Buddhist Monastery Trip (May 21-24, 2010)

The monastery is on Lantau Island and is a big attraction for tourists and devotees alike. On one side of the island is the airport and on the other side is the monastery. There is no easy way to get to/from the airport to the monastery so the local authorities built a ropeway. We have not been brave enough to ride this contraption, instead we took a quiet bus ride from Silvermine Beach. The bus was extremly well organized and on time and the ride was very scenic, except that they raise the fares on a Sunday, maybe because of low ridership.

Where the airport ropeway meets the monastery, is like a mini Disneyland, we want to call this Buddhaland, as it is the commercialization to the extreme, with souvenir stores and expensive restaurants. The monastery by itself is still the same, and the main attraction is the super cheap and filling vegetarian meal. One can see followers praying with large incense sticks lit, and sweeper staff cleaning out the ashes.

The highlight is the sitting Buddha on top of the mountain and steps leading up to it, with a museum depicting his life story. Instead of walking up to wash our sins, we decided to be evil and spend more time buying trinkets and eating expensive foods.