Days 157-159: Hong Kong - Big Buddha & Sheung Wan Restaurants

We spent our last days in Hong Kong wandering the streets, visiting the Big Buddha and filling our own big buddha bellies with delicious food throughout Sheung Wan. 

Big Buddha
One day, we took a break from this wonderful madness:

...and to see something a bit more low key:

To get to the Big Buddha, we took the train out to Ngong Ping on Lantau Island to see the Po Lin monastery and the massive Tian Tan Buddha on top of the peak.  Part of the fun of this trip is the journey to reach the Buddha.  When you get off the subway, you board a cable car that brings you on a 7km ride across the harbor, the airport and several mountain peaks before arriving at the park about 25 minutes later.  Some of the cable cars have glass bottoms, which cost extra.   We happened to be visiting on a day when a typhoon was skirting Hong Kong on its way to China, occasionally resulting in some very strong wind gusts!  Chris, who is not a fan of cable cars to begin with, could have done without being rocked back and forth by the wind.

Chris was a bit uneasy in the cable car. It's a long ride for someone who doesn't like heights!

I was having fun!

Getting closer to Buddha

From a distance the Big Buddha appears to be some ancient wonder of the world, but it was actually built in the early 90’s near the monastery, which is a major Buddhism center in Hong Kong.  When you arrive, there is a small street lined with tourist-oriented shops on the way from the cable car to the monastery and Buddha. Once you pass the little village and enter the monastery grounds it's a lot less commercial and much more peaceful (save a few ice cream kiosks here and there). We climbed up 200+ steps to the massive statue to survey the views.

Walking through the little town

There was a cable car exhibit featuring cars from different countries. This one was from Spain, so Chris is matadoring.

View from the Big Buddha

Flags outside the monastery gate

Monastery gate. Unfortunately the monastery was under construction and covered with scaffolding.

This guy attempted to photobomb our picture.

We walked around the monastery and grounds for a bit before making our way back via the same gondola ride.  The wind had picked up even more for the ride back!

The sun was setting. Time to go.

Sunset cable car ride back down the mountain

Good Eats in Sheung Wan
One night, we met up with my brother’s friend, Dan, and his girlfriend, Steph, who both live in Hong Kong.  We tried out a new Issan Thai restaurant called Chachawan, known for its spicy dishes and cool atmosphere.  Chris was psyched for spicy Thai and luckily for me, most of the spiciness was in the sauce which was usually served on the side.  The food was fantastic! The four of us shared a bunch of  Thai specialties including a spicy papaya salad and an entire salt encrusted sea bass. My favorite dish here was the Kanom Dtom which was - no surprises here - a dessert.  It consisted of  gooey coconut rice dumplings served in a bowl of coconut milk and was absolutely amazing! 

Next we went to an tiki style bar called Honi Honi Bar, where we enjoyed tasty fruit infused cocktails on the bamboo covered outdoor terrace.

After our drink at Honi Honi,  Dan & Steph led us down to a little back alley bar called Brick House. It was very colorful, casual and featured some fantastic ink artwork by one of Dan's friends named Marc Allante.  Check out his work here - it's good stuff.   We had a really nice time getting to know Dan and Steph and it was great to try out some more local spots with them!

Chris. me, Dan & Steph at Brick House.

Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, our passports and visas were ready to be picked up for our departure to Beijing the next morning.  That night we said goodbye to Hong Kong with dinner at Le Contache, a French-inspired hipster restaurant in Sheung Wan.  We were greeted in French and attempted to respond likewise, which the waiter kindly acknowledged and then immediately switched to English :) We shared a cheese platter and  a variety of French/Laotian fusion dishes accompanied by a fantastic Syrah.  Le Contache has a throwback vibe with décor reminiscent of the 90’s and a mix of American and French funk and old school hip-hop playing in the background.  We had a great time here and highly recommend checking it out!  

Reservoir Dogs artwork in the entrance. If I remember correctly, Mr. Pink would not agree with this statement.

Super Nintendo decor.

Speaking of French places, as a side note, it turns out there’s been a huge influx of French people into Hong Kong of late, resulting in lots of French-oriented bars and restaurants popping up around town.  According to a NYTimes article last year the French community in Hong Kong has grown more than 60 percent since 2006.  French luxury companies (ie clothing, dining, wine, banking) want French nationals on their local teams and since much of their growth is occurring in Asia, particularly in China, they are relocating their people.  So this probably explains why we were the only people in Le Cantoche that were not native French speakers! 

This concludes our wonderful week in Hong Kong.  Special thanks goes to Dan and Steph for their great company and for showing us around the local food & bar scene! 

Next stop...Beijing!