The Big Buddha is located on Lantau Island and is easily accessible by lots of buses and other forms of public transport. I was pretty excited to visit, as it’s the most famous symbol of Hong Kong. Also, it was my first week in SE Asia so the idea of a massive Buddha as opposed to a Jesus statue was a bit of a novelty. I loved the six smaller statues surrounding the Buddha – the six Devas who make offerings representing charity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The Po Lin Monastery is also an interesting place to visit, although it was under a lot of construction while I was there, and you can have a nice vegetarian lunch.
The highlight of this trip though was visiting the Wisdom Path, which is a series of massive wooden columns inscribed with the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is, in my limited understanding, a meditation on nothingness and is one of the most important texts in Buddhist philosophy. Set in front of Lantau Peak, the installation brings a deep sense of calm.