Lantau Layover

Okay, so the where and why of this particular day is pretty well covered here but basically I took a day journey out to Lantau Island (one of the 262 or so islands that make up the Special Administrative Zone of Hong Kong) and was given a rather prolonged lesson in "how Buddhist monks spend their pocket money" (or perhaps, to be fair, how the Hong Kong authorities exploit Buddhism for the tourist dollar).

And here it is (proving that with enough caveats anything can be the largest something): The World's Largest Outdoor Seated Bronze Buddha



and yes I paid hard currency for the privilige of slogging my way up all those stairs in the sweltering humidity, to take a walk around a glorified 'buy a buddha' gift shoppe.

The view from the top as proof:



Other attractions on the island (where I was captive for 4 hours or so, trying to retrieve my pack) were:

The World's Largest Wicker Chair Situated Beneath a Tattered Chinese Flag in Hong Kong



The World's Eeriest Derelict Building with Scarecrow on an Island In Hong Kong



The World's Most Poorly Conceived Tourist Attraction (not too many qualifiers on that one):



And the World's Most Sterile and Deserted Chinese Model Village (the folks in red are staff):



And finally the World's Most Thing that Ben Doesn't Know What The Purpose Of It Is On Lantau Island:



As noted earlier, there were also some pretty butterflies (which were extremely difficult to photograph)



And for those of you that read the original post, "Sun Killer" (which has yet to snuff out our gaseous benefactor) turned out to be foundation. But I used it anyway because the alternative was being barbecued.


Two posts in two days. Remarkable. We'll be in Vietnam shortly.