BEST TEMPLES IN HONG KONG

Discover Hong Kong’s rich cultural heritage with a tour to one of its top temples, which is a great way to learn all there is to know about the hopes, dreams, fears and superstitious of this city’s hard-working urbanities, most especially during Chinese New Year and important lunar calendar festival dates. There are a few places of worship that have been given a sleek makeover, but many of Hong Kong’s oldest temples have been serving as important community gathering points for hundreds of years.

LAM TSUEN TIN HAU TEMPLE AND WISHING TREES

Tai Po’s charming collection of villages has drawn tourists to its Tin Hau Temple and two wishing trees for hundreds of years. Festival goers would traditionally write their wishes on joss paper and tie it to an orange, which would then be tossed up towards one of the banyan tree’s highest branches - according to locals, the higher the branch, the better the chances of your wish coming true. Authorities have taken over to help preserve the trees as the practice became popular and tourists are now encouraged to tie wishes to wooden racks nearby instead.

MAN MO TEMPLE

Man Mo Temple is located in Hollywood Road, and stepping into is like entering into a different world, a realm occupied by the revered deities of Man or God of Literature and Mo or God of War, who are worshipped here. The rising smoke of giant incense coils dangling low from the ceiling and down the altars of the 10 judges of the underworld with the rays of sunlight cutting through it. Remember to take in all the details, from the line of plunging green Shekwan roof tiles which represent bamboo and longevity to the antique sedan chairs inside the temple were it was used to carry statues of the gods during festival processions.

TEN THOUSAND BUDDHAS MONASTERY

The name is a bit of a incongruity, although it calling itself a monastery, since there are actually no resident monks at this diverse Sha Tin Temple. The sharp twisting path up the hillside, bordered by 500 life-sized Arhand statues will lead you the main complex and its 9-story pagoda. In here, you will supposedly find more or less 13, 000 Buddha statues and some bodhisattvas on horseback for good measure. However, the main attraction here is the preserved body of Yuet Kai, the monastery;s supremely devout founder. The upright body presently sits on display in a glass case inside the main monastery building and was embalmed in lacquer and plastered with gold leaf and dressed in robes.

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