The village of Ngong Ping 昂坪 has changed a lot since I was last here around five years ago. There is now a Chinese “village” type of establishment which is populated by souvenir shops and restaurants. It was as if they sprouted out of nowhere. The shops were designed with a traditional Chinese village type of design but for someone who was here when the shops weren’t, it was quite dismaying to see them now.
The main street of Ngong Ping is lined with these shops and hundreds of tourists walk these streets. There weren’t really any special places there and I wonder who actually makes money here. I guess there are a lot of gullible people willing to buy these souvenir items.
Along the way, there is an impressive banyan tree where people can rest, but upon closer inspection, the banyan tree is actually a banyan “tree”. It was fake and it totally fooled me. The street here passes through the cable way of Ngong Ping known as the Ngong Ping 360. I didn’t try the Ngong Ping 360 but it says it starts from the town of Tung Chung all the way to the Ngong Ping village here on top of the mountain. I think it is an interesting ride since you get to pass by impressive scenery and even man made stuff like the Hong Kong International Airport. Maybe next time.
From the village of Ngong Ping, you can get a good view of the profile of the Tian Tan Buddha. It is interested to know that they actually planned to have this spot. It is an impressive view. When we were there, there was a massive cloud that shrouds the mountain behind the Big Buddha, it was an interesting sight, it was as if the cloud was carpeting the mountain itself. I’ve never seen anything like it.
With nothing more to see here and with us unwilling to take the Ngong Ping 360, we took the bus to the town of Tung Chung for some factory outlet shopping. It will be another while before I get back here and I will miss this place.
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