DAY 329: "Are you in on the Buddha?" Aviva asked me. Out of context that may sound like a request to try some wild hallucinogenics, but she was referring to a plan she and Moe had to spend their Sunday away from Central Hong Kong to see the sights of nearby Lantau Island. Any chance Moe could get away from the skyscrapers of Hong Kong to see more of this part of the world, he was all for it.

"Sure," I said. Moe's co-worker Meg and upstairs neighbor was in on the Buddha too.

SUNDAYS IN HONG KONG are the one-day weekend for most professions, a day to get away from the crowded (but surprisingly organized) madness of Central Hong Kong. On our way to the ferry terminal, we walked passed the Filipina maids -- there are about 150,000 in Hong Kong -- who flock by the hundreds to the covered walkways of the central district every week on their day off for a big long picnic to hang out and eat, play cards or mahjong, and gossip with family and friends.

The Fast Ferry was running a buy-one-get-one-free deal for the day and we boarded the transport to Lantau at half price without having to wait at all. The ferry took us westbound away from Hong Kong Island and it reminded Moe and me of the fighters in Enter the Dragon leaving Hong Kong to go to Han's private island.

LANTAU ISLAND, THE LARGEST ISLAND in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), is a popular getaway for Hong Kongers, an island twice the size of Hong Kong Island with more than half of it classified as a "country park" -- and just less than a half hour away. It holds peaceful hiking trails, fishing villages, waterfalls, and more noteworthy, the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha, our sightseeing goals for the day. However, the complete serene vibe of Lantau wouldn't last long; Hong Kong Disneyland would open on the northeast section of the island in 2006.

After arriving at the Lantau ferry port near Silvermine Bay, we used a suggestion in Aviva's Lonely Planet Hong Kong & Macau guidebook to hike to the Silvermine Waterfall, about forty minutes away through a small village. It wasn't such a frequented place and it took us a while to find the way since there weren't exactly signs pointing the direction.

"We should have rented bikes," Moe said. "That would've been cool."

"Yeah, we could get lost a lot faster that way," Meg said.

We asked directions from an old security guard and an old Irish guy with a hairdo like Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future, who led us with his dogs through the greenfields hugging the bay. We eventually found the waterfalls in a scenic area where a small group of other Filipinos on their day off were having a barbecue. We hung around at the site of the falling water for a while to chill out and take some photos -- Moe even put his feet in the pool at the bottom to relax after a tiring week at the office. "This is so far away from Central," he said in peace.

After an ice cream stop at 7-Eleven back by the bus station -- there is no shortage of 7-Eleven's in Hong Kong (even in a place like Lantau) -- we hopped on a public bus to the other side of the island with the other daytrippers. We were dropped off at the entrance of the Po Lin Monastery, the largest temple in the Hong Kong SAR, built in 1924 and frequented by not only the Buddhist monks who live and pray there, but also the crowds of local tourists in town for the weekend. On the grounds of the monastery was a famous vegetarian restaurant run by the monks as a means of an income to support their cause, where we sat down for a pre-set menu of their regular fare of mushrooms, Chinese vegetables and soy bean products.

"I think this is the most amount of vegetables I've had in the past six months," I said.

"Your mom would be proud," Aviva said. "Actually, she's paying us."

We walked through the main gate and explored the temple buildings of the monastery along with other day trippers -- one of which was passed out on a bench sleeping. "I should hang out with that guy," Moe joked. "He looks like he's in an MBA class."

After walking amidst the others not sleeping in the area, burning incense and kneeling before statues of small Buddhas in the various shrines, we went to go see the big Buddha next door: Tian Tan, the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha in China for that matter (picture above). Our meal tickets got us entrance up the 260 steps to see the massive religious icon up-close, standing (sitting rather) at 26.4 meters tall high atop a hill that overlooked the surrounding Lantau countryside. Up there we walked right under Buddha's nose and inside its podium, the location of a museum with many calligraphic paintings that none of us could understand. From atop the hill we were able to see the island mist on one side of the island that made smaller surrounding islands look like mountain peaks in a cloud forest, and the construction development on another side.

"What do you suppose that's going to be?" I asked.

"Looks like maybe a racetrack," Aviva said. Along with 7-Eleven's, Hong Kong had no shortage of horse race tracks for ever popular hobby of horse betting.

"Or a shopping mall."

"Either a hi-rise office building, a shopping mall or racetrack," Meg added.

"That's pretty much all there is to Hong Kong," Moe said. Lantau may have been his escape for this one day, but perhaps in the future it wouldn't be the same.

A BUS TOOK US TO THE SMALL CITY of Tung Chung, with the train station of Lantau for the subway that would take us back to Hong Kong Island on a long high-speed train with no doors in between cars. I had paid the fare with my new Octopus card, Hong Kong's electronic debit card system for the public transportation (and 7-Eleven's), elevating me to "local" status as Aviva told me.

Back in the city of central Hong Kong Island, we stopped in the International Finance Center (IFC) to go to the "C!ty Super" Japanese-owned gourmet supermarket, so super they had to use an exclamation point for the "i" in their logo. We walked out to the walkways passed the thousands of Filipinos still out on the walkways at their picnics, and then up The Great Escalator to get take out dinner at "Ch!cken-On-The Run," an Australian eatery so great they too had decided to use an exclamation point for their "i." The two roasted chickens we ordered (and the beers we got next door) would balance out the too healthy vegetarian meal we had from the monks.

At the end of a tiring, yet relaxing day away from the craziness of the city, we just had dinner in Meg's new apartment. We sat around and drank our beers and reminisced about our day on Lantau !sland, its Silverm!ne Waterfalls and big seated T!an Tan Buddha.

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