Lantau Part II and OSU-Michigan Game!

The next weekend, Ben, Evan and I decided to hightail it on over to Lantau Island because we wanted to ride the cable car, Ben wanted to see the Big Buddha and the two of us wanted to hike a little bit. We met up around 11 am and headed out. Evan was wearing a sweater and a tie and Ben and I were wearing jeans and a jacket..this is much more useful information when you consider that despite the fact that we told Evan that we were going hiking, he didn’t remember or something and thus became the first person to climb Lantau Peak in a tie! Haha. Anywho, we met up and hopped on the MTR, switched lines a couple times and ended up at Tung Chung so that we could take the Ngong Ping Cable Car up to the Big Buddha. We underestimated just how long it would to get up to the Buddha and got stuck in the cable car line for about 30-35 minutes. The cable car took about 20 minutes to get from Tung Chung to the top and the ride was well worth it. I got to snap a bunch of pictures of the airport for my brother, see the wonderful mountains of Lantau and look out on the sea. We got to Ngong Ping Village, checked out the Buddha, snapped a couple pictures and then headed over to the Wisdom Path. The Wisdom Path is where there are Chinese proverbs engraved on half tree trunks. Its pretty cool but I wished I could read Chinese so that I would know what exactly they said. Maybe I could get my buddy to translate my pictures. Who knows.

Anyway, after we walked around that area Ben and I started to hike up a trail that was nearby to the Wisdom Path. Little did we know that this was less of a hike and more of a climb. This path was simply a series of very uneven, rocky steps. We climbed and climbed and I got more and more tired. We took frequent breaks and I felt a little bad because I am clearly not in very good shape and so I was going slower than I think Ben would have gone had he been with someone else. I think he nearly sprinted up a bunch of steps and then would wait a minute or two until I got closer and then he would start running up the next section of steps. A little ridiculous, if you ask me..run-climbing a mountain. I don’t know how he did it. It was a pretty difficult climb up to Lantau Peak (934 meters) and a lot of what was keeping me going was the fact that I wanted to be able to say “yeah, I climbed a mountain. ” Probably seems a bit silly but that’s definitely how I felt. I wanted to be able to have a story when I got back about how I climbed my first mountain in Hong Kong. And I can tell you one thing, its not going to be my last. I felt so incredibly accomplished when I got to the top and sat with Ben, overlooking the beauty of the island, the sea and feeling like I was on top of the world. I could have spent so long up there but we got there a little late in the day and we wanted to make sure that we got back down before it got too dark. Right as Ben and I were about to leave our rocky perch at the top, we saw Evan coming up the path in his sweater and tie. We had left him behind a little before because he told us to keep going up the hill. We both were pretty excited that he made it to the top and it was pretty hysterical. Climbing to that peak was such an amazing experience and I definitely want to make sure that I climb some more mountains. I think I may have found a new hobby? I am glad that I got to spend the day with the Ben and Evan. They are so fun and funny and made the day so much more fun.

We climbed our way back down (which is much worse than going up). I am not exactly a fan of climbing down really steep steps and it takes me a little longer than it should. Its weird, I want to go skydiving but I am afraid of going down steep steps? Hmm. Anyway, we took the bus across Lantau back to the MTR stop and found a mall where were proceeded to eat. I had Indian food…delicious!! And then we walked around the mall for a few (they were outlets, after all) and after deciding that the prices were a little too much for our liking, we headed back to UST…exhausted but happy. So happy.

After a quick nap, I met up with Evan, and Diana at Hall II so that we could hop into a cab and get over to Wan Chai to watch the OSU-Michigan game with a bunch of OSU alumni. We got there and met up with Lilian, another exchange student, and settled in to watch the game with some fantastic people! We met a wonderful couple from Columbus, Debbi and Bob, who are in Hong Kong for about a year while Debbi gets the HK office for Mast Industries/Limited Brands in full transition mode to a new leader. She invited all of us to come into the office for a visit and then offered to get us a tour of the Hong Kong Shipping Port. Amazing!

As usual, OSU dominated Michigan and we took a bunch of pictures and had a wonderful time with the OSU alumni. We got back to campus around 4:30 am and quickly passed out.

Special thanks to Jack and Nana Banana for hosting all of us throughout the season! It really made our HK experience that much better!