A couple of months ago, I blogged about the Dogs of Ngong Ping Village.  For some reason I didn’t end up doing a post about Ngong Ping Village itself, which was a bit of an oversight as we had a great day out visiting there.

First step is getting to take the MTR to Tung Chung, exit the station and follow the signs for the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car station.  The cable car ride is around 25 minutes each way.  I strongly recommend that you visit on a day with nice weather, else the visability will be very poor and the scenery is beautiful. We had great weather on the way up but as we were leaving it was starting to drizzle and it was freezing and damp inside the cable car itself, with nothing to see except dense fog so take care around your timing.

In terms of the cable car pricing, this was the only place where Mum didn’t get a senior discount – they only offer senior discounts to Hong Kong residents.  Check this site for pricing for the cable car ride.  We did the standard cabin with a return for $HK150 ($NZ22).

As you travel through the first part of the ride you can see buildings along one side of the bay and the airport on the other. Once at the top there is a fairly touristy small village which didn’t hold our attention for very long.  There were some places to eat – Chinese and Western foods, Starbucks, shoe shops and a miscellaneous trinket and souvenir places.  They also had a display of cable car’s from all over the world – all slightly sureal actually.

On the hill over the village is the Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha) which is a fair walk up steps in hot weather.  But worth the view from the top.  You can go into the base of the Buddha too.  There were some devout Buddists stopping, kneeling and praying on each step – they must take hours to get to the top… wow.

Also at the end of the village is the Lo Pin Monastery – there a restaurant with a set menu or if you are looking for something lighter, a cafe with very cheap eats – its all vegetarian food.  We got some delicious spring rolls and a couple of cans of soft drink from the cafe and sat outside and watched the other tourists go past.  I don’t recall how much it cost but it was cheap – I seem to think around $NZ2 each.

Then there is monastery itself and the temple.

I don’t think you should be too disappointed if you miss visiting but if you have a free day, it was a nice diversion.