The Big Buddha and the big pizza

It’s been raining quite a bit in Hong Kong. We had to buy a couple of umbrellas. The exchange rate works out really well here, which means that sometimes we are paying the equivalent of $25 AUD for two bowls of noodles with entrees and drinks. Back in Sydney, $25 might get you one meal and a drink, if you’re lucky.

Following our first day here, James and I went along a 5.7km cable car ride over the mountains and walked up to the famous big Buddha which is over thirty metres tall. In the little village there (Ngong Ping village) I had a little taste of home by purchasing my favourite green tea latte from Starbucks (quite popular in Hong Kong). We finished up in the early afternoon. Here are some photos from around the village and the big Buddha.

Cable car to Ngong Ping village
Cable car to Ngong Ping village
The path underneath the cable car (if you wanted to walk the whole way...)
The path underneath the cable car (if you wanted to walk the whole way…)
Big Buddha in the distance
Big Buddha in the distance
Tea house
Tea house
James and the Giant Kettle
James and the Giant Kettle
Me and a big donut
Me and a big donut
Cable car station
Cable car station
Me and a koala Santa
Me and a koala Santa
James and his “little friend”
James and his “little friend”
James and a lucky cat
James and a lucky cat
Stalls
Stalls
Archway to big Buddha
Archway to big Buddha
The big Buddha again
The big Buddha again
It’s a long way to the top...
It’s a long way to the top…
He’s very big indeed.
He’s very big indeed.
A view from the top. It was very misty
A view from the top. It was very misty
Along the trail
Along the trail
Phoenix statue
Phoenix statue
Haze
Haze
Wooden Stonehenge?
Wooden Stonehenge?
James and a piece of the wooden Stonehenge
James and a piece of the wooden Stonehenge
Pink flowers that I spotted on the way back.
Pink flowers that I spotted on the way back.
A flat dog!
A flat dog!
I took a burst shot of this water feature
I took a burst shot of this water feature
Pathway around the bottom of the Buddha
Pathway around the bottom of the Buddha
Going back down
Going back down
Cute mountain dog
Cute mountain dog
James likes pergolas
James likes pergolas
Wisdom trail
Wisdom trail

James and I headed to all the markets we could muster. We went to the Ladies Market, which I thought would have something more to my liking, but there were just the regular tacky souvenir stalls. We also went to the Apliu Street Flea Market, which had a lot of electronics and gadgets for sale. I decided to buy some beaded bracelets, since I kept seeing them around… and the more you see something, the more you feel like buying it because it stares you in the face everywhere. I don’t know if this applies to everyone, haha.

I got a bracelet for just $20 HKD (originally $60) because I kept shaking my head and refusing the woman’s offer. I wasn’t even that interested in the bracelet in the first place. I just went, “Oooh, sparkly” and began to walk out. Heheheheh.

Markets in the rain!
Markets in the rain!
Hustle and bustle in the markets
Hustle and bustle in the markets
Streets of Hong Kong
Streets of Hong Kong

It was a bit difficult to find them, but I eventually bought three cases for my iPhone: a red one, a light green one and a purple one. They have a subtle glitter texture to them. A lot of the stalls in the market didn’t have any for the 5c model, so I was pretty glad to have finally found some. It must be an obscure model here. I have seen a lot of people use Samsung Notes (which is the same phone James has).

On our third day here, it was raining quite heavily so we kicked out a few museums in the one day. We visited an art gallery called Oi!, which was really just a tiny room. Interesting though. We also went to the Hong Kong Science Museum, and they had an exclusive dinosaur exhibit. It was a terrific way to get out of the rain.

Outside the museum there was a huge dinosaur statue that moved its head and roared, and there were smaller statues that wagged their tails. Walking into the museum, we saw a lot of dinosaur skeleton replicas and a lot of dinosaur statues that moved or responded to visitors interacting with them. I don’t think I have seen such animated or interactive animals like that in a museum before.

Dinosaur exhibition
Dinosaur exhibition
He was vegetarian.
He was vegetarian.
Velociraptors!
Velociraptors!
Huge dinosaur skeleton
Huge dinosaur skeleton
How they excavated bones
How they excavated bones
Gigantic dinosaur skeleton head
Gigantic dinosaur skeleton head
Dinosaur mafia coming to get us
Dinosaur mafia coming to get us

James and I also relearned a bit of high school physics in various other parts of the museum, which looked at mining, rock formations, electricity, and radiation. There was even a section about the digestive system, where I made sure I knew where my colon was (ha ha). We even tried this exercise bike, which educated us on how far and how long we would have to ride in order to burn off one egg. It would take us about eight minutes and we would have to ride for about two kilometres. It was actually really tiring riding the bike because the pedals continued to turn without any resistance. We only punched in one egg, but you could put in other food items like instant noodles and cake, which would no doubt need a lot more than eight minutes.

There was also another section educating us on how much nutrients ten items of food could give us, and just for kicks, we put our details in as a 99 year old woman who ate ten cakes.

It said:

You have a big stomach and beware of overweight! [sic]
You have eaten 382% of proteins and over the recommended intake percentage.
You have eaten 1024% of fats and over the recommended intake percentage.
You have eaten 1064% of carbohydrates and over the recommended intake percentage.
You need 60mg of vitamin C per day to keep you healthy.

Obviously not the best diet.

We were a little more realistic and put in myself as a 22 year old woman and actually put in what I might eat for a meal (soup, tea). It said I ate like a bird. We deduced that it was just a guide and not very possible to get the machine to consider any diet as perfect.

We went to the Space Museum where I ogled over my good old friend Johannes Kepler, and James got therapeutically pleased over some spinning balls that represented a gravity well.

The Space Museum was not as interesting as the Science one, and it was also really small. After that we went to Sogo, a department store, but couldn’t really find anything so we just headed back home. We bought instant noodles at a chain supermarket called Wellcome, and ate them in our hotel room for dinner. It was our first meal of the day since we had a huge meal at Pizza Hut the night before.

Salad at Pizza Hut
Salad at Pizza Hut
Giant yummy pizza
Giant yummy pizza

Pizza Hut in Australia is just a takeaway-slash-delivery kind of deal, so I was really amazed to see that it was a sit-down restaurant. The quality of the pizza is just amazing in comparison, too. In Australia they’re just greasy and all have the same general burned brown colour overall. When you look at the pizzas here they are so colourful and fancy. It doesn’t seem like “fast food” the way it is back at home. The pizza crust itself was fancy, puffy and adorned with two different types of cheese. It was incredible. Probably the best pizza I have ever eaten. Food here is so amazingly cheap.

Clothes not so much. The next day we spent a long time looking around malls. It has changed quite a lot, and there are lots of designer brands around, and not as many low-end malls. But yesterday we went to Sha Tin Plaza and spotted a cute shop that sold a lot of cardigans, long sleeved tops and jumpers for about a fifth of the price of the other chain stores. It was a great find! The owner even gave us a discount because we bought eight pieces. I now have some new winter clothes for our trip to Japan and for winter in Australia come August. :)

Comments on this post

What a coincidence — this week’s Song of the Week on Hi-5 is a new song called Dance with the Dinosaurs! ✌️

We have Pizza Hut restaurants here as well, but just like you I’ve always only had it on delivery. Pizza seems to be heavily stereotyped like “fast food” in Western regions as far as I’ve seen — just something tossed up (literally? XD) in a few minutes and delivered in 30, and something you eat as an aside rather than a meal at a table. It gives you a whole new perspective to be having pizza in a restaurant, doesn’t it? I’d like to try that someday.

Here in Southern California, we have Pizza Hut restaurants, but a lot of them don’t really have sit downs, unless of course, it is at a really fancy/rich part of town. But that is unique to see it over in Hong Kong. :). We do have a pizza restaurant called “C.C.’s Pizza” which is only $5.00 per person and it’s all you can eat! It’s a buffet type restaurant, and it has a variety of pizzas, even a dessert pizza :/ . Though I was told this by Tristan. I haven’t been to it yet.

Those pictures are amazing! I especially like the water works one, along side the Buddha. Take more pictures, especially when you get over to Japan. By the way, when do you leave for Japan?

Museums are always fun to go too. Tristan and I went to a Science Museum in a town that I lived in, and we saw Sloths, Dinosaurs and other things in there! I took a lot of pictures of what I could (as it was a little dark), but something happened to my phone and it deleted all my pictures. Some museums are just really small and not even worth the money that they ask upfront. However, in this one park — there are several of these Museums that are to die for. They arrange from $14-$20.00. Only because some of them have movies to watch which is were the extra money comes from. I’ve never really seen a moving animalelectronic up close like that! That’s pretty awesome! The only thing remotely near it — is at Disneyland “Pirates Of The Carribean”.

I’m glad you were able to get your Iphone cases! I bet you had to haggle a bit? We have a Chinatown here in California (well several places here in California), and sometimes you can haggle down the price the owner is asking. I think I got a cobalt blue bathroom for a few dollars down from what the woman originally wanted — but I didn’t want to be cheap about it, as I wanted to befriend her. I don’t know what happened to the bathrobe though :( . Ah well — I hope you have a blast on the rest of your trip though!

Seeing your pictures of your journey in Hong Kong reminds me of my own visit to the Big Buddha and my last visit to Hong Kong. I’m glad that you and James are enjoying your vacation.

Hong Kong looks amazing, I would love to visit some day. It seems like you have the art of haggling down to a T. :)

That velociraptor display would probably make me puke. Anything showing the inside of anything makes squeamish…

That exercise bike sounds cool. They have the same sort of system for the Wii Fit in which you can put in your goal to burn off how many calories. For example, you can put in you want to burn off a packet of crisps. Awesome for when you’ve just eaten or something,

Pizza Hut in the UK is also a sit down affair. I’d find it really strange if I went to Australia and could only get takeaway. I love going to Pizza Hut because there’s a buffet lunch and a salad bar, with a lot of choice. :)

I am glad to hear that James and yourself are having a great time on your vacation. :) All of the photographs are absolutely gorgeous, and I’m happy to hear that you were able to find some bargains on winter clothes.

*Squeals so hard* OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE IN HONG KONG! How long are you and James going to stay here? I should’ve checked your blog sooner! I’ve been so busy lately with school and my new part-time job (night shift D:) that I literally have no time to go online. I hope you’re having an amazing time here!

Truth be told, although I’ve lived here all my life, I have never once went to see the Big Buddha. Was it extremely cold when you went there?

I agree, the Space Museum is a bit dull compared to the other museums here. Or that’s just because I’ve been there for more than 3 times already due to our school trips.

Have you been to HK Disneyland and/or Ocean Park already? If not, I suggest you should! Personally, I like Ocean Park better as it’s bigger and has waaay more rides, and it’s also cheaper than Disneyland. Oh! And there’s cute pandas there as well! :3

Haha we are already in Japan at the moment. :( Boo! We did have a good time though.

I guess the same is in Australia… I haven’t been to a few of the tourist-like places there. I feel like it is the same for most people and their home countries.

We considered Ocean Park but it was raining nearly the whole time we were there. The day we left, the sun came out again. We were even going to go to Cheng Chau but didn’t because of the rain. I think we are too old for Disneyland, but there’s one here in Japan if we do want to go? :P

wow I actually forgot how does it feels like going to Ladies Market… my parents told me last time that Ladies Market is boring since it’s just, well… full of souvenir stalls along the road and stuff.

you went to the big buddha! …I didn’t get to go there though. no time. hm…maybe i should have gone there to find adorable wild dogs for some snapshots :P

oh hey..are you using iphone 5c now? 😏 is there any…major important difference(s) between the 5c and 4s/5s when it comes to the user interface? i’m actually tempted because the 5c is colorful…augh, Apple is too smart.

Eh..I just knew pizza hut in Australia is a take out delivery with no sit-down…we have pizza hut delivery (PHD) system here for take outs but all the pizza huts are sit down restos…

Did you get to eat hotpot/shabu shabu in HK? :D for me, hk hotpot is a must when we’re there :P …also because it’s cheaper than in indonesia. bleh