Sometimes I wonder to myself, do I post in this blog too much... should I get a life? Then I remember it's one of the few ways I communicate with anyone in America and I'm living in Hong Kong.. I probably don't blog enough.
Today I went to Lantau Island ALL day. We're talking I woke up at 8:30, had to meet in front of my building at 8:45 and I got back about 7:30 pm. I imagine it would have been a less exhausting day had I not found out last night at midnight that McDonald's here does 24-hour delivery. We had to try it out. Even in the pouring rain the man drove our food over on a scooter from Sham Shui Po (approximately 20 minutes away.)
It was a great experience. Then I had a Cantonese lesson from some of my hallmates. I'm getting real good. I have about 4 phrases down. But anyways back to Lantau. I went on a gorgeous cable car ride to get to the island.
Everything was SO SO SO green. We have trees in America but there is something different about Asian trees. Like typically the mountain would be covered in pine trees at home, not here. It's way different, but equally as appealing to the eye. Also there are random staircases and trails up the mountains. Oh and a waterfall that really just made it picture perfect.
Once we arrived at the top there was a little village area full of tourist shops and my Finnish friend Riku & I took a great picture as king & queen. It was weird being at such a touristy place, sometimes I forget that I'm living here instead of just vacationing here.
Then finally we arrived at the Big Buddha that we had all heard so much about. It was way big. I sort of wish I hadn't heard so much about it before hand though so then I would have been more impressed. It was really huge though. The commandment about not worshiping false idols suddenly seemed so much more realistic.
After venturing around the Buddha I visited the Po Lin Monastery and basically inhaled enough incense to kill a cow. Speaking of cows... they were randomly wandering all over the island. It was really strange. I have barely seen any animals since I've been in Hong Kong and then I take a tram to a separate island and see animals everywhere.
We were fed a vegetarian lunch at the monastery that was typical Chinese. I liked it, I think Chinese food is really growing on me. And I'm getting so much better at using the chopsticks. Basically most of the nicer meals I've had in groups have been served in the fashion of a bunch of different dishes on the table and you can just pick and choose what you want. The other day we had two separate sets of chopsticks, one for putting the food on your plate and one for eating it off your plate. I of course mixed mine up halfway through the meal and ate with the ones you aren't supposed to put in your mouth so they got me a fresh set. It was quite embarrassing. Oh well. The lunch today only had one set of chopsticks thankfully.
After the Big Buddha we took a bus over to an ancient fishing village called Tai O. The town is separated by a river and there is a bridge that goes over the river. I went on a boat ride for 20 HK$ ($2.75 US) and we rode through the village and saw all of the houses on stilts then rode out into the ocean and got to see dolphins swimming around our boat. It was a magical experience, possibly my favorite thing since I've been in Hong Kong. The dolphins were white with a pink tint.
Okay i know this last picture of the dolphin is in bluer water than the rest of the pictures, but that's because I couldn't get a picture of the dolphins I saw so I got this picture off of google images. It's seriously like the exact same thing as what I saw though. And now here is a video I made of us cruising through the ocean after seeing the dolphins. Pointing a fan at your face while watching it might give you a more realistic viewing experience.
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