NP360: new attraction in Hong Kong
 

The cable car from Tung Chung MTR to Ngong Ping (where Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha is) will open late June. Still no set date. There's also some attractions called "Ngong Ping 360" up there. Saw their website for the first time today:

www.np360.com.hk

BTW, I really hate the way they shortern the English name to NP360. And Ngong Ping used to be a very serene place, dotted with monasteries and temples. Now, it's becoming just another theme park.

The Lantau island has become so commercial and touristy the past 10 years. I'll have to visit some of the Ngong Ping 360 attractions!
rkkwan, are you in HK?

nancy - I grew up in Hong Kong, but live in Houston, TX now. From 1987-88, I lived in Discovery Bay on Lantau.

It's one thing when they build stuff on the north side of Lantau (airport, Tung Chung new town, highway) or even Disney; but it's another when they start to tamper with central and southern Lantau, which is one of the largest remaining undeveloped areas.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this. I so enjoyed my day at Po Lin Monastery and Tai O fishing villiage last year. Wonder how this "modernization" will affect these serene areas?

I just finished watching a show called Extreme Engineering on the Discovery Channel on the building of this cable car. It said it was suppsoed to be built for Chinese New Year. I think they've missed the January 29th deadline by a mile. <g>

It will officially open 6/24. Tickets go on sale 6/2.

But I highly suggest everybody to wait for a while before going. Hong Kongers have a horrible trait in having to tried all new things all at once, with horrible results.

I remembered riding the MTR on its opening day in 1979 as a kid, and it was basically torture. When the new airport opened, it seems like the whole city went there as a sightseeing spot.

When the Science musuem opened in TST-East about 15 years ago, young people promptly trashed the place and broke most of the exhibits. Nowadays, hardly any young people go there.

And just last week, when the new Wetland Park opened, again people trashed the place in no time.

[The Disneyland seems to be the only place that opened relatively smoothly - probably because of it high admissions.]

So, I say wait a few months before going.

Looks like the opening may be delayed. Couple days ago, during a test run for MTR employees, it malfunctioned and trapped a lot of riders for 2 hours. People were calling the police, their relatives, and everybody else on their cellphones. Pretty embarrassing.

And earlier, a test-ride day for the press was cancelled as wind speed was too high. It now appeared that the cable car may have to stop operating quite often because of high wind. So, visitors may be bused up and down the mountain instead when that happens.

Latest prediction is end of August. It's become a fiasco, with tourists showing up at the cable car station because the HK Tourism Board had sent out promotion before the June non-opening.

And then, there are still lots of problems, some weather related and some not, during the recent tests.

Meanwhile, the shops at NP360 are open, but has little to zero business.

A trial for staff was done last weekend. There will be another this weekend.

Latest news is that it can be opened as soon as September 11. They really want to get it running before the October 1 holidays, when lots of Chinese tourists visit Hong Kong.

Opened today 9/18/06.

Just returned from 3+ weeks in China. 12 day tour of China and then 12 days on our own in Hong Kong.

We took the cable car on September 30th and made the 11pm news! They told us they were slowing down the ride due to high winds but we actually stopped right over the water for a long long time and the total trip was 65 minutes.

That night my husband was watching the news (he's Chinese) and when they did a story on the problem with the cable car...they actually had a video of our car! My husband & I plus our friend (who is 6'4" and Caucasian) were very clearly shown on the news. Too bad I missed it.

On our bus ride to the airport on October 8th to head home, we could see line-ups for the cable car going way way back so obviosuly the problem we experienced the week earlier did nothing to discourage people.

If you have high speed Internet connection, you can watch this nice video of NP360. Don't forget to take this skyrail when you are in HK. It worths the money. Besides, you'll save time.

http://stage6.divx.com/members/72846/videos/1018230

I took a lot of photos riding it in November. It's in the last part of this gallery:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p123996629/

The Skyrail is definitely worth a ride. However, I think the Ngongping Market is a horrible idea, and I wouldn't spend a penny there.

rkkwan:

May I ask what camera did you use for those photos? they are very nice.

Does your camera take decent pictures at night, such as fireworks?

I am looking for a digital camera myself, and am leaning towards the Canon SLR XT Rebel.

Just got back from HKG last week and took the cable car..On the way there, after the first turn, it was totally foggy out so we couldn't see anything!! It was really windy out and quite scary, we were laughing...And not to mention freezing..But from what we could see, the view was spectactular..Once we got there..we really enjoyed the Buddha, didn't realize it was so big!! Had to buy a raincoat at one of the shops cause i was frozen...

Anyhow, the way back was clear and we thought the ride was amazing, the view spectacular..Although it was still quite windy, the cable car was just swinging away.

When we got off the cable car, we spent the rest of the day in the outlet shopping mall right ouside the tram stop.

Anyhow, so we really enjoyed the cable car!!

Johnmango -

You can check out some night time HK Harbor photos at the end of this gallery:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p158269250/

And "A Symphony of Lights" at the end of this gallery:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p364994972/

I was using the Digital Rebel XTi and the 17-85 IS lens for most of those shots, but some also the 10-22. I tried to limit the ISO to 800, as I found the noise level too high at ISO1600. All those photos are shot hand-held. I'm very happy with the performance of those lenses.

But I've just sold the 17-85IS, and upgrade to the 17-55IS, with the even larger 2.8 constant aperture. But I think the 17-85IS is a very good lens for travel already.

rkkwan:

So your Canon Rebel XTi is the 10 megapixel newer camera versus the 8 megapixel XT, right?

- I am torn between getting the XT and the XTi, but many reviews said that if you already have the XT, don't bother changing to XTi because the 2 cameras are very similar, except for the larger pixels (10 versus 8). It's about $100-200 difference.

- Have you used the EF-S 18-55 lens that come with the camera? is it fairly decent?

- comparing the SLR to the point-and-shoot like Powershots, the SLR appears to be much bulkier. Do you find the SLR camera bothersome? What's your opinion on that?

Thanks for your info.

Johnmango -

Email me at rkkwan at earthlink dot net and we can talk that way.

TracyB,

i agree, it can be very scary riding the skyrail because it is so high in the air. plus, the wind is constantly blowing. if you are fear of height, do not ride it.