10,000 Buddhas and a McDonalds

Sunday Chris, Jacque, Jesse, and I decided to do something touristy. We wanted to visit the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. Chris had a guide book to Hong Kong that said we needed to get off of the train at the Tai Wai stop. It then said that we just have to follow the signs to get to the temple. This was perfect since Tai Wai was only 3 stops down from University (the stop on campus). When we got off at Tai Wai we started looking for signs to the temple. We found a map of the local area around the station, but Temple of 10,000 Buddhas was not on it. Not too far away there was a temple called Che Kung Temple. We wondered if that might be another name for the 10,000 Buddhas, so we wandered over that direction.

Che Kung Temple had a walled court yard with gates to the outside. On one side of the courtyard was a building that contained a shrine. We noticed a lot of commotion inside the court yard as people were praying. We were not sure if we should go in (or were allowed) but the man at the door encouraged us to go in. He didn't speak English but was very excited and waved us in. Once inside, we noticed almost everyone burning incense and praying. Although there were variations on how it was done, it seemed common to take the incense stick between your hands, which were clasped similar to how Christians pray, hold your hands up to your forehead and then bow multiple time in succession. There was no leader, and it seemed each individual prayed separately in their own way at their own time. It didn't seem like a family event, there were no children but we did see what looked like couples having their fortunes told. There were chimes hit a certain number of times followed by a big drum being hit a certain number of times. We walked cautiously in the building with the shrine. Inside was a giant statue in armor which was too tall for me to see his face. This is what people were praying to and leaving offerings. At this point we decided that this was not the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas and decided to wander down the path. There was a map we found that had a suggested walking trail (mostly for tourist) that we determined had to eventually lead to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. It didn't take us long to come to another shrine.

I am not sure what it is called but it was all outdoors and a lot smaller. It also was not on the map. There were fewer people inside but we did see a shrine to what I later determined to be Avalokiteśvara which is a figure in Buddhism. Again there was incenses everywhere. There were pots all over the place that had many sticks of it burning. We decided to continue on to the next place the map suggested called Tsang Tai Uk. We didn't know what it was, but we knew we just wanted to see it. When we turned the corner that was suppose to have Tsang Tai Uk we didn't see anything but tennis courts. They were called "Tsang Tai Uk Temporary Recreational Park." Everyone felt that the tennis courts was it and just sat down for a break. However, I decided to go a little further down the road to see if I could find anything else.

After turning the corner I found the Tsang Tai Uk, which is a mid 19th century stone village. It is still being used as residence and was not that exciting. We then continued on and crossed a canal. On the other side was the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. We decided to look around in side since it was air conditioned and only HK$5. Inside we saw all kinds of art and displays from various cultures within China. There were also historical displays on the development of Hong Kong. After spending some time inside we left and crossed the street to get our bearings. We then realized that we were next to New Town Plaza which is the ridiculously large mall that contained the Sha Tin station. We had walked from one train station to the next and still hadn't found the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. Chris's book mislead us. In any case by this time we were very hungry and just wanted food. So we went to a McDonalds inside the mall. This McDonalds was packed. We got a quick bit to eat which was nice since it was the first time I had ice cream and a hamburger since getting into Hong Kong. Afterwards we debated about whither or not we should continue looking for the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. We found a map of the Sha Tin station area and discovered that the Temple was on the other side of the station. In fact we could see on the mountain side from the train station. So we walked that direction.

This is what we thought was the entrance to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. It looked very nice and religious. A short walk up the hill we found shrines to Avalokiteśvara and Buddha. We continued almost all the way up until we got to some buildings. Inside one there were monks gathered around a couple of tables chanting. In most of the buildings it seemed to have pictures of people (I assumed deceased) much like a mausoleum. There were lots of Chinese around us praying and leaving offerings. Nothing was in English. When we got to one side of the top we looked at the compound right next to us and could see statues of golden monks. It was at that point we decided (yet again) that we were not in the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, but this time we knew where we had to go and were very confident about it. The only problem was that we had to go back down the mountain in order to get on the right path to climb back up the mountain.

The path up the mountain was long and very steep. Statues of monks covered the entire path. The top was rather awesome. There was the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, more statue monks, giant statues of other Buddhist figures, a tower, and other structures.

Inside the temple, there were Buddhas covering the wall. Each little statue was unique. We climbed the tower that was nearby for an amazing view of the temple and the city of Sha Tin. The path we took didn't end at the temple, so we continued on up the mountain. There were still statues but they became more diverse. Some were of female figures while others seemed more warrior like. There was another small shrine to Buddha and another mausoleum. After that we were so exhausted we all just wanted to go back to CUHK.