10,000 Buddhas.

I've found that when I arrive in Hong Kong, I always peak really early. So, I think that the jet-lag hasn't got me and the first day-and-a-half will be all good, until I'm wide awake at 3am for no reason.

After some fancy dim sum in Kowloon Tong, we popped back over to Sha Tin, where we were staying, and ended up walking up the side of a huge hill to visit the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery.



Hong Kong is pretty small, so it's easy to get from one side to another in just over an hour, still I thought it was a good idea to take a look at what we could do nearby. Not least because I didn't want us to stress ourselves out too much on our first day.

So, it was the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery that took my eye, it sounded insane and having seen photographs of it before and then reading more into it, I couldn't wait. My poor sister wasn't quite prepared for the 45 minute hike up a fairly steep hill to get to the top and neither was I, but we got there.


Lined with 500 golden buddhas, each one different, the walk ended up being pretty fun, even in the Hong Kong humidity, we made it right to the very top beyond the monastery buildings. It's not technically a monastery as no monks reside here and the buildings and statues are maintained by laypeople but I'd certainly recommend it to anyone visiting Hong Kong, it was one of the most different things I've done.

The statues are completely wild and, I don't know whether it's because of the day we visited but it was much quieter than many of the other attractions that we visited during our trip.








This is the kind of place that makes facial recognition slightly creepy...





This long-armed one was my favourite.









We were lucky to see wild monkeys, they seemed to know that the rain was on its way and were a bit more shy than I'd read they would be.


Explainations on a postcard.


Route to the top.

I Can See My House From Here...

For my birthday last year, my sister kindly got me two tickets to go to The View at the Shard. I wanted to go when there were guaranteed uninterrupted views so I settled on June, the weekend after mine and Moon's NINE YEAR anniversary. The view that you get from the top of The Shard really is spectacular and it feels like you're right on top of the world, I couldn't quite make out even my mum's house from there, but I could see Wembley, so you know...

I'd definitely recommend a trip up The Shard to anyone, it's a really good thing to tie into a day out in London, you only get an hour and a half at the top but that's more than enough and it's so cool to be able to see for miles and miles. I will say, even though we didn't have a choice, it was worth booking in advance just to avoid the queues, it's also an extra fiver if you go on the day compared to booking online.




I'd love to see the Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building, I just think it's a neat idea. I mean, London is a pretty green city anyway so it's almost completely pointless but it's still neat.






Tourists ruin things a little and the top viewing platform would be perfect without them, but even so, the space itself is really nicely done with beautiful flowers and picnic blankets (that commoners aren't allowed to sit on).


Very easy place to have a Ferris Bueller moment.









The Shard's most popular attraction is easily the loo with a view. It even comes with a blind if you're a bit shy about taking advantage of the view, you know, to hideaway from all those people that might spot you.


It was a great start to a wonderful day out, I love the fact that the top viewing platform is open air and I'm so glad that we picked a day with nice weather. Quite a different gift, my next birthday is now less than a month away, so I'm looking forward to seeing if she can top it. :)