Lantau Island

With only a few weeks left and planning the travels after, I don’t have much time to write a story, but I can’t really keep this one from you, so here it is.

Last weekend I made a little trip to Lantau Island and it was great. It is one of the bigger islands of Hong Kong, but it’s easy to avoid it as long as you don’t need the airport. People say it’s really nice for a daytrip to go hiking, to go see the Big Buddha or see one of the small villages. With Hong Kong being famous for having the biggest bronze Buddha of Asia (and possibly the world), I thought it might be impressive to see exactly how big it really is. And so my journey began.

After a good night’s sleep, I finally got my bag and left. The weather and time were not the best imaginable, but at least it made for some very short queues. There was no wait for the gondolas to the Po Lin Monastery and I even had my own cabin and thus a good surround view of the incredible scenery. The touristic village wasn’t crowded either. Still, it all looked very fake and I fled the place as soon as I could. On the first bus I left for Tai O, which is supposed to have a shrimp paste factory, mangroves, many nice restaurants and the famous (pink?) dolphins. It was quite touristic still, so after inhaling the salty air of the fishermen’s villages and taking in the accompanying atmosphere, I hopped on a next bus, off to the south and east coast of the island.

That is where it was supposed to happen. Yes, there is a wonderful beach and a great view across the water, but that is not even why I came there. Buffalo’s, those were the reason. Supposedly, they live on this island and are to show up on the beach in the evenings. How strange is that? Just about an hour away from the always busy Kowloon, there is this amazing beach with these wild animals who just linger around.
So I walked around on the beach, searching for the buffalo’s, but they were not to be seen. Perhaps I was a bit early, or they didn’t feel like tanning today. Maybe I wasn’t going to see any more of them than the few who had been sitting on the side of the road while the bus descended to Tai O earlier. “Oh well, you can’t have it all”, I thought by myself, while eating some more cranberries and enjoying the beach. Just to take in some more of the relaxing sea breeze and maybe finding the South-African restaurant De Stoep, I kept on walking.
After a forced little tour through some bushes I came back to a neighbouring beach and that’s where a little piece of paradise appeared. More of the exotic trees that colour up the city, light cords through the trees, making the dusk seem magical, a few laid back seafood restaurants, a family playing some beach soccer and lastly… the buffalo’s. There they were, just casually lying there, on the narrow beach, in between the beach soccer and the restaurants. So tame you could walk right through the relaxing herd. It was simply amazing. Words cannot describe, and pictures can give only an impression. To all the people at home who’ll ask for more pictures: go see these things for yourself. The impact it will have on you cannot be inflicted by mere pictures.

That said, I can’t add anything to the little Lantau adventure. I do want to share my silly happiness with my newest passport additions. The uncomfortable feeling of handing over my precious travel document was overwon to give me my first visa ever!! And the second too, since it was going so nicely. In between the measuring for my experiment I’ll have some traveling to prepare for, some big adventures to look forward to. And I’m going to enjoy it every step of the way.

Karin