Click on images below to enlarge:
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| Vegetarian Restaurant at Po Lin Monastery
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| Corn soup at the vegetarian restaurant in Po Lin Monastery.
| The main courses: an egg-roll-like thing and two vegetables dishes (one
with tofu). The egg roll had a greasy tasteless multi-layered shell.
After I ate the first, I tried pushing the insides out and eating them
directly, but found them rather tasteless as well. Both vegetable dishes
were simple and fine. They were like something I would cook if I had
vegetables to use up and wasn't feeling inspired.
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| Po Lin Monastery
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| The large gate is the entrance to Po Lin Monastery.
| The Big Buddha as seen looking backwards through the large gate.
| The monastery's main building.
Notice something funny about the landscaping? I'll make it obvious in the
next picture.
| In Hong Kong as well as Shanghai, sometimes the idea of gardening is to
artistically arrange potted plants.
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| Inside the main building.
| I don't think I've previously seen hangings like these in Buddhist
temples. I wonder what they're for.
| A scary dragon! (on the outside of the temple)
| Roar!
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| From the main building, looking back toward the main courtyard, the entry
shrine, and the Big Buddha.
| One of four minor deities in the entry shrine.
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| Hiking Ngong Ping To Tai O
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| Early on my hike, looking south toward the Shek Pik Reservoir. Note the
faint hump of distant islands.
| A close-up of the building complex between the reservoir and the sea. It
turns out to be a maximum security prison.
| A 360 degree panoramic movie of Lantau Island. It begins looking west,
then swings to look south over the Shek Pik Reservoir, and continues all
the way around. I took this recording standing next to a gazebo, seeming
built simply for people to sit and enjoy the view.
| A hiking map of the west side of Lantau Island. I'm keeping this
photograph because none of the physical maps I have that cover this
area display the "country trail" (the red-dots-black-line trail on the
map), which came in very handy. I followed the red-star path from the
"You are here" sign to a short segment of the country trail that
connects back to the red-star path, which then changes into a
black-star path. I followed the black-stars off the top the map to
Tai O, not shown on the map.
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| Though I started pretty high, I nevertheless had to climb a lot. Here's
an example of steps leading up.
| North Lantau's valleys.
| A 360 degree panoramic movie of Lantau Island taken a little later in
hike.
| Looking backwards at the trail I walked. Perhaps excellent.
Viewed from this angle, it looks like a hefty climb -- you must be
happy on my behalf that I didn't have to climb it. (Rather, I
descended the trail shown.) But, consider where I am when I took this
picture: I'm looking down on everything. I therefore climbed more
than is shown here!
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| Additional distant islands.
| More rolling hills and valleys. That's my trail that appears in the
right third of the picture.
| I met another couple who tipped me off about a set of abandoned buildings
just off the trail. I think it's probably a school. This is the largest
building of the bunch.
| More of the complex. I had to jump this stream to get there.
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| The guardian lions must be doing a good job: they scared everyone away!
| A covered walkway.
| One of a couple of abandoned buildings on stilts. Inside was garbage.
| A zig-zag bridge and pavilion over a pond.
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| I like the lines of the bridge and think this would an excellent
photograph if I cropped it right.
| A stream and pond I passed on my descent.
| Another valley and mountain, and a bit of redness peeking out of the
trees.
| A close-up of the (red) temple from the previous picture.
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My first glimpse of the town of Tai O, the destination of my hike.
Nominated for excellent.
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