start exchanging pictures soon.
Tai O I don't know if anyone can remember that many years ago there was a TVB drama serial that featured this place. It starred Chen Song Ling and her family makes shrimp paste. Anyway, that is not important, what is important is that the place has a old rustic charm is that unique. However, its too far from the city. For many who do not know, Tai O is actually an old fishing village where many native products can be found. ohh.. there are big dogs everywhere too... I mean BIG!! We had vegetarian lunch at this place that was supposedly be the best eating place in Tai O. Even though the place looks rundown but I must admit the food is good! I am not a big fan of vegetarian food but I enjoyed it very much. Our table was mainly Chinese, the 4 of us from Sg, 4 from Mainland China, 2 from Holland and 2 of the student helpers. The Singaporeans are busy eating and eating... non-stop, such that when the rest of them stopped, our chopsticks are still busy moving. We were joking about being Merlions during the boat ride later as I ate soo much! However, as Janice had motion-sickness pills, we had no-worries! After lunch, we headed for the village where there was a camera crew waiting for us. They are making a documentary about the area and decided to tag along with us. The reason for the documentary is because the government wants to develop the area into modern tourist attraction like Sentosa but the villagers are not happy about it, so Pearl station hopes to film the place and interview some of us on our views on it. Rubee and Janice were being interviewed! There are still many houses that are built on stilts. However, their walls are metal instead of wood or bricks as a few years back there was a fire that burnt down the entire area. 
We made our way to Yeung Hau Temple where I recognised it to be one of the favourite location for drama serial!! According to the handout, the temple honors Hau Wong a loyal court official in the late Sung Dynasty.
After the temple, we started climbing this rather tall hill to see a stone Obelisk that used to mark the water boundary between HongKong and Mainland China. It was erected in !902. The view was great just that there were many grumbles during the climb as there was nothing there exactly the Obelisk and it wasn't an easy climb as the plants where overgrowing thus covering the steps and the weather was just scorching! Anyway this is the stone:
 Anyway, one of the exchange student (who is very pretty by the way) has a prosthetic leg but she seems to enjoy the climb very much as I overheard her conversation with this other guy. He asked her if she did the climb and she had this wide smile when she said she did and enjoyed it very much. At that moment I felt guilty for whinning about the climb as it was so much harder for her to do it yet she did it with much enthusiasm and is able to derive joy from it.
After descending from the hill, we headed for a museums in the village where there were many old stuff were displayed. The local used them in the past and many were actually used in fishing. There was a very friendly lady in the museum and after talking to her, I found out that she has been living in the village for the past 50 years after moving there when she was a baby. There were 2 books on sale and they were actually written by her. The record the life and traditions of the people of Tai O since the 1960s and have many interesting pictures. I kind of regret not getting a book as I think that it will be an interesting and enriching read. Moreover, it will help fund the musuem. What is amazing about this woman is that she only has Secondary 3 education yet is able to write not 1 but 2 books about Tai O. She is a housewife, mother of 2 boys and a volunteer. She puts her heart and soul in doing something- the protection and promotion of Tai O's beauty and enviroment. I do not know if I will ever find something that I am so passionate about and if I do, will I do as much as her.
There was a boat trip that brought us to the open sea where the show us some sights of Tai O that we will not be able to see on foot. The best thing about this were the dolphins we saw!!! There were quite a number of dolphins and some were pink! I know that Sentosa has pink dolphins too but its so different seeing them in the open sea, where they are free! There was a particular dolphin that was quite a show-off! It was doing some stunts for us. After seeing the dolphins, the boat took us to the rivers in Tai O, however, I must admit that I fell asleep during this part... think it was because I was so tired, nice breeze and the slow rocking motion of the boat.
Finally, the trip came to an end when its time to take a ferry back. The ferry took us to Tung Chung where we have to take the MTR back. It was a long ride and we had to change twice. Rubee and me were famished by the time we got to Kowloon Tong!!! Had MacDonald and durians.
When I got back, I was very sleepy yet I managed to finish 'The Alchemist". Another quote from the book that I find interesting is "Everything that happens once will never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time" I wonder if this is true but I was too tired to think into it.
What a tiring day.. I slept for 12 hrs.
Sunday (04/09/2005)
Actually I wanted to stay-in today but was persuaded by Rubee to go to Causeway Bay with them. I went shopping again and bought more things! I had no choice but to use my credit card has I didn't have enought cash. Now hope my parents will not flip when they see the bill. But I am planning not to spend too much from now on as I have yet to pay my hostel fees and going to ShenZhen this coming weekend.. so going to scrimp this week!
Oh yah.. I did something charitable today! There were selling mooncakes to raise funds for the education of under-privilege kids and I bought on so that I can take picture with Wu Fung. He signed on my box for me too! okies.. I know that he is no Andy Lau or Edison Chen but I have been watching his shows since young so its nice meeting him in person.
 Rubee bought a mooncake too from Alan Tam!!!! Although he looks kind of different in person though. He is very nice and chatted with us for a while but mainly in Cantonese. Took a picture with him too
I have put on sooooooo much weight in HK tat I feel like a Bo Luo Bao!!! Time to go running soon.... Think should stop blogging so late at nite... so sleepy that I am rattling nonsense.. Anyway I think I am a boring blogger..... heee... |
