Jerry alluded to the fact that I may or may not be getting weary of posting about the Hong Kong trip. Actually, I enjoy getting to relive these good times of our vacation there--but it is CHRISTMASTIME! We have so many current holiday posts that I want to do as well that I feel a bit stressed about the backlogged blogging. So I am just going to do a few more Hong Kong posts during this week, and then we are moving on to tell about our holiday fun. How's that.
Can you tell this Buddha is a bit on the large side? Do you spot us in the photo below??
He could hold our whole family in the palm of his hand! At first I wasn't too excited to see this site, but words cannot describe how it feels to see such an impressive monument in person. Seems like too much a buzzword, but I have to say it: this statue really is
breathtaking.
And the view from the monastery isn't bad either. Being in this rural area felt so refreshing after a week in the bustling city.
In order to get to the feet of this Buddha, we had to tromp up all those stairs (wish I'd have counted how many)--but since we had our eyes on the prize ahead, I didn't even notice how far we had gone. The way
down was where I found the journey surprisingly long.
Some beautiful architecture outside the Po Lin monastery. I felt a little sorry to be a tourist on what amounts to holy ground for some, but I suppose they opened their doors to it when they started allowing collection cups and souvenier shops around the area...
This Buddha's hands are in such an interesting pose, though it isn't really visible from any angles of the photos we took. But it really made me think a lot about the commonalities among religions, and that's all I'll say about that.
Lo Lo is the cutest little Emperor there ever was.
AAAND more gift shops along the path to the Buddha. I bought some nice silk shirts here. They seemed higher quality than the ones we saw at Ladies Market, but probably some of that impression is just in my head. Yes, that is a Subway sandwich shop there to our right.
To get to the Buddha, we could have either taken a winding bus ride around the mountainside, OR this lovely scenic cable car route. So we did the cable cars! It was fun! I especially liked how we could see the Buddha growing larger and larger in the distance as we got closer to our destination.
Family photo with the lovely Lantau Island background. Actually, since it is fall season, even the lush tropical Hong Kong looks a bit brownish in this shot. But it was still so beautiful to me!
And another shot inside our cable car, just to look at how cute that Lo's smile is. Thanks Brandon for being our photographer! And thanks for making us all laugh the whole way up envisioning every disaster that could befall. Brandon kept saying, "What if our cable car got stuck/fell/was hit by a plane/etc." Good memories.
And doesn't that view make you shudder just
thinking about falling?? This was one of my favorite site-seeing times of the trip to Hong Kong.
Can you tell this Buddha is a bit on the large side? Do you spot us in the photo below??
He could hold our whole family in the palm of his hand! At first I wasn't too excited to see this site, but words cannot describe how it feels to see such an impressive monument in person. Seems like too much a buzzword, but I have to say it: this statue really is breathtaking.
And the view from the monastery isn't bad either. Being in this rural area felt so refreshing after a week in the bustling city.
In order to get to the feet of this Buddha, we had to tromp up all those stairs (wish I'd have counted how many)--but since we had our eyes on the prize ahead, I didn't even notice how far we had gone. The way down was where I found the journey surprisingly long.
Some beautiful architecture outside the Po Lin monastery. I felt a little sorry to be a tourist on what amounts to holy ground for some, but I suppose they opened their doors to it when they started allowing collection cups and souvenier shops around the area...
This Buddha's hands are in such an interesting pose, though it isn't really visible from any angles of the photos we took. But it really made me think a lot about the commonalities among religions, and that's all I'll say about that.
Lo Lo is the cutest little Emperor there ever was.
AAAND more gift shops along the path to the Buddha. I bought some nice silk shirts here. They seemed higher quality than the ones we saw at Ladies Market, but probably some of that impression is just in my head. Yes, that is a Subway sandwich shop there to our right. 
To get to the Buddha, we could have either taken a winding bus ride around the mountainside, OR this lovely scenic cable car route. So we did the cable cars! It was fun! I especially liked how we could see the Buddha growing larger and larger in the distance as we got closer to our destination.
Family photo with the lovely Lantau Island background. Actually, since it is fall season, even the lush tropical Hong Kong looks a bit brownish in this shot. But it was still so beautiful to me!
And another shot inside our cable car, just to look at how cute that Lo's smile is. Thanks Brandon for being our photographer! And thanks for making us all laugh the whole way up envisioning every disaster that could befall. Brandon kept saying, "What if our cable car got stuck/fell/was hit by a plane/etc." Good memories. 
And doesn't that view make you shudder just thinking about falling?? This was one of my favorite site-seeing times of the trip to Hong Kong.
2 comments:
I am enjoying your Hong Kong trip posts but I completely understand the stress of backlogged blogs! Just do what you want and catch up whenever; it really doesn't matter if it's all chronological. Anyway, I think it's fascinating how you pointed out the hands of that big buddha. In the uncovered terra cotta warrior statues from Xian, China, there is a statue sitting with his hands in that same position. The museum called him a "musician." Funny how they didn't see it as being at all religious and interesting that he would be in that pose.
This is a wonderful post, Courtney! I really enjoyed reading about this adventure and looking at the photos.
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