WHAT TO SEE IN LANTAU IN ONE DAY

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Day 24: Hong Kong - Lantau: Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car, Nong Village, Po Lin Monastery, Big Buddha- Hong Kong Airport

Today is our last day in Hong Kong and the last also of the incredible trip to China for free that we have made, but that is why we are not going to get up early today and that is that we have the flight that will take us back home at 11 in the night, so today we have almost a full day to continue enjoying the trip, and many things what to see in Lantau in one day.
As we have been doing these days ago, including yesterday that we went to Macao from Hong Kong, at 7 we left our hotel, the Innsight after checking out and recovering our $ 200 deposit, to stop again at McDonald's and have breakfast A couple of pastries with coffees for the usual $ 50 that costs us breakfast.

With energies to face this last day of the trip we return to the subway station to go directly to Lantau, where we will have the opportunity to see the World's biggest Buddha made in bronze, the Po Lin Monastery and if we have time Nong Pin Village. To get to the Giant Buddha, we will have to take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car, which will take us to the top of the island.
To get to Lantau we also have the option of going by ferry, but this time we have opted for the subway, much faster option.
We get our tickets for $ 18 per person and transfer to Lai King and then go to Tung Chung, the Lantau Island stop that leaves you right next to the Lockers of the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car.

Lockers of the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car

You can also hop on the bus to the Giant Buddha, but without a doubt, despite being more expensive, the funicular experience is very much worth enjoying. The price if you want to go in a transparent cabin is $ 255 per person round trip and $ 165 if you choose to go in a normal cabin.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Hong Kong
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We are left with this last option after 15 minutes of queuing and it is that even being Sunday, the day that there are more people, we have come a few minutes before they opened at 9, so the queue has been minimal. And if we also count that 8 people enter each cabin, the process is quick. They could have had it that way in Zhanjiajie National Park. Another good option is to reserve the entrance to the cable car in advance online.

Start the ascent in the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car. What to see in Lantau in one day

And as we go up with theNgong Ping 360 cable car You can imagine, extraordinary views surround us. Undoubtedly an experience in itself this way of accessing the Great Buddha.

Ngong Ping 360 cable car

And while we continue ascending, we discover another signature of access: walking! And we see several groups of people crossing the mountains along roads and walkways suitable for it. Although firmly, if you are not trained, we do not recommend it at all. You have to go through mountains and mountains until you reach the end, although without a doubt the experience and the views have to be impressive.
And so, after 25 minutes in theNgong Ping 360 cable car we arrive at our destination, having in the last section views of the Giant Buddha from the air.

Views of the Giant Buddha from the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car

Awesome !!!
Once we are back on land, the first thing we have to do to get to the Big buddha is passing through Nong Village, yes, certainly a pretty place artificial, totally created for the tourist, but that from the little we see, it can be interesting if you want to take a different handmade souvenir to everything you can find the rest of places that at least we have known on this trip.

Streets of Nong Village

After crossing the practically only street of which Nong Villahe is composed, you arrive directly at the Big buddha, where we really arrived after climbing the 269 steps that give access to World's largest bronze Buddha.

Steps to climb to reach the Great Buddha of Lantau

Big Buddha What to see in Lantau in one day

We thought the climb would be much harder for everything we had read, but nothing could be further from the truth. Could it be that we are already tanned after trekking in the Great Wall of China? In a few minutes we planted on the top, to enjoy stunning views, for which it is certainly worth climbing the 269 steps.

Views of the Po Lin Monastery from the Big Buddha

Views from the Big Buddha

The Big buddha we could say that it is a part attached to the Po Lin Monastery, which symbolizes the union of man with nature. Surrounded by several statues of gods that represent immortality, this is an area that you can not miss if you are a few days in Hong Kong.

Statues of gods surrounding the Great Buddha

After enjoying a unique enclave, we go back down the 269 steps and go to the Po Lin Monastery, located just opposite where we discover one of those corners that give "soul"to a country, surrounded as it could not be otherwise offerings in the form of incense.

Po Lin Monastery

Offerings at the Po Lin Monastery. What to see in Lantau in one day

Here we enjoy in the best way what are the last hours of this trip to China for free, that in spite of the moments of nerves that we have gone through in part by the local character, which is somewhat difficult, has reminded us, at every moment, why we like to travel so much.

Overview of the Great Buddha of Lantau

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It's 12 noon when we look at the clock, so before we go to our next point today, the village Tai O, we stop at a restaurant, the Zen Noodle where we order some spring rolls, tempura, fried pumpkin and more dumplins water for $ 193

Eating at Lantao in Nong Village

All great watered down later by a couple of espresso coffees that we needed to continue the day and with which we make the desktop.
It's 2 noon when we go to the Nong Village bus station, located in the middle of the main street to catch the number 21 bus, for $ 12.50 round trip per person, which takes about 40 minutes to reach Tai O, a village of Lantau that we have read is highly recommended.
But when we see bus schedules on weekends, our soul falls to our feet. And it is that these are a little reduced in the afternoon and having to leave for the airport around 5 in the afternoon, we do not want to risk going too fair, so after assessing it a couple of times, in the end we decided to leave this visit For the next time we come to Hong Kong, there will surely be.
It is almost 2:30 p.m. when we return to the funicular where after doing 15 minutes of queue, we return to cross the skies of the island of Lantau.

Views of the Big Buddha from the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car

When we arrive at the entrance ofNgong Ping 360 cable carThe queue to go up is more than an hour and a half, something they already advertise in a cartel, and judging by the people we see, we even believe that much more.
One of the things we see is that right there they have lockers to store suitcases or backpacks for $ 80 each, and being right next to the airport, if we got to know before, we would have left them here to have taken much more time. and go straight from here, so we could have visited the Tai O village. But well, this is already done and now it's time to go back to the hotel to look for them and make the way back to the airport.
We return to the subway and after paying the $ 18 per person, we undo the road walked this morning until we reach Tsim Sha Tsui, the station of our accommodation in Hong Kong.
We arrived at 3:30, so we still have a couple of hours to enjoy the city, so we are going to walk aimlessly through the streets of this area of the city and after having a sweet and a couple of coffees, we return to the Innsight for luggage and direct to the subway to go from Hong Kong to the airport.
We have several options to go from Hong Kong to the airport which is on the island of Lantau:
- Taxi: about $ 350
- Metro + AirPort express: this is what we choose and more after seeing prices. AirPort express is the green line that we can take from the Central, Hong Kong, Koowlon or Tsin Yi stations. The further you take it from the final stop, the more expensive the journey is, with $ 100 per person being the most expensive.

We go by subway, for $ 10 each to Tsin Yi and from there we connect with the AirPort express for $ 45 more per person (here we have to say that in the machines and leaflets it says that the price is $ 60, but when we are In the machine a girl from the station tells us to go to the ticket office that the ticket is cheaper, so without being very convinced, we approach and charge us $ 45 for a bonus for 2 people).
It took about 15 minutes to reach the airport. In total between metro and AirPort express we have counted about 45 minutes from Tsim Sha Tsui.

Just arrived at Hong Kong airport

The first thing we do is go to look at the schedule of our flight to the screens and it is that after the cancellation that we had on the trip to Cinque Terre, which Claimant is managing for us, so that we can be restrained, there is no way we can be remove "the fear"of the body when we have to go to look at the schedules to the panels.
Once verified that the schedule is correct and our flight seems to be okay, we will check our bags to stay calm and zas, the first in the mouth !! 1 hour queue to check-in, why they only have 2 counters open for a 2-story plane! A whole feat at an airport like Hong Kong's.
So we just have to wait a little over an hour to leave our luggage and stay free to go to dinner.
After several laps we ended up in the Spaguetti House chain that we had resisted in Hong Kong where we ordered a couple of pasta dishes where we spent part of the dollars we have left.

Having dinner at Spaguetti House at Hong Kong Airport

We only have a few minutes left to board. And that is true. We embark on time on the plane that will take us back home and with which we end our incredible trip to China for free.

Day 25: Hong Kong - London - Barcelona