Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Freely sauntering through Hong Kong
(Backdated post from Singapore)
Today, my travel mates are going to the beach. They are going to Stanley beach and then on to Stanley market. As I am not a big fan of shopping, coupled with the fact that I wish to avoid the sun as much as possible (due to consumption of medication) I told them that I would go Temple visiting and meet up with them later in the day to go to "Lover's Rock" which is the requested destination for one of my friends.
First stop of the day, Wong Tai Sin Temple again. I went to the shopping centre next to it and proceeded to take some shots of the temple compound from above. From this point, I could see that there is quite an area behind the temple building itself that we had not explored on our previous visit as I had thought it was only a small garden at that time.
I went in, offered incense and took my time walking around the newly discovered area. It's a nice landscaped area, very quietly away from the hustle and bustle of the temple proper. I was walking along enjoying myself when I came across a dead bird (probably a sparrow, but I really could not tell). I walked off... but felt bad that the bird might be stepped on by countless other people, so I got a piece of scrap paper and managed to move to the side onto the soil. Of course, being the nurse that I am, I immediately located the nearest washing point and washed my hands, even though I had no access to soap.
Next stop was Tin Hau Temple at Tin Hau MTR Station. This is a fairly modern temple and I wouldn't recommend going there specifically to view the architecture since it's pretty new looking to me. It was kinda tough on my own cos I do not speak cantonese and the temple keep doesn't speak mandarin, but I managed to obtain incense and offer prayers. There was a beggar guy just outside the temple who helped me place my incense in the urn outside (I didn't want him to but he did) so when I left I was obligated to give him some money. Please note that I do not usually do this, nor do I recommend this behaviour. Leave beggars alone at all times.
Next I went to the Man Mo Temple at Central. In order to get there, I had to climb a flight of stairs that looks like this.
Does this look familiar? Oh my god.... by the time I was done with it.. I was nearly going..."THANK GOODNESS that was OVER!"
Apparently the Man Mo Temple is the oldest temple in Hong Kong, well, by the looks of it I would not doubt it. It is a recommended place to go to in Hong Kong, unless of course for some reason you are against anything Taoist, then I would say... save the trip.
While I was looking at the front facade of the temple I could imagine it back when it would have been surrounded by fields, open space and buildings of a similar design, rather then the high rises that surround it now. It does look that old.
I wanted to offer the coiled incense, but from what I could make out of the notices, they put them up on certain days (as it takes days to burn up each coil) and I was not there on the right day I figured.... heck it ^^
Oh yes and it's nice to meet people who speak Teochew to you ^^ Though I didn't really speak much anyways ^^
It was also at this temple that I met one of my travel mates who did not follow the rest to the beach. What a coincidence. A rather divine one at that but I'll cut the crap and cut to the chase. Anyways, we met up with the rest and went off to the Lover's Rock. NOTE: There is no bus service to the Lover's Rock. ANOTHER NOTE: Take a TAXI. We wanted to walk there, and we had already started and then I said I had this feeling that the rock was in an elevated area as we had read the map earlier. As we decided to check the map to know where we needed to go, two Hong Kong Policemen came over and offered their help. They told us that we could not walk there and that we should take a cab over. They also offered further advice on night views at Victoria Peak (aww... but we had already gone ^^). I do wonder if the SPF will do the same. Maybe I should whip out a map in front of one of them sometime. I do believe that the Hong Kong Police has a Tourist Information Course in their training ^^.
YET ANOTHER NOTE: The Lover's Rock is a serious trek. After alighting from the Taxi, we had to walk about another 3 km. That's a rough estimation. It was humid and we all ended up perspiring like nobody's business. Unless you have an agenda, I suggest skipping this. Also to save you the walk to see what it looks like, here it is.
We ended up taking a cab back to the hotel cos we didn't want to stink up the MTR, so we decided to stink up the cab instead. So sorry, Mr cab driver. Dinner was a feast of pigeon, goose, chicken and instant wanton noodles. Yummy.
Rested up, packed, tomorrow we will be heading home to Singapore.
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(Backdated post from Singapore)
Today, my travel mates are going to the beach. They are going to Stanley beach and then on to Stanley market. As I am not a big fan of shopping, coupled with the fact that I wish to avoid the sun as much as possible (due to consumption of medication) I told them that I would go Temple visiting and meet up with them later in the day to go to "Lover's Rock" which is the requested destination for one of my friends.
First stop of the day, Wong Tai Sin Temple again. I went to the shopping centre next to it and proceeded to take some shots of the temple compound from above. From this point, I could see that there is quite an area behind the temple building itself that we had not explored on our previous visit as I had thought it was only a small garden at that time.
I went in, offered incense and took my time walking around the newly discovered area. It's a nice landscaped area, very quietly away from the hustle and bustle of the temple proper. I was walking along enjoying myself when I came across a dead bird (probably a sparrow, but I really could not tell). I walked off... but felt bad that the bird might be stepped on by countless other people, so I got a piece of scrap paper and managed to move to the side onto the soil. Of course, being the nurse that I am, I immediately located the nearest washing point and washed my hands, even though I had no access to soap.
Next stop was Tin Hau Temple at Tin Hau MTR Station. This is a fairly modern temple and I wouldn't recommend going there specifically to view the architecture since it's pretty new looking to me. It was kinda tough on my own cos I do not speak cantonese and the temple keep doesn't speak mandarin, but I managed to obtain incense and offer prayers. There was a beggar guy just outside the temple who helped me place my incense in the urn outside (I didn't want him to but he did) so when I left I was obligated to give him some money. Please note that I do not usually do this, nor do I recommend this behaviour. Leave beggars alone at all times.
Next I went to the Man Mo Temple at Central. In order to get there, I had to climb a flight of stairs that looks like this.
Does this look familiar? Oh my god.... by the time I was done with it.. I was nearly going..."THANK GOODNESS that was OVER!"
Apparently the Man Mo Temple is the oldest temple in Hong Kong, well, by the looks of it I would not doubt it. It is a recommended place to go to in Hong Kong, unless of course for some reason you are against anything Taoist, then I would say... save the trip.
While I was looking at the front facade of the temple I could imagine it back when it would have been surrounded by fields, open space and buildings of a similar design, rather then the high rises that surround it now. It does look that old.
I wanted to offer the coiled incense, but from what I could make out of the notices, they put them up on certain days (as it takes days to burn up each coil) and I was not there on the right day I figured.... heck it ^^
Oh yes and it's nice to meet people who speak Teochew to you ^^ Though I didn't really speak much anyways ^^
It was also at this temple that I met one of my travel mates who did not follow the rest to the beach. What a coincidence. A rather divine one at that but I'll cut the crap and cut to the chase. Anyways, we met up with the rest and went off to the Lover's Rock. NOTE: There is no bus service to the Lover's Rock. ANOTHER NOTE: Take a TAXI. We wanted to walk there, and we had already started and then I said I had this feeling that the rock was in an elevated area as we had read the map earlier. As we decided to check the map to know where we needed to go, two Hong Kong Policemen came over and offered their help. They told us that we could not walk there and that we should take a cab over. They also offered further advice on night views at Victoria Peak (aww... but we had already gone ^^). I do wonder if the SPF will do the same. Maybe I should whip out a map in front of one of them sometime. I do believe that the Hong Kong Police has a Tourist Information Course in their training ^^.
YET ANOTHER NOTE: The Lover's Rock is a serious trek. After alighting from the Taxi, we had to walk about another 3 km. That's a rough estimation. It was humid and we all ended up perspiring like nobody's business. Unless you have an agenda, I suggest skipping this. Also to save you the walk to see what it looks like, here it is.
We ended up taking a cab back to the hotel cos we didn't want to stink up the MTR, so we decided to stink up the cab instead. So sorry, Mr cab driver. Dinner was a feast of pigeon, goose, chicken and instant wanton noodles. Yummy.
Rested up, packed, tomorrow we will be heading home to Singapore.
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