We got up at around 7.30 with an aim to leave the hotel in an hour and a half. The standard Continental breakfast at Xi was absolutely good enough to begin the day. Mandy at the reception promised to help us follow up on the lost baggage. Ngong Ping was the plan for most of the day. The journey including MTR transfers and the walk took less than an hour. Might have been lesser if we’d known about the passage directly from the Tung Chung MTR to the cable car. We’d bought tickets for a guided tour via Klook and could therefore bypass the queue. If you reach early, you could probably wait in the queue a bit and buy. The instructions were clear and after a short wait, we boarded the crystal cabin- this one has a glass bottom – a real one which is cleaned after each trip. D remained poker faced and refused to comment on her previous experience with such things. The views from the cable car were spectacular – we could catch the giant bridge to Kowloon that was under construction, the airport, and as we neared the Ngong Ping end (20 mins) the Tian Tan Buddha (aka the Big Buddha).
We walked around since we were early for the tour start time – 11.15. The sticker on the jacket identifies the tour group to the guide, who met us at the Tea House – our first stop. The tea ceremony was a nice little magic show.
We then boarded a bus that would take us to the Tai O Fishing village.Our guide made practised jokes as we looked around. Village is an exaggeration, and the only key thing it seemed to lack was a hospital. We walked through the markets – lots of sea food here – to the boat jetty where we were taken for one of those 30 minute Dolphin rides! This time, the rare Chinese white dolphin. Ha! Our guide had said that this place was called the Venice of Hong Kong, but since she had seen the former, she couldn’t really lie! It had begun raining intermittently by then.
We were driven back to near the main Ngong Ping square, and walked to the Po Lin monastery, with its gate keeper statues – one for each sign of the Chinese zodiac. Lots of familiar Hindu mythology names – Indra, Mitra etc. The access to the giant buddha was some 250+ steps up, but according to D, we’re natural walkers! Huffed, puffed and were rewarded with a neat misty view. Apparently, with a clear sky, you could see Macau from here.
We went down for lunch at the main square, where there is everything from KFC and Subway to local fare. At the Ngong Ping Garden, D ordered a hot soupy chicken meal that reminded me a lot of Manchurian curries in Kochi! I had thin rice noodles with beef balls. Both very tasty and polished off with a hot honey, lime, watercress tea! The only culinary disaster was the Honeymoon Dessert stuff. Both the thinks we ordered sounded great on paper but were too liquid for our taste. It was also costly! Our main course cost us just less than $200 and this cost us almost $125!
The rain had begun in earnest and we invested in a poncho raincoat. Awesome contraption though since we were in tourist territory it cost us $40 each. The cable ride back was a misty one and we were lucky enough to have seen everything in the morning. My advice on Ngong Ping would be to drop the Tai O village unless you want to buy dried seafood. Both Po Lin and the Buddha are almost next to the main square, so you don’t need a guide. We used the shortcut to the station and made the journey back. Mandy @ Xi had good news for us – Malaysian Airlines had dropped the bag at the hotel! The plan for the evening was the promenade, but thanks to construction happening there, we skipped and went to the Garden of the Stars. My favourite – Bruce Lee – was there, as well as other famous stars of Hong Kong. A drink at The Lobby hotel was also considered but we decided to walk and MTR to the main destination for the night – Temple Street Night Market. A good time to note that the directions on the road are awesome!
We reached there by 7.30 (it starts at 7 and runs till midnight) and immediately went looking for street food. We skipped all my studied recommendations and started with a Numb Chicken Feet. It is literally both that – the feet are crunchy but it was the sauce that shocked – it made our lips numb! A wok tossed Chicken proved to be a very good dish. We then set out in search of Yee Shung Milk Company, famous for milk pudding. Totally worth it, though we wandered a bit.
We came back to Temple Street to find many shops open. Tourist prices, haggle really hard. We didn’t buy much since my sinus was acting up and it had begun raining. Since the place was only a station away from Tsim Sha Tsui, I promised D that I would bring her here again before we left Hong Kong.