Temple-Twins

November 9th 2016

We are back in Hong Kong — where the internet is free and the orange juice real.
Today we're headed towards the monastery of the ten thousand Buddhas a bit out of town. From what the internet told me, it's 421 steps up the hill to the entrance of the monastery, all of which Jan enjoys very much. The steps are flanked to either side with life-size Buddha statues in every pose imaginable — they'd be worthy of their own portrait series.
For some, it seems like they're trying to sell us something, others look rather grim and serious or a little crazy, and yet others are riding a variety of different animals.
Once we enter the temple grounds, the Buddha's faces return to their usual, tranquil expressions. Here, we find beautiful pagodas, some more golden statues, and a koi pond with a waterfall.
Inside the large temple halls, we look around in wonder once more: Every single surface of this cubic room is covered in tiny Buddha replicas. Spiritual music is playing from blinking plastic speakers, a few fans stand around, and a makeshift office occupies a corner of the prayer hall — seems a bit strange to our eyes, but nor out of the ordinary in these monasteries as far as we can tell.
Technically we wanted to check out Hong Kong Park afterwards, but the heavy rain forces us — for the first time on our journey — to change plans. After a rather long evaluation of our situation on a very comfy sofa in some mall we head towards the Sky Garden above the central station. That's not a real tourist attraction per se, but the gardens are pretty enough and offer a nice view of the skyline.
Positive side effect: The risk of getting sunburn is very low today.

Half past nine, Day of Truth

I'm more or less awake for a couple minutes now, but still lying in bed. My phone vibrates — text from Jan: "Let's chill for now". Said and done.
We tune in to the US election livestreams from our respective beds. Some time later, we decide to face the bad news with breakfast from the bakery around the corner (Pineapple Bun, Bun filled with curry or something, Milk Tea) on the rooftop terrace of our hostel.
Around one in the afternoon we have to admit that the tides won't turn — high time for some meditation.

We take the cable car that is probably more impressive when it's less foggy outside up to the "Big Buddha" and get a wonderful view of the wooded landscape of Lantau island.
Once at the top, we stroll through an authentic Chinese village with a Subway, a kebab restaurant, a jeweller and a cinema before the big Buddha himself comes into view — and yes, he is pretty big indeed. The largest sitting bronze Buddha in the world, by the way. The surrounding monastery has loads of the usual incense sticks and pretty floral decorations.
The friendly Chinese woman in the cable car asked us if we were twins, we'd look so much alike. Seems like we Europeans aren't alone with our struggle in telling other people apart.
After we've seen enough of "Big Buddha" in about ten minutes, we find a small trail leading in the woods that proves to be much more interesting: The signs promise a "path of wisdom" somewhere this way — sounds good, doesn't it?
We walk through the beautiful, slightly Mediterranean coastal landscape for a couple of minutes, passing one or two abandoned huts and many more trees.
A short while later we arrive at the promised destination: The path of wisdom winds in the shape of an eight along the side of a hill, with dozens of tall wooden pillars marking the way, inscribed with Chinese wisdoms.
Feeling much wiser already, we enjoy the view for a bit before returning back down in the cable car at sunset.

For dinner, we decide to check out a Japanese chain restaurant and feel our new-found wisdom evaporate rapidly.
As usual, we just order something, which does taste really good — but we keep wondering why all the locals appear to be eating something different (DIY Soup?) and what's the deal with those gas stoves on the tables.

Translation note: We have since been informed of the existence of Hot Pot.

The early-evening cinema visit was, unfortunately, very disappointing. We watched Inferno and (SPOILER) I was sad to see that the end is the complete opposite of the one in the book — very unsatisfying. That's like having Harry die in the movies and making Voldemort ruler of the wizarding world... Apart from that, the movie is pretty well made.