Idyllic setting with a beautiful Buddha statue and Buddhist temple

Be sure to take the cable car at least one way if you are planning to visit this serene location. Good clear weather will also make the cable car ride a worthy experience - apparently the longest cable car ride in Asia as of now. It travels over the ocean and mountains to take you to the Lantau area. Check out Klook for online reservations, the US $17 VIP counter offer is a hit or miss as there are only two VIP counters and six regular counters, and depending on which counter operates quicker, you may not realize the full benefit of the VIP counter.

Landing at Ngong Ping may be a bit of a downer as the terminal area and its immediate vicinity is highly commercialized but a small walk to the main area of the Tian Tan Buddha and the Po Lin monastery will make your day. The Buddha statue is definitely huge and it is a flight of 250 steps - approximately 5 minutes - to take you to the top. I purchased the museum ticket at the office right before the flight of steps. On my visit, a purchase of the museum ticket could be combined with a limited- and pre-defined-option vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin monastery. Once you are at the top, the museum holds some neat art of Buddhist literature and is a nice way to take in the view from the top too. The Po Lin monastery looks gorgeous from the top, and that's one of the few places where you can get a full view of the monastery.

Once back down, do visit the Wisdom Path, it is a 15-minute walk one way. The place has 3-meter wood pillars with Buddhist teachings in logograms, wish there was some English translation on those to make it more meaningful for me. The diversity of the flora and fauna is also good to take in. I planned to make my visit as non-touristy as possible so I didn't stop at the few tea gardens they have out there. But there's an option right there in Ngong Ping terminal area, as well as one on the trail to the Wisdom Path if you so feel like it.

I was fixated on having my lunch at the monastery as I was not sure what my vegetarian options would be on my next stop at Tai O fishing village. Oh, how I wish I knew to use chopsticks at the lunch table. I had to ask for a fork and they gave me a plastic one. The quantity is sumptuous to say the least, but do not expect much variety, they want you to eat like the monks do - or so I am told. And carry your own napkins as they don't have any in the monastery lunch area. And if you are like me and had your spring rolls with hand, you definitely need something to wipe off that oil with.

The Hero temple and the temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas are beautiful, the temple does not encourage visitors and there were boards of "No Photos No Visitors" all over the place but that didn't discourage people from visiting the temple or taking photos or both.