Day 3, LUCKYCRAZYNEWYEARS

Today starts at a slower pace with a forgettable breakfast in the Hotel restaurant and a stroll to Hong Kong Park, which we had passed near yesterday. Our plan is to not get too lost while Y is off negotiating visa bureaucracy. The park is beautifully manicured and the view of the city is also good.

This fountain was fun:

There is a small Museum of Teaware in the park. Most of the rooms have a wall with instructions for making different types of tea. Here is whipped tea in 6 easy steps:

 

Upstairs is a collection of tea pots and cups made by local artists as part of a recent competition. Tea sets look like bark, cardboard, flowers and many other things. Y completes her paperwork just as we finish looking around.

We meet up with her and her mother at a restaurant we refer to as “Little Gobi” for the rest of the trip because of the many posters inside advertising this character. This is actually one of several locations of a chain called Tsui Wah Restaurant. (I’m quite pleased with my google-fu for being able to figure this out using search terms and street view. Incidentally, google street view is a fun way to see this city if you’re OK with missing fantastic food, shopping, and public transportation.) They have an extensive menu and take Octopus. Bill has a wonderful noodle dish.

After lunch, we take the MTR out to the New Territories, exiting at Sha Tin. Bill and I are actually here intruding on Y visiting her father's remains.  She brought us so we could see the monastery further up the mountain from there. This is an area we might not have ventured into had we been traveling alone. English is less prevalent.  The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monestary is difficult to find the entrance to. We go through an unmarked narrow walk between a building and a chain link fence to find steps winding up the mountain between two rows of statues. These are Buddha's followers:

 

  Some are in better states of repair. The Chinese government is restoring them slowly. After climbing at least ten thousand stairs, we reach the temple. A square building on the outside, the inside is lined from top to bottom with Buddhas. There are several larger statues of Buddha and rings of smaller statues throughout. No photography allowed. Back outside, we wander the grounds looking at more statues and climbing this nine story pagoda.

 

  

We also ventured down an alternate path that took us through some older looking parts of the monastery and up to an overlook of the city. Even this far out, there are several sky scrapers here.

  

After descending, we swipe our octopus cards and hop on a double-decker bus which is the longer way to go but lets us see more of the region. The route also takes us past a residence that takes an entire block and belongs to the man who owns the Peninsula hotel.

Dinner that night is at the Food Forum in Time Square. Time Square is the mall where the closest MTR station to our hotel is. There are four floors of restaurants and we head to the Golden Bull on the 11th floor via elevators that service just the 10th-13th floors. Dinner is great with multiple meat dishes and hot water in wine glasses.