Many of my friends from University now live in Hong Kong, so my main reason for visiting Hong Kong was to try and catch up with everyone. I had four days to meet up with all of my friends and had a ridiculously hectic schedule.
Why so little time?
To be honest, I don’t really know. I think I expected Hong Kong to be just another big city that wouldn’t hold my interested. When you took away the time I had with my friends, I only had 48 hours to explore Hong Kong
First, I decided to spend the day visiting the Tian Tan Buddha – the largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha in the world.
For someone who is terrified of cable cars, I seem to be spending a significant portion of my travels on one. I’m not sure why I opted to torture myself when I could have taken a boat to the island, but once again I found myself in a tiny glass box, convinced I was seconds away from plummeting to my death.
About 30 seconds into the cable car ride, I remembered a story an old school friend told me years ago about a cable car in Hong Kong falling off of the cable and into the sea on a particularly windy day.
Was it this cable car?
Was it windy today?
Was I about to die?
Why is the ride up so steep?!
I nearly passed out.
Upon arriving safely on Lantau island, I was walking like a newborn giraffe and it took ages to stop my legs from trembling with fear. Once I had recovered, I made my way over towards the Buddha.
I confidently approached the 268 steps, certain that all of my time spent lugging my heavy backpack around would have improved my fitness levels dramatically.
Five seconds later I was bent over, clutching at my side, wheezing and diagnosing myself with asthma as I bitterly glared at the elderly Chinese ladies who were energetically striding past me.
Drenched in sweat and promising myself that I would totally start an exercise regime the following morning, I was excited to have finally made it to the top!
The Buddha’s right hand is raised, representing the removal of pain and his left hand rests on his knee, symbolising happiness. He also faces north, which is unique as all other famous Buddha statues face south.
Surrounding the Buddha are six smaller bronze statues known as “The Offering of the Six Devas”, which are offering flowers, incense, a lamp, ointment, fruit, and music.
The base of the Buddha is based on the Altar of Heaven found at the Temple of Heaven, which I recognised from my time spent there in Beijing.
After I made my way back down the steps, my day became even more exciting when I ran into a random cow roaming the streets of Hong Kong.
The next evening, I visited Victoria Peak, where I stayed to watch the sun set and the city come alive with the glittering neon lights and glowing skyscrapers lighting up the sky.
And that concluded my time exploring Hong Kong!
Despite being incredibly expensive compared to the rest of Asia, I enjoyed my time there much more than I was originally expecting to and wished I had longer, especially so that I could have been able to see some of the beaches that Hong Kong has to offer.
How would you spend 48 hours in Hong Kong?
Great post and great pictures! I would love to some day travel to Hong Kong! Iām very fascinated with the cities architecture and such! Maybe one of these days!
Thanks, Bryan! I liked it a lot more than I was expecting to, hope you manage to get there soon.
Really nothing like the view over Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. Never gets old.
One of my favourite skylines. Beautiful.
Great photos, Lauren! I’m like you with cable cars – I despise them, yet I seem to have spent a significant amount of time in them, convinced I was on a slow ride towards death, in 2011 (mountain ones are the worst, EURGH).
I don’t think I’d have conquered those steps, either – well, maybe after crawling up, and with some bitter glaring, too.
Thanks for posting this – I had no idea about the Buddha there, and Hong Kong is a place I’ve often thought of visiting as it’s only a short flight away from Korea.
Thanks, Tom! Aren’t cable cars so terrifying?! They just feel completely unsafe and like you’ll fall off of the cable at any point.
You should definitely try to visit from Korea.
Great post and I love the pictures. Hong Kong is on my list to do soon…Hope you get back for longer in the future!
Thanks so much! I hope so too :)
Hong Kong is a wonderful place! You’re lucky you have friends there. Friends living at a travel destination are always the best source of information. Plus, sometimes they let you sleep at their place and that rocks, too. Were you able to hit up any of the markets while in town? I loved the flower market. Also, I thought Kowloon Park was amazing with all those big, old trees.
I stayed with a friend in Hong Kong which helped save me a lot of money and I got to see some really unique places because of her.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of the markets – next time!
I love how you always find yourself in situations facing your fears and wondering how the hell you have decided to be in this place haha :D
Great pictures by the way :)
I KNOW! Or maybe I’m just scared of everything? :)
Great pictures. Hong Kong looks like a really interesting city.
Thanks! It was a lot more interesting than I was expecting and I was sad I didn’t get to see more of the city before I left.
Wow you had a perfect day to see the Buddha. A lot of the time it is covered in cloud! Nice photos
Yeah, it was such a clear day! I was very lucky!
Hey glad you loved Hong Kong it’s my favourite city and such an amazing place with so much more than you expect! My advice to anyone is don’t just do it as a stopover, you definitely need at least a week :)
I know! I wish I’d had longer there actually – there was so much more I wanted to do.
The cable car was not working. May be because it was too windy? It took almost two hours to get to the top by bus :(
Wow, that seems like a ridiculously long time!
Looks like you made the most of it! It’s been a while since I’ve been to Hong Kong, but Victoria’s peak was a highlight of my trip too. It was also there that I developed my theory of Chinese attractions having a rating system directly linked to the number of cable car runs going up them…
I too am terrified of cable cars but continue to ride them anyway… we’re gluttons for punishment apparently! The trip looks worth it though, the Buddha photos are spectacular!
Cute cow :)
Ha ha ha … love the random cow run-in! Looks like a cool site … hope you had a good time catching up with your friends. :)
I have only been to the industrial side of hong kong. Never to the nice island part of it. It looks awesome though :)
Your pictures are amazing. I found your blog searching for the hours of the Lantau monastery because I’m visiting HK as we speak (er, as I type). Seeing your photos and blog entry makes me feel like I’ve already been! Thanks for the great visual!
Oooh your pics are good – I actually got a job interview for TEFL teaching in Hong Kong, I need to investigate further!
Love your blog btw! :)
xxx
I loved Hong Kong too when I went years ago, and managed to persuade my wife to go there for our honeymoon. Lantau island is great and there’s enough to do there for a whole week, with hiking, beaches, Buddha and Tai O village. Great pics!
Thanks for the tips, richard!
yeh, Hong Kong , my hometown!!! Love this city and glad you enjoyed too! Hiking in HK is great fun too! and yes, the hotels are crazy expensive in Hong Kong!
Yep, that’s true. Still, definitely worth visiting for a few days :-)
This looks fab! I love the Buddha statues.
Thanks, Jo!
Great post and I love the pictures. i like your all spent time and activities in Hong Kong. it’s really Hong Kong is beautiful city. when i will go anywhere so i will be go definitely Hong Kong.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Glad you enjoyed the read, Suraj! :-)
Hi Lauren, Hong Kong is high on my bucket. I regularly read your post it really helpful to make a itinerary before going anywhere. Thanks for all your hard work.
I love to read about your travels and I can’t wait to visit all of the amazing places you’ve written about. But what happened to all of the photos in your earlier posts? I can’t see a lot of them. Is it just me? I tried a few browsers without any luck.
Should be fixed now! Thanks for letting me know!