I ♥ Wisdom Path Ngong Ping Village Lantau Hong Kong 03/05/2013

Wisdom Path Ngong Ping Village

After wandering around Ngong Ping Village, we followed a clear signage that leads to "The Wisdom Path which is on the right side of Tian Tan Buddha. A scenic 15-20 minutes’ walk pass a tea house, Po Lin Monastery and Tea plantation brought us into the trail revealing the Wisdom Path at the foot of Lantau Mountain. Wisdom Path traces a series of 38 wooden steles (upright monuments) containing verses from the centuries-old Heart Sutra; one of the world’s best-known prayers revered by Confucians, Buddhists and Taoists alike. 


These stales display the Chinese version of the prayer, based on the calligraphy of famous contemporary scholar Professor Jao Tsung-I, and are arranged in a pattern, which represents infinity. I may not understand the Chinese words or the Heart Sutra but I really enjoyed walking the trail because it is an amazing place where the tranquility of the natural environment matches the calligraphy inscribed on the thirty-eight pieces of timber in a figure eight formation. Also, the atmosphere here is so serene apart from the busy Ngong Ping Village.


How to go to Wisdom Path


The MTR is regarded as one of the world's leading railways with an extensive network. The system covers 81 stations on the Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Island, Tung Chung, Tseung Kwan O, East Rail, West Rail, Ma On Shan and Disneyland Resort lines. The MTR also operates the Airport Express and the Light Rail Transit which runs in the north west New Territories. Visitors can enjoy a convenient and comfortable trip all the way from the heart of Central and Causeway Bay to the New Territories and Lantau Island.

 Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal is adjacent to MTR's Tung Chung Station. It is a two-minute walk from Exit B of the station.

Firstly, Big Buddha is further than the airport, its on a place known as Ngong Ping. You can either take MTR to Tung Chung Station, or take a ferry to Mui Wo, and then from either place, take a bus to go there.

 If you take the MTR from Mong Kok Station, you need to change train at Lai King Station, and it takes about 40 minutes to get to Tung Chung Station from Mong Kok Station. From the bus terminal near MTR Tung Chung Station, take Lantau bus 23 to go to Ngong Ping. The bus journey will be about 1 hour.

 If you want to take the ferry, first go to Central Ferry Piers, you can take MTR and get off at MTR Central Station. It's about a 10-minute walk to the piers from Central Station. Catch a ferry to Mui Wo at the Pier 6. Fast ferry takes about 35 minutes, ordinary ferry will be about 1 hour. At the bus terminal just outside Mui Wo ferry pier, take Lantau bus 2. Journey time about 1 hour.

 So, from Mong Kok, it will be faster to go via Tung Chung. But you can take ferry (for one or both way(s)) if you have time and want to.

Note that the Lantau buses are infrequent, and waiting time can be up to 1 hour. Ferry waiting time can be up to 40 minutes during daytime, and the next one may be an ordinary ferry (not fast ferry).
To Ngong Ping from Mongkok, I would allow 2.5 hours if via Tung Chung, or 3 hours if taking ferry, each way, unless you are geared to the timetables.

 Lantau Bus timetables (click the route number) -

www.newlantaobus.com/farelist.htm#route%20A35



Ferry timetable -

nwff.com.hk/english/schedule/search_route.asp

If you are going on Sundays or public holidays, there is a bus route 1R originating at Hung Hom in Kowloon and terminating at Ngong Ping, this is most direct. The bus goes via Tsim Sha Tsui, and Nathan Road, there is a bus stop near Langham Place Hotel, at Grand Tower (junction of Nathan Road and Shan Tung Street), the correct bus stop and the hotel are on the same side of Nathan Road. This rotue has only a handful of departures a day, see the timetable for this route at that Lantau Bus timetable. I guess the journey would be about 2 hours by this direct bus.

 

 

-->