Ngong Ping Village

I have to admit that some of their stuff was very touristy and overpriced but for the most part I liked the village. I enjoyed walking around with cute dogs everywhere and cows that would walk right up to you and demand to be petted. Shoving their big heads and horns at you dying for some lovin’. And some people hated it because there was McDonalds and Starbucks there but you know what, I hadn’t seen anything American in a long time while I was out of town for weeks traveling solo and I got a little homesick. It was nice to have the option of walking in to grab an ice latte done American style. Cause all the coffee I was drinking in Hong Kong was strong. I didn’t opt to grab anything American but it was nice having the options there. Otherwise I did see great souvenirs that I could have taken home to my family if I wanted to. It’s fun place if you just keep an open mind and quit looking at the negatives of things.

If you take the cable car or bus up to see the Big Buddha you’ll have no choice but to get dropped off at the Ngong Ping Village. With faux-​ancient Chinese architecture and chock-​a-​block full of overpriced souvenir shops, chain restaurants (Subway and Starbucks included), and corny attractions (Stage 360 and Motion 360) this is the very definition of a tourist trap. It’s almost like Disney’s Epcot Center but without the good humored Disney charm. Skip all this rubbish and get thee to the main event — the Tian Tan (Big) Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery.
The village does have clean bathrooms and free WiFi. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

This is a nice little tourist trap. It is not really a «village». There are some gift shops selling brick bracks and chain restaurants. I advise you to skip the chain restaurants that you can go to anywhere else in Hong Kong and walk through the village without eating. Then, eat at the vegetarian restaurant at the monastery. The monks cook some tasty vegetarian dishes and you will not be able to find food cooked by monks in a monastery anywhere else in Hong Kong.
Don’t get me wrong. The restaurants in the «village» are very good, but since they’re all mostly chain restaurants, nothing special. If you really cannot stomach a vegetarian meal, even once in a while, then, yeah, go eat at one of the restaurants in the «village», where they’ll serve you plenty of meat, Mr. T. Rex. Otherwise, proceed directly to the restaurant and/​or food stall at the monastery. I always eat my meal at the monastery, then on my return journey, I’ll eat dessert at Honeymoon Desserts, in the «village». Bön apetite ;0)

When arrive at the top it puts you into this village. Clearly new stores catered towards tourists! No matter, there are many interesting stores to poke around in and many eateries to try different types of food. But again this is geared towards tourists so be aware of this…