Tourism meets Buddhism

Picture a Buddhist monestary. What words come to your mind? Serene? Calm? Beautiful? Those are usually the words I put with East Asian temples, from what I have seen since I came to China.

My serene thoughts of a Buddhist monestary were shattered on Sunday, after a few friends and I decided to visit the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island. It's the largest sitting Buddha in the world.

I should have been forewarned about going. First off, I thought such an object would be nice and calm to go see. I ignored the signs right infront of me:

1) Tian Tan Buddha was built in 1990
2) A major Hong Kong transportation company just opened a Cable Car, the Ngong Ping 360, to get to it.

I should have known better. Instead I got this:

AGH! I hate lines!!! The bottom photo was the back of the first of five line segments we had to wait in to get on the cable car. Once we were on, though (1 1/2 hours later), the ride was somewhat pleasant.

Sorry for the glare. We were told that this monestary was way out of the way, and the Ngong Ping 360 was the only way to really get out to see it in time. However, my friends and I noticed a very nicely sculpted path right under the Cable Car.

So, we all felt bad because instead of walking on the nice wooden path through a beautifully green mountainous path, we put ourselves in our sterile little cable car box and rose past it. It was sad. The superficiality of this trip could only get worse....

Now... I support Starbucks. They make great coffee. However, this Starbucks was located in a fake village Ngong Ping 360 built next to Buddha. I quote the brochure:

"Ngong Ping Village occupies 1.5 hectacres adjecent to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue in Lantau, and has been designed to reflect and maintain the cultural and spiritual integrity of the Ngong Ping Area."

I would like to note this Starbucks was next to a giftshop, a French restaurant, and a Chopstick store. Oh! They had a mascot too.

Sorry for the stupid picture, the attendent doesn't know how to use my camera. ... sad. But... you get the picture. There are no monkeys on Lantau island (with the exception of said monkey costume man).

Okay, after losing my soul in the commerciality of that damn village. We made it to the Buddha.

Pretty neat looking, huh? The crowds were massive in the town, but honestly, there was hardly anyone at the Buddha. It was really sad, really.

This was behind the Buddha. Why couldn't the Cable Car have like two exits and dropped me off somewhere in that mountain over there?

Please Mind The Gap - and the creepy monkey.

~Ken

This Posts Covet Item: Ebony chopsticks set at the Chopsticks Store, US$120.