To Hong Kong and beyond!!! - Day 2
Day 2 was a very "Japanese-tourist-like" affair. (You know the way Jap tourists go around, covering as much as possible and being exteremely shutter-happy...) Anyways, this is what happened.
We wanted to start the day on a very lucky note - so went to Wong Tai Sin, also known as the Temple of Luck. This temple is famous for its fortune telling, and many people/devotees come to be told of how the next one-year would pan out for them - yeah they can only see as far ahead as one year :-) 
What you need to do is get a can filled with 'fortune-sticks' and then shake the can up and down until one of the sticks falls out. Each stick has a number tagged to it, and you give the number to one of the sooth-sayers around the temple (there are a handful who know English) and they will tell you what Wong Tai Sin has to say about your future.
Our next pit-stop was further inland on the mainland to Sha Tin in New Territories - another temple; The Temple of 10 Thousand Buddhas. The only fact we knew about this temple was that it had around 500 steps uptil the top. So while we walked around looking for this monastery, we saw some buddhist statues and a huge flight of stairs. And all around as we climbed, we seemed to see Buddhist memorials (kind of equivalent to a Christian cemetery-except that this was just a 6inch by 1foot marble plaque per person, and was arranged along the walls). And after climbing all the way to the top, we found that we were in the wrong place. We must have looked really wierd to those who had come to pay their respects to the deceased - taking photos of their memorial area. Anyway, after making our way back down, we found a narrow path that led to the actual monastery, and made our way up the correct flight of 500 steps. 
All along the steps were statues of atleast a few thousand Buddhas of all shapes and sizes - infact there was no 2 statues that were the same. Tall, thin, stout, angry, happy, smiling, scowling, with animals by their side, with weapons in their hands - you had every look imaginable. At the top was the temple with small Buddha statues lining the 4 walls of the temple from ceiling to floor. It was quite an impressive sight.
Our plan was to go back to Hong Kong island in the evening, so from Sha Tin, we made our way back to Tsim Sha Tsui for a very late lunch and then headed out Repulse Bay on the south part of the island. Apparently the name was given after the British 'repulsed' the pirates who used this part of the island as a base to attack ships travelling to mainland China. Repulse Bay is basically a beautiful beach and also has a walking path beyond the beach along the rocky shores of the island. Being in the south of Hong Kong (and far from Central), this area is largely residential, and from the looks of it, its a really posh residential area.
Further away from Central took us to Stanley Market an open-air street market
that is supposedly famous for the bargaining opportunity it throws up. As it happened, we were a bit late in reaching there, and shops had started to close. So a quick look around, and we headed back towards Wan Chai in the north on Hong Kong island. Wan Chai is basically the commerical area, and we walked around a few shops and then took a tram right through the city to Causeway Bay. Causeway Bay stands on reclaimed land 
is an extremely busy shopping area in the nights. Even as we walked around Times Square (not to be confused with New York's Times Square :-p) , we saw some WTO protests happening right in the middle of the road.
Post-dinner saw us back across the bay at Tsim Sha Tsui, at the Avenue of Stars which is Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood's Wake of Fame.
This is an especially beautiful place because it sits on the waterfront in full view of Hong Kong's skyline across the bay. Sadly, the day we were there, it was an extremely smoggy day, and the skyline wasn't too clear.
We wanted to start the day on a very lucky note - so went to Wong Tai Sin, also known as the Temple of Luck. This temple is famous for its fortune telling, and many people/devotees come to be told of how the next one-year would pan out for them - yeah they can only see as far ahead as one year :-) 
What you need to do is get a can filled with 'fortune-sticks' and then shake the can up and down until one of the sticks falls out. Each stick has a number tagged to it, and you give the number to one of the sooth-sayers around the temple (there are a handful who know English) and they will tell you what Wong Tai Sin has to say about your future.
Our next pit-stop was further inland on the mainland to Sha Tin in New Territories - another temple; The Temple of 10 Thousand Buddhas. The only fact we knew about this temple was that it had around 500 steps uptil the top. So while we walked around looking for this monastery, we saw some buddhist statues and a huge flight of stairs. And all around as we climbed, we seemed to see Buddhist memorials (kind of equivalent to a Christian cemetery-except that this was just a 6inch by 1foot marble plaque per person, and was arranged along the walls). And after climbing all the way to the top, we found that we were in the wrong place. We must have looked really wierd to those who had come to pay their respects to the deceased - taking photos of their memorial area. Anyway, after making our way back down, we found a narrow path that led to the actual monastery, and made our way up the correct flight of 500 steps. 
All along the steps were statues of atleast a few thousand Buddhas of all shapes and sizes - infact there was no 2 statues that were the same. Tall, thin, stout, angry, happy, smiling, scowling, with animals by their side, with weapons in their hands - you had every look imaginable. At the top was the temple with small Buddha statues lining the 4 walls of the temple from ceiling to floor. It was quite an impressive sight.
Our plan was to go back to Hong Kong island in the evening, so from Sha Tin, we made our way back to Tsim Sha Tsui for a very late lunch and then headed out Repulse Bay on the south part of the island. Apparently the name was given after the British 'repulsed' the pirates who used this part of the island as a base to attack ships travelling to mainland China. Repulse Bay is basically a beautiful beach and also has a walking path beyond the beach along the rocky shores of the island. Being in the south of Hong Kong (and far from Central), this area is largely residential, and from the looks of it, its a really posh residential area.Further away from Central took us to Stanley Market an open-air street market
that is supposedly famous for the bargaining opportunity it throws up. As it happened, we were a bit late in reaching there, and shops had started to close. So a quick look around, and we headed back towards Wan Chai in the north on Hong Kong island. Wan Chai is basically the commerical area, and we walked around a few shops and then took a tram right through the city to Causeway Bay. Causeway Bay stands on reclaimed land 
is an extremely busy shopping area in the nights. Even as we walked around Times Square (not to be confused with New York's Times Square :-p) , we saw some WTO protests happening right in the middle of the road.Post-dinner saw us back across the bay at Tsim Sha Tsui, at the Avenue of Stars which is Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood's Wake of Fame.
This is an especially beautiful place because it sits on the waterfront in full view of Hong Kong's skyline across the bay. Sadly, the day we were there, it was an extremely smoggy day, and the skyline wasn't too clear.
posted by Aye Kay at 9:15 AM
