29 / The Lantau Buddha

Our trip to Lantau Island on a ferry from the Central Hong Kong Ferry Terminal was also a trip into nostalgia. Marilyn and I had hiked to the top of the island in 1968. Now, though, the largest seated bronze Buddha in the world sits at the top of Lantau Island. It was built in 1993 and is 102 feet high. This was something different from the last time we were there.

Also new and different is the gondola system that conveys passengers from the new Disneyland-like village at the Po Lin Monastery (adjacent to the Buddha) to the train station at Tung Chung. From there, it's an easy train ride back to Hong Kong.

The gondola trip goes over the Lantau South Country Park. To help you picture it, it's about the equivalent of taking a gondola from downtown Santa Cruz to the Summit of Highway 17.