An early start today as we wanted to visit Lantau Island's main attractions which are located 500 metres up a mountain accessible by one of the longest cable cars in the world. On a holiday weekend it is best to get there as early as possible which we did at 9am when it opened and got on almost immediately. Our decision was vindicated when a family we met later had arrived at 10.30 and took an hour and a half to get on. The trip passes the airport and what appears to be yet another railway being constructed to somewhere over the horizon.
The main aim of our visit was to see a giant Buddha,the hall of a thousand Buddhas and the wisdom path which was an installation of timbers with a Buddhist text inscribed on them . We then queued for the bus to takes due down the mountain to Tai O,a fishing village built on stilts, where one can taste all sorts of fishy delights if only you knew what they were. We settled for a smoothie and a toasted sandwich in a jewellery shop where Kate bought a bracelet. To avoid the rush we caught an early cable car which allowed us to have a nice beer in Tung Chung,the town at the end of the railway line watching the children frolicking in a pavement fountain. the locals behind us were quaffing bottles of bulmers cider and eating nachos with all the trimmings. We were also waiting for dusk as we wanted to visit Temple street night market which doesn't really get started until after 7pm which we duly did. We had some proper street food too and haggled for the odd souvenir. this was a different Hong Kong to the one near our hotel where crowds of Brits were watching the live midday premiership match in the bars and spilling out on to the pavement. The hostesses from the night clubs looked on forlornly as no one was interested in their wares tonight!