The Big Buddha on Lantau Island

July 23, 2012 by thehungryegghead

There are 3 ways to reach The Big Buddha: (1) A 25 minute Cable Car Ride from the Tung Chung MTR stop: most scenic (2) A 50 minute hair rising ride on New Lantau Bus No. 2 to Ngong Ping from Mui Wo pier: cheapest, not recommended for those prone to motion sickness (3) A Hike which takes approximately 4 hours: will review in the future, planning to do this hike this winter.

The Big Buddha is the world’s tallest, outdoor, seated bronze Buddha according to the Discover Hong Kong Website. Certainly impressive. Very clean and well maintained.

The entrance to Po Lin Vegetarian restaurant is a 5 minute walk from the foot of the Big Buddha. It is operated by the Po Lin Monastery and offers two dining options: regular or vip. Regular is around $8 USD same number of dishes as vip, but lower quality of food. Vip is around $12 USD. I have been the vegetarian restaurant many times and always picked the vip option because the one time I picked regular (at the insistence of my traveling companion) the food was terrible. We left half of the food uneaten. The 5+ times I picked the vip option, the food is so tasty that all the plates are cleaned. The food served in the restaurant remain unchanged from my first visit in 2000 to 2012!

This is a portion for 4 people. It is best to have even numbers in your party. A party of 3 will get served the same variety of dishes and amount of dishes as a party of 2 with the only difference being some additional spring rolls and a bowl of rice. But a party of 4 gets you one additional dish and a bigger portion size.

The Big Buddha. Tickets for the vegetarian restaurant can be bought at the foot of the Big Buddha and in front of the Po Lin Vegetarian restaurant itself.

Hubby getting chased by cows. Cows graze on the mountain that the Big Buddha is located on. I think the cows are friendly and just wanted to get close to hubby so that he can pet them. =P

The Wisdom Path is a 15 minute walk from the Big Buddha. It is an outdoor replica of Heart Sutra which is displayed on wooden pillars. The Heart Sutra is a prayer that is revered by Confucians, Buddhists and Taoists alike. Makes a pretty picture, if only the skies were blue.

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Book Recommendations

July 20, 2012 by thehungryegghead

My all time favorites – these are books that I have read over 20 times at the minimum:

(1) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

(2) The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough

(3) Anne of Green Gables Series - L.M.Montgomery

(4) Portraits - Cynthia Freeman

(5) The Touch – Colleen McCullough

Books that changed my way of thinking and looking at the world:

(1) Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell

(2) Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to live to Be 100 – Maoshing Ni

(3) Freakonomics - Steven D Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

(4) The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

(5) 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

My all-time favorites may not be the best books ever written but they bring me comfort whenever I feel troubled. I own both the physical AND digital edition with exception to book #4 as there is no digital version. The books that changed my way of thinking, I own either the physical or digital edition.

The Best Cable Car Ride in Hong Kong: Ngong Ping 360

July 18, 2012 by thehungryegghead

Forget Ocean Park’s scary and outdated cable car ride, Ngong Ping 360 is the one to ride. Even with my fear of heights, I rode this numerous times. I just focus on the view and grip my good luck charm very tightly.

A one way trip on the cable car is around 25 minutes. It offers great views of Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau Island, and Tung Chung.

The cable car operates between Tung Chung and the Big Buddha which is one of the top tourist attractions in Hong Kong. I have visited the Big Buddha 5 times since I moved to Hong Kong. Considering my fear of heights, this is quite a feat.

There are two kinds of cable cars regular and crystal. The crystal cabins have a glass bottom floor, the regular cabins floors have a metal floor. The crystal cabins did nothing for me except make me dizzy when I tried to look down. If you are prone to motion sickness, skip the crystal cabin.

Lantau Island is full of hiking trails. On the weekends you will see many people hiking to the Big Buddha, which is a 4 hour hike from Mui Wo (Lantau Island’s ferry dock). I plan to hike this trail in the cooler months.

The cable car ride drops you off directly in front of Ngong Ping Village. There are many photo ops and various activities that changes seasonally in the Ngong Ping Village. Of the 5 times that I have visited, the displays were different every time. My favorite is the one where bubble machines are blowing bubbles throughout the Ngong Ping Village. Makes for a very cheerful atmosphere.

Fare: Roundtrip Standard Cabin $17USD, Crystal Cabin $25USD. For more info check out the Ngong Ping 360 Website.

Tip: (1) The Cable Car is extremely popular. Average wait time is around 1 hour. I would highly recommend purchasing tickets online. You would be cutting the wait time by more than 50%. (2) Do not go on a windy day, I was trapped in the cable car for 20 minutes on a windy day because the cable cars automatically stops operating when winds gusts reach a certain speed. (3) Skip Walking with Buddha and Monkey’s Tale Theatre unless you have little kids.

Link Love

July 16, 2012 by thehungryegghead

Guest Posting at Expat Edna today as part of her “I love my Neighborhood Series”. Edna is someone that I have gotten to know through blogging. One of the things I really admire about Edna is her sense of adventure. Edna is only in her early 20′s and yet has been living abroad in Shanghai, Singapore, and Paris since she graduated college! Check out her blog here.

Also got a lovely writeup at Hong Kong Blogs Review:

This highly personal blog is by a Chinese-American born in Shanghai, raised in New York city, now living in Hong Kong. The blogger, Kelly Yen, bills her blog, THE HUNGRY EGGHEAD, as “Adventures of an aspiring author living in Hong Kong”. The “adventures” portion of this HK blog is engaging and illuminating; it is above the standard fare — reviews of tourist spots, HK food, the local shopping scene, native culture and tradition, and so forth. However, it is the rest of THE HUNGRY EGGHEAD that makes this blog stand out and well worth a reader’s time.

The blog has a wide scope. Kelly writes about many topics in her blog; among them are family relations, friendship, love, and thoughts on career and life in general.

By reading THE HUNGRY EGGHEAD, it is fascinating to see how the culture we are born into influences the way we write in the second language we learn from an adopted country. The expressions this aspiring writer uses, the words she chooses, and the idioms she applies tell much about her background and the view from her vantage point. Through Kelly’s writing, you can learn a great deal about life in this city as well.

Hong Kong Blogs Review highly recommends THE HUNGRY EGGHEAD. Why not read an interesting blog by an Americanized Chinese girl with a well-known Irish name now living in a former British colony? Or, on a similar note, why not read a HK blog by a blogger with multiple cultural experience and international perspectives?

Biang Biang Noodles @ Shaanxi Eats Hong Kong

July 16, 2012 by thehungryegghead

This place is recommended for hardcore foodies only. It is located out of the way and space is tight. The owner is friendly though he does not speak English. However you can point at all their specialties listed on the wall. CNNGo also featured this place as one of the top places to eat in Hong Kong 2011.

The inside of the Shaanxi Eats fits 12 uncomfortably. They have chairs set up outside for outdoor dining as it gets pretty busy at night.

The biang biang noodles looked like your average bowl of noodles. But…..

Incredible! I think the entire length is around 3 feet. But I was afraid to raise it higher in case it breaks and makes a mess on the other diners. The Biang Biang noodles had this incredible texture unique to handmade noodles. But most handmade noodles are the thin kind ie wonton noodles. The thicker kind is so much better to soak up the flavor. I ordered mine vegetarian and medium spicy. You could also add dumplings or pork chops or fried chicken to go with these noodles. 10/10 for taste.

Lamb burgers were a disappointment. The bread was dry as was the meat. The meat had more fat than actual lamb. Skip this and stick to the biang biang noodles.

Highly recommended if you love good food and do not mind eating at a hole in the wall type of dining. My biang biang noodles was around $4USD.

Shaanxi Eats is located at: 38 Ferry Street, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong. I think they are closed Sundays.

Nature Walk @ The Peak Hong Kong

July 13, 2012 by thehungryegghead

One of the things that tourists frequently miss out on is a family friendly nature walk that circles The Peak. It takes about 40 minutes to walk the entirely paved flat road. Just look for the many signs posted around that directs you to the Hong Kong Trail. For more information visit The Peak’s Website.

We started our walk at 5pm which is necessary during summertime in Hong Kong. An added bonus is good pictures.

The view of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and Victoria Harbor. We were lucky it was a non cloudy day.

View of Western Kowloon with the Stonecutter’s bridge connecting Tsing Yi Land and Stonecutters Island.

A nice clear view of Lamma Island and the Lamma Island Power Plant. Lamma Island is an expat favorite, but I prefer Cheung Chau.

Hong Kong is great in that it places monkey bars, pull-up bars, balance beams, and what not in many of the family friendly walking trails.

Hubby and I at the end of the nature walk with nary a sweat. It was so easy that we decided to walk down from The Peak to our apartment. That consisted of over an hour of walking downhill at very sloped angles. I was sore for 2 days after that! Nevertheless, it was a great experience and I would do it again especially since I detest the winding drive up/down from The Peak. Next time we will do the hike up to The Peak from our apartment.

Tip: Don’t take the tram or the bus, as the tram has about an hour wait and the bus is extremely crowded. I have done all three multiple times and my preference is to take a taxi from Central which will run you around 8USD.

A Perfect Day in Cheung Chau 長洲

July 11, 2012 by thehungryegghead

My favorite outlying island in Hong Kong is Cheung Chau aka Long Island. Delicious seafood, a crowd free beach, quaint shops, and a clean bathroom are all within 5 minutes from the pier. If you go on a non-holiday weekday, you pretty much have the run of the island!

I visited with friends on July 3, hence all the flags on the ships celebrating July 1st National Day.

After we got off the ferry, we went to my favorite seafood joint and ordered 3 seafood dishes, 1 vegetable, 1 fried rice, and 3 sodas for $30USD. Awesome view, awesome food, at an awesome price. Recommended seafood dishes: poached fresh shrimp, fried calamari, and salt & pepper mantis shrimp.

After lunch we headed for the Tung Wan beach. For the first time ever I was able to swim in the ocean instead of just playing in the waves. I swam out to two of the floating pavilions. At first it was a bit scary knowing that I could not touch the ocean floor though it got better after a while. The pavilions may look close but you would be swimming against the current and the water got deep real fast.

After swimming, I indulged in a Taiwanese ice at one of the stands. Not nearly as good as the real thing, but it cooled me down.

I always wanted to experience these rickshaw like bikes, but it was either too crowded or my companions did not want to pedal. Therefore it was amazing that Sharon (the one in the visor) enthusiastically volunteered to do all of the pedaling because she loves exercise! Sharon loved speeding around so much that she pedaled for at least 90 minutes in the hot sun, even though we urged her to stop. Good thing too as I discovered that I cannot work the rickshaw bike without running into a wall or people. Rental costs for the rickshaw bike is $10USD for the entire day.

We also visited the Cheung Po Tsai cave on Cheung Chau where we saw nary a soul for a good 20 minutes. This picture could have been taken at any of the Caribbean islands, incredible that this is Hong Kong!

What made our day trip to Cheung Chau even better was that everyone was so nice to us. From the wait staff at the restaurant, to the people who operated the beach umbrella rentals, to the rickshaw bicycle rentals, to the 4 policeman who did not arrest us for having 2 adults sitting in the back of the rickshaw bike. Everyone was too busy smiling at us. Perhaps it is because Sharon biked around the island so many times that the locals started to recognize us!

Highly recommended. This is my 6th trip to Cheung Chau within a year. Ferries run every half hour from Pier 5 in Central.

the hungry egghead

Adventures of an aspiring author living in New York