China Entry the Seventh: The World's Largest Bronze Seated Budha Statue

Ho has things he needs to do today, so Lisa and I decide that we really want to go to Lantau Island to see the monestary and the world's largest bronze seated Buddha statue. But when we awake the next morning, the rains had come in full force.

Lisa and I eye each other. "Let's do it anyway," we say, "How bad can the rain be?"

To answer our own question, the rain can be bad. The rain can pour down on you pretty much non-stop all day even when you try to hide under the brim of your silly travel hat (tm tripsright). Let me just say, immediately after this excursion, we both wondered if we wouldn't have been ahead of the game to just stay in and journal. Writing this now, a week or so removed from the trip, I wouldn't trade that day on Lantau for anything, even a grande mocha and wireless access. But at the time...

So, the trip to Lantau, much to our surprise, is two hours each way. Thats an hour on the MTR and then an hour on a crowded, damp bus careening through winding roads up and down the hills of the island. By the time we even reach the monestary, the rain is coming down in torrents. TORRENTS. Lisa actually has to buy a plastic raincoat to wear. Because this is China, the plastic raincoat has huge letters on the back that say "ENJOY." You'd better believe I got leverage out of that joke for hours.

The monestary is lovely. Probably more lovely because of the rain. Take a look.





And also, the worlds largest bronze seated Buddha statue is, well, the worlds largest bronze seated Buddha statue. Take a look.







Despite the rain, we take the trek to the top of the hill where the statue is and go in to see the artifacts, which include a number of ancient wooden scrolls and some of Siddhartha's legendary crystals. But I start to freak out at all of the people and don't get to see as much as we'd like. Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade a moment.

Wanna know what the real highlight of Lantau is? It's the snack shack where we have noodles, sesame balls and steamed rice cakes with red beans. Jocelyn went to China and ate it.

The two hour trip back to Causeway Bay is stopped short of being torture by the childen on the MTR who are returning from their day at Disneyland and are more than happy to perform for the freakish looking, damp and scraggly white women. We hit the hostel and sleep for hours. When we wake up, the rain torrents are back, making the prospect of getting to the wedding banquet that night challenging. However...