Fun in Hong Kong: the Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery and Tai O

Back again with more fun things to do in Hong Kong! You can find the first instalment back over here.

We decided to pop over to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha, a 34 metre statue of the big man at the Po Lin Monastery.

We took the Ngong Ping 360, a cable car, over to the island. What a fantastic way to travel.

We paid a little extra to get the glass bottomed car (known as the Crystal Cabin) which the kids loved.

Don't worry, someone cleans the nose prints off after every ride.

When you hop off the cable car you make your way through the Ngong Ping Village, which as far as I could see was a street filled with take-away food and souvenirs.

But once you get past that little pocket of commercialism you find yourself in the Po Lin Monastery grounds:

Dominated by the bronze Tian Tan Buddha statue:

Built in 1993, you'll have to climb up 268 steps to make it up to his lotus throne.

Once there you will be treated to beautiful views:

And some lovely smaller statues known as The Offering of the Six Devas (not the Sex Divas, as I accidentally typed), who face the Buddha with their gifts.

In the background of this photo you can see the golden-roofed monastery (the building behind it, under all the scaffolding, is apparently the monks' accommodation).

So we headed back down all those stairs:

To see the Po Lin Monastery.

It is filled with so many beautiful Buddha-y things - you really must see it.

You can't go in (or take photos of the interior) but there are many large open doors so you can watch the monks praying amongst the gorgeousness.

It's hard not to be affected by the peace and calm that emanates from the building.

On the way out we walked through an area where incense offerings could be made.

Of course, the 3 yr old touched the tip of an incense stick. Of course he did.

We didn't have a great deal of daylight left but we decided to make a quick visit to the nearby Tai O fishing village.

We caught the bus from the Ngong Ping and 20 minutes later (after a rather curvaceous ride) arrived in a village very different to the Hong Kong we had seen so far.

The village is essentially mounted on stilts. You can pay to take a boat ride through the waterways (which we would've done if we'd had the time) or just do like we did and wander the several streets that are built on land.

The best house in the village (the one that appears on all the postcards)

There are market stalls everywhere, specialising in dried seafood. Every sea creature you could think of had been caught, dried and sometimes, pressed.

Check out the whole shark hanging on the back wall in this photo:

We were racing the bus schedule so we didn't get to spend as much time in the village as we wanted (I didn't get to see the temple, boo), but we were still very glad we made it there.

We took the ferry home from Lantau Island that night and we were all rather tired.

Another weekend is upon us, hooray! Hope you all have a good one!

May the 4th be with you...

And have a wonderful weekend!

Noosa and Eumundi

We had a weekend away at Noosa to coincide with one of the mister's biking events.

Noosa is on the Sunshine Coast, about 130kms north of Brisbane.

It's a super popular tourist spot for anyone who loves the beach, eating out and shopping.

What is this stuff?

You know you're in Queensland when you find beer stashed in the palm trees.

The Noosa River meets the ocean here so you get both beach front and river front businesses and homes.

Sweeeet.

Spotted in the river mangroves

Saturday morning I tagged along with Marg and her daughter on a trip to the Eumundi markets.

Eumundi is in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, about 20kms inland, southwest of Noosa.

We arrived early (7am, how's that for early) and had no troubles at all with parking or crowds.

By 8am we were a little peckish and sat down for a yummy cooked breakfast without having to wait for a table.

The markets are very popular with good reason - plenty of original and quality handmade items with a dash of fresh produce and cooked food stalls.

Despite having breakfast less than an hour before, we caved in and had some teeny dutch pancakes:

Amongst the all the lovely, tasteful wares there has to be some crassness, or it's just not Australian.

Case One:

Keyrings and coin purses made from cane toads.

I know hate is a strong word, but Queenslanders hate cane toads. Introduced in 1935 from South/Central America to eat a beetle that destroyed sugarcane crops, the species bred like Catholics* and badly affected some of our native fauna. Not to mention poisoned our cats and dogs (their skin is toxic). To add insult to injury, the bloody things didn't even eat the beetles. Way to go, Australian scientists!

Case Two:

Firstly, are you eating? If you're eating: stop eating.

I don't actually even know what sort of functioning device this is supposed to be.

But it's made from a kangaroo scrotum. I bet he sure misses his scrotum.

Lordy, did I have fun typing kangaroo scrotum in the flickr tag box. And look, I've just typed it a few more times.

Alright, enough silliness from me. Just go and visit Noosa and Eumundi and don't forget to pick up your very own kangaroo scrotum. I bet they're really soft.

View from a lookout in the Eumundi area. I had house envy.

Enjoy the end of your week!

*I am allowed to say this because I am Catholic. I also have 4 children which proves the point.

Bonjour Quilts

Today it's all about the admin.

Firstly: I changed my name to www.bonjourquilts.com. Well, my URL. You know what I mean.

I've been meaning to change for a while and the demise of Google Reader was the push I needed. So please do update any links that you need to.

Secondly: no more Google Reader come 1st of July. If you're an aggregating type you'll need to find yourself a new platform.

Replacement options are out there - most folks in the crafty sphere are changing to Bloglovin' or Feedly. If you are with Bloglovin' and want to continue following me, click below:

If you're with Feedly, just add www.bonjourquilts.com to your feed.

It's been a bit boring around here, just a whole lot of this since our shipping container arrived from France a few weeks ago:

At least someone enjoys unpacking boxes:

The rest of us, not so much. So I've given myself a very nice incentive to get it done:

This is my NEW MACHINE!! *hyperventilates, pokes self in eye with seam ripper*

I've jumped ship from Bernette to Janome; I hope she lives up to my high expectations. I'll be sure to let you know once I get her out of the box.

A few lovely commenters on my Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show post reminded me that I didn't show you my purchases, so let me correct that.

For some reason Marg and I found ourselves very drawn to the Japanese themed booths - I picked up these various cuts with the idea of making some new lounge room cushion covers.

Happy colours! 

I am also pulling bits and pieces together to make a low value quilt of some sort - these will go towards that collection. (For the non-quilters, by low value I mean low colour value, not that I'm making a cheap and nasty blanket.)

Continuing on with fabric news - I've just ordered some vinyl from the US to re-cover our dining room chairs (see tartan in first photo). Cats, children and fabric-upholstered seating don't play well together.

I found some pictures from last year and realised I hadn't shown you the Christmas gift I made for a lovely French friend who was very good to our family while we were there. She really loved this quilt:



And this one:



So I combined the fabrics from the first with the design of the later, et voilà:

The backing is a print from Dear Stella's Ikebana called Medallion in White (with a thin border of Tiles in Charcoal from the same line). Quilting was a simple grid down the centre of all the sashing lengths.

It's lap sized and my friend seemed quite happy with it.

Hopefully I'll have some more sewing, Janome sewing, to show you in the near future. Until then, have a great weekend!