We are now in Vietnam; sitting in a cafe right now in Ho Chi Minh City in about 38 degrees of heat! Below are images of our last days in Hong Kong.
Over on the Kowloon side, reached by one of the many Star ferries which go back and forth across the harbour every 10 minutes or so – Dave and I hung around until dark to see the amazing views of Hong Kong Harbour at night.
On our last full day in the city we took the MTR subway train and then a KCR East Rail train to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin, it only took about 20 minutes to reach the New territories area of Hong Kong. Built in the 1950s, the monastery is a huge complex that contains more than 10,000 Buddhas which line the 400 steps and the monastery grounds which sits atop a steep hill. The steps up are actually quite shallow and easy to climb but the bloody midges or mosquitoes which hovered about in the shadows bit us several times on the climb up.
I hung out with some divine friends.
At the top approximately another 12,800 miniature painted golden wooden statues of Buddha line the walls of the main temple. It’s pretty mind blowing and my lasting image of it is of a kind of Disneyland for Buddha!
Wow look what I can do with my arm!
Spot the giant blue puppy.
Above the main temple another path leads higher up in to the mountain and the figures change to brightly coloured more soldier looking guardians.
That’s just plain disturbing. I would have nightmares about this guy.
Check out the eyebrows!
Love the expression on this horse, I think this figure is made from papier mache.
Also right next door to the monastery is an area called Po Fook Hill which houses a large mausoleum where Chinese families intern their dead and come to worship; leaving burning incense sticks in front of several images of Buddha or in the buildings housing the marble stones commemorating the dead with their photos displayed on the front.
Ceiling of the Po Fook Hill Temple.
The Travel Diarist 