Temple of 10,000 Buddhas and Tai Po Market

Wow, oh wow. There is so much that I have to say about this past weekend. Let me first say that I am absolutely so happy that I ended up staying in Hong Kong this weekend. I am so happy that I got to explore more of Hong Kong and be around some really fun people.

So Friday was pretty uneventful but on Saturday, Ben, Sumana, Evan and I left around 9:30 to head to the Temple of 10,000 Buddha Monastery. We didn't know where we were supposed to go besides knowing which MTR stop that we had to get off at to walk on over to the temple. After reading the MTR map, we got on the train and got off at our transfer point. None of us had ever been on this specific sector of the rail line so we had no idea how it worked. We ended up thinking that we were at the wrong spot but managed to find our way to the above ground line. I was so excited that this rail line was above ground because we were able to take in the scenery of the New Territories area. New Territories (where the temple is) is a section of Hong Kong that seems to have fewer people and is not as intimidating (if that is the right word) in terms of city life. The Racecourse and the Chinese University of Hong Kong is located in New Territories. This is also the rail line that we would take to go to the Hong Kong-China Border.

There are a good number of people that are around but its more nature like and it is more residential. Anyway, we got out at Sha Tin MTR stop and attempted to find out way to the temple. We walked through a mall area, decided that we were at the wrong exit to get to the temple and then turned around and found a map. We followed the not so very helpful map and ended up at the Temple about 10-15 minutes later- Or so we thought. We saw stereotypical chinese style architecture and assumed that we were at the right place. We also saw escalators and decided that this must be a new addition to the temple (so that people would not have to climb the 400+steps to the top). We climbed the steps, taking pictures along the way, and walked around what we thought was the beginning of the temple. There were a lot of people with flowers and gifts that they were placing near their family's pictures (that were placed on these locker-type cubby wholes. We didn't think we were at the completely wrong place and just assumed that we had a long way to go to get to the temple. We got up around 200 something steps (after about 5 escalators) and then had nowhere else to go and realized that we were in more of a mausoleum than a temple. People were givinag us funny looks and some scowls and so we headed back down the side of the mountain and tried to find the right place to go.

We backtracked and still didn't find any signs that indicated where we should go so we went down this random alleyway that we thought might reach the right area and it turned out to be correct! We followed this dirt path through a residential area and past a small temple and then made or way up some crumbling steps. We were a little concerned that the signs were misleading because the "entrance" didn't seem very official but we walked up around 394 steps and reached the first level of the temple. It was amazing. Absolutely gorgeous. There were statues a long the area and then in the main temple, there were cubby holes maybe 4 inches by 4 inches that housed tiny Buddha statues-each statue doing a different hand motion. It was amazing. The ceiling was probably 40 feet high and these small Buddha statues covered the walls from end to end. After spending some time in there we climbed some more steps to the next level walked around there and then climbed the last steps to the very top where there was a very large white statue with a waterfall in the background. It was very picturesque. We sat there for awhile contemplating how we would climb up the rocky precipice to take pictures but in the end we decided against it.

We climbed back down the 500 steps and found, walked back into the mall and found a restaurant called Spaghetti 360 where we had lunch. Yumm. We decided that we didn' want to end out adventure just yet so we went further north to the Tai Po Market.
Now, as a vegetarian I wouldn't really, really recommend this market to you. The entire first floor is fish and poultry. Not a place for me. It was kind of humorous because we got to the building that it was housed in and not knowing what to expect, the four of us just walked in and within two seconds we walked back outside again to get some fresh air. Yuck. It was a very awful, fishy smell but Evan really wanted to go into the building so we went. We walked around and saw the fish and saw a lot of locals bargaining and picking their fish. Next, Evan wanted to go into the poultry section. I was definitely a little hesitant but I decided that it would be a good experience, especially because there is a disctinct possibility that I would never set foot in that building ever again or any other like it (well-maybe not...because I have been to the fisherman's Warf in San Francisco and that was kinda cool) but really...I had to go. So we walked through the carnivore section of the building and I am not going to lie, I was pretty grossed out. After awhile I just couldn't take it anymore and kept my eyes forward and walked straight out of that section. We went upstairs and we found the Herbivore section- Fruits and Vegetables Market- Now that's my kind of place. They had some really cool, cheap flower market and fruits and veggies (including cheap star fruit, passion fruit, and pineapple!)
Evan got flowers for his mom (his parents are visiting) and after careful deliberation and consultation with our local friends, Sumana and I decided to get a fruit basket for this local and her family who invited us over for dinner in honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This fruit basket turned out to be pretty big but they wrapped it very nicely for us. It turned out to be pretty expensive and we really could have haggled with them about the price but we were running late and didn't really think about bargaining (hindsight says we really, really should have bargained because it was a little too pricey- 12ish USD for the each of us. Oh well, it was a big basket and totally worth it. After we got the basket, we lugged it back to UST so we could change our camera batteries and get ready. :)

My next post will be about the dinner and the lantern festival! Get Excited!