Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work for a company called Gordon Research Conferences in Hong Kong. I am going to write today a little about some of my fun adventures during my month in the city! During the week, I worked all day but on the weekends we were able to travel all around the island, experiencing the culture!
The first stop in Hong Kong was the Tian Tan Buddha, otherwise known as the Big Buddha! The Big Buddha is located on Lantau Island which was one of the southern islands. The Big Buddha was built in 1993 and was said to represent the harmony between nature, faith and mankind. In order to get to it, you have to take a twenty minute gondola ride all the way to the top of a mountain. Once you arrive at the top part of the mountain, you then have to hike what looked like a thousand steps in order to get to the Buddha. Of course the day that we went it was over 100 degrees, so we were sweating! One of my favorite parts about the Big Buddha was the energy and presence that it possessed sitting confidently overlooking everyone.
Another one of my favorite travel spots was an abandoned fishery that we traveled to on the way back from a small day-trip we did to the beach. We happened to stumble on this fishery on the bus ride back because the bus had to stop for gas. We decided to get out and look around because it was so beautiful! We decided to take a boat ride through the village and realized that the whole village was on stilts because it was on the ocean and between large mountains. This was a great way to see the impoverished side of the island, which was a very drastic contrast between central Hong Kong.
The final place that was one of my favorites from the trip was the Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden. This was a beautiful garden that was just outside of the city. The picture on the left was a vegetarian restaurant that was beneath a waterfall and the food was absolutely delicious! I remember getting the best rice noodles with vegetables that I have never even heard of! As you can see the from the picture on the right, the colors were amazing! All the temples were painted vibrant and bright colors that always took your breath away.
This was such an amazing trip and highly recommend! Hong Kong is an one of a kind place with exceptional food, exciting and vibrant culture!