One of the highlights on our tour in Hongkong was Ngong Ping 360. Where it houses the largest Buddha made out of bronze in the world and a very cool cable ride…

How to go to Ngong Ping Hongkong

Ngong ping is located in Lantau Island, HK. The nearest MTR station to get to there  is through the Tung Chung station.

From our hotel, which is just in front of the MTR station – (North Point station in Hongkong Island). We took the MTR and transferred to other trains to get to Tung Chung station in Lantau Island. There is no direct train ride to get there from North point, so our MTR trip was divided into two (2) legs:

Our first stop was the Central station, and from there we bought tickets to get a ride going to Tung Chung station. The MTR route going to Tung chung is called the “Tung Chung” line.

It’s quite a walk transferring from Central station to the Tung Chung line.

 

What to See – Tourist Spots in HongKong

Upon arriving at the MTR Tung Chung station in Lantau. We went to where the cable ride for Ngong Ping is.

We didn’t book the activity prior to our trip. We bought our tickets right there which is a ‘packaged-tour’ ticket inclusive of

• 1 round trip ride to the cable car,
• one ‘walking with buddha’ ticket, and
• 1 ‘Monkey’s tale’ theater ticket.

Other than the ride, the two other tickets are just theater shows.

The one-way cable ride is a good 30 to 45 minutes ride, where you can see a view of Hong kong. There are even pathways for those who likes to walk rather than take the cable car ride. It’s so long, we only saw like 2 people take the walk.

 

Things to do : Visit Ngong Ping Village

At the end of the cable ride, is the very cold hill top of Ngong ping village. It’s a commercialized place where only stores and restaurants occupies the place.

At the cable ride station, you’ll be able to see the tiny looking giant buddha from afar.

Things to do : Visit the Giant Buddha

This place is swarming with tourists. We actually went picture crazy again there, that every step we take, we took pictures. (So annoying, hehe) Its actually not exhausting going up, cause like I said, we take stops often times to take pictures. By the time we went near the Giant Buddha we were “pictured-out”. Plus the sun was scorching that time and tourists were blocking every camera views so we didn’t bother taking pictures anymore.

 

Things to do : Watch Monkey’s Tale and Walking With Buddha show

This we didn’t know what was about the first time we went there, we thought it’s some place. Only to find out that it’s just a show. It’s not a total waste of money but we wish we didn’t go there to save a few bucks. Bottom line is the show was made for kids. In fact, they made the inside of the theater to look like a forest, where the seats were made to look like logs, there were fake plants and vines hanging from the ceilings and walls. It’s very much like Snow-white’s forest.

If you have kids with you, they’ll definitely enjoy that show.

Walking with Buddhas on the other hand, I think is more for adults. Its basically a show about how Buddha came to be, interpreted through a mini cartoon movie, slides, and show rooms depicting of Buddha’s life.

There’s also a lot of audience interaction in the show, and is translated in different languages which was really cool.

Picture taking was not allowed on both shows.l

What to eat in Hongkong

Before going to Ngong Ping, Jeff and I had brunch already. So all we need then was a little snack.I have seen so many kids in Hongkong eat this black thingie desert, which turned out to be black bean soup. It costs around 25HKD. It tasted like champorado with a different twist.

Fares and Fees of the tour in Hongkong’s Ngong Ping Village

MTR Fee : Around 28HKD/person (See detail above)

Entrance Fee to NgongPing :  About 120HKD/person (Jan 2009)

More pictures of Hongkong’s Ngong Ping here:

(Click on the picture to view the album)