26. Hongkong day one

By the time our flight had landed and we had transferred to our hotel it was already after 5pm. So we just freshened up and found the food court in the Langham Place mall next to the hotel for some food (chicken, prawns and special fried rice), a quick look around and then bed as we had been up since 3.30am. Amazingly, this was our third visit to Hongkong in less than three years!

We woke on Saturday morning well refreshed and set off for the day. Having purchased our Octopus cards for the MTR we headed for the Ngong Ping 360 cablecar which would take us up to the Big Buddah on Lantau Island. It was probably the best cablecar ride I've ever been on in terms of distance, height and scenery. As we climbed higher we found ourselves looking down on the aircraft flying in and out of the international airport and had superb all round views, including the bridge and tunnel link to Macao which we had first seen on our last visit.

At the top we climbed the 268 steps to get up close to the Big Buddah before taking a closer look at Po Lin Monastry. We even walked along the Wisdom Path (and spotted a grasshopper along the way). Then it was time for a sandwich lunch and a brief look at the souvenir shops before taking the cablecar back down to sea level.

There was a large outlet mall beside the MTR station that demanded a viewing and then we caught the train back to the centre of the city so that we could take some pictures of Victoria Harbour from the walkway adjacent to the Star Ferry terminal. It is definitely one of the world's most iconic views!

By now it was early evening and time for food. We found another restaurant in one of the nearby malls and tucked in to pork and egg fried rice, pork noodles in a fish sauce, grilled asparagus tips and a chocolate and banana icecream and a matcha parfait sundae for dessert. 

Following dinner we wanted to go and watch another of Hongkong's attractions, namely the evening light and sound show. We had seen it before, albeit from a distance and hadn't been too impressed, but we thought that being closer to the action (as it were), might be rather better. So we joined the tens of thousands of people (I am not exaggerating!), on the waterfront and waited. Well, it was a slight improvement but nothing special, but obviously the locals love it.

After the show we fought our way back to the nearest MTR and made our way back to the hotel. We had been out and on the go for fully 12 hours and still needed to plan Sunday's activities.