BIG BUDDHA

We took a train from Shueng Wan to Central Station where we changed train to continue our journey to Tung Chung.  From there we took a cable car to reach Ngong Ping village.  It was cold and windy on the day we visited.  The village is designed after ancient china architecture with many restaurants and coffee shops which I thought was a bit over commercialized.

We can hear the wind howling even inside the cable car.  The car swung from time to time and the glass windows were all frosted.  At time when the mist clear we managed to take some shots.

From the ground level it is 268 steps to the Lotus Throne on which the Buddha sits.  The steps are pretty steep.   We were in decent physical shape, and have to take a short break halfway up the stairs to rest our legs and catch our breath.  The lotus throne is the circular seat of the Big Buddha. Visitors can walk around the it and enjoy the view from there, but cannot go inside the Buddha itself. 

With the mist cleared the view of the surrounding island and the sea was very pretty.

There are stalls selling Tofu Fa and so claim that the Tofu Fa make from water from the hill (山水豆腐花) by using stone grinder (石磨).  We picked Tak Kee out of 2~3 stalls as the rest were not opened for business yet. 

Due to the coldness we ordered hot tofu fa with ginger syrup (HK$10).  Ginger syrup alone has enhanced the bland flavor of Tofu Fa and at the same time added some red sugar available on the table to adjust to our preferred sweetness.    The red sugar dissolved gradually.  Smoothness of the pudding was just awesome.  It was incredibly smooth and soft.  We also ordered the sweet sesame paste which was thick and great flavor.