Meeting Big Buddha on Lantau Island

I’d never been in a glass-bottomed cable car before, but we decided to splash out on an upgrade from normal cable car to glass-bottomed one! It was a fun experience, floating across the sea and over a lush green island. It was also fun to watch my boyfriend squirm as he refused to sit on the glass floor. Payback for when he got to watch me squirm as I handed over 170 HKD each – approx. £13 each for a cable car ride (!).

You have to be careful to find out what time the last cable car back is as the cable cars were pretty busy. There are some touristy shops when you get out of the cable car, vying for the tourist dollar. We walked straight past these, to get to the main event… the Big Buddha. This is at the top of a long flight of stairs, part of which my boyfriend jogged. This is inadvisable.

Apparently the statue is officially called the Tian Tan Buddha, but is known as Big Buddha. It’s not difficult to see why!

The views from the top are beautiful – you can see the sea on the other side of the island. There are more statues at the top, with their offerings to Buddha.

We wandered to the Po Lin Monastery nearby and my senses were overwhelmed by the colours, the scent of the flowers, the candles. It was intoxicating.

We walked around the monastery admiring the intricate stone carving.

We hurried back to the cable car just in time to catch one down and then spent some time looking around the massive shopping mall at the base of the cable car. There were some of my favourite fountains (small fountains coming out of the pavement that kids can splash about in; the type that would never occur in the UK due to “health and safety”- urgh!). We had a Teppanyaki meal and then hustled to the airport – destination Dubai!