Rol came out to visit the Tian Tan Buddha statue at the Po Lin Monastery 500 metres up in the western highlands of Lantau island on a sunny afternoon while the chorus were stuck indoors rehearsing. The staue is quite new and there are wonderful views of the mountains and coast from the balcony running around its base. This was an ambitious trip for an afternoon but quite manageable due to the wonderful consistency of the integrated transport system; 25 minutes on the 2pm fast ferry from the HK Star Ferry terminal, a 5 minutes wait for the bus at  Silver Mine Bay, a 45 minute ride up vertiginous hillsides to the monastery,  an hour there, then 50 minutes by bus to Tung Chung (the main town on Lantau) and a short walk to the MTR station, a 5 minute wait then 30 minutes back to Tsim Sha Tsui for 6pm!

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