Hong Kong: Temples

If I had to pick a favorite thing about my trip to Hong Kong, I would have to say the temples. I was able to visit several of these beautiful establishments throughout Hong Kong and Macau. They were incredibly beautiful, thought-provoking, and just truly fascinating to experience.

Man Mo Temple

The first temple I went to was the Man Mo Temple on Hong Kong Island. This is the oldest in Hong Kong, and is in between skyscrapers making it look somewhat out of place, but all the more eye-catching all the same. At the entrance I gave a donation of a few dollars for a hospital, and got some incense in return. After entering the temple, there were statues of the gods all around the room with incense, and flames to light the incense, all around them.

There were many incredible things about the experience but the ones that hit me the most was how authentic this place was, and how engaging the environment was. Most people there were there to give donation of incense and fruit and pray to the gods, so it was really cool to be there and see this place through their eyes (and several people were very kind and helped me light my incense properly). The environment was incredibly engaging. It was so different then western religion I grew up with because it was just so active; there was so much to do! Getting the offering (fruit or incense), giving the offering, lighting incense, praying- there was so many sights and smells and so much going on it took awhile to take it all in. I have never been to a religious environment that was so active and engaging for the participant before, so it was really cool to see and experience.

After exploring the main rooms of the Man Mo Temple, I went to the stands where you could buy curios, based on the zodiac, to bring you luck for the New Year. Apparently my sign, the dragon, has a difficult lunar year in store, so I bought a monkey charm, which will counteract the dragon’s bad luck. I also got to see some fortune-tellers. I got my palm read at two different temples to just see if they would say the same of different things- and the two said the same stuff! It was kind of creepy but kind of accurate. The most entertaining thing about the fortune-tellers at Man Mo Temple was waiting in the line. People were on their cell phones, and taking notes on their iphones. It seemed to be such a common thing, to be going to the fortune-teller; I found it all fascinating.

At another temple, I got to participate in the most common fortune-telling method, using the chim to divine the future. These are fortune-telling sticks in a container, each one with a number. You shake them, waiting for one to fall out, and when it does you take note of the number on it, get the corresponding prophecy, and have a soothsayer read it.

My cup of fortune-telling sticks, and the one that fell out

Everyone praying with the "chim" (fortune telling sticks)

It was so neat to get to participate in such a cultural moment. All in all, I think I got to experience the most of the culture I possibly could by visiting and participating in the temples. It truly was a collection of experiences I will never forget.

Hong Kong: Currency and Conversion

a.k.a. how do you say “can you break a 500?” in Cantonese?

One of the many things that makes Hong Kong different then any country I have visited (besides possibly Argentina, although I didn’t spend much time there) is the exchange rate. One US dollar is about 7 or 8 Hong Kong dollar. Although things that are western are expensive- a starbucks mint mocha is $35 HK dollar- most other things are not. For example, at a sushi restaurant, the “creativity rolls” all ranged from 20-30 HK dollar (3-4 US dollars). Long subway trips to outlying islands were 18 HK dollars, where as most of the ones around town were less then 10. It was a really easy place to spend money, because everything was so cheap. But it was very fun, and a little dangerous, to keep converting things to how cheap they really were.

Things that are western are very expensive, because westerners can typically afford to pay the difference, and if they want western items they will. However, since I was a tourist exploring the city and wanting the most authentic experience possible, I tried to avoid western things (besides the occasional mint mocha from Starbucks) and so spent very little money day to day. However, being western and having converted Australian money, I had a disturbingly large amount (for HK dollars anyway) on hand, and more then once found myself buying packs of gum or other small things in order to break large bills so I could pay for cab fares or subway tickets.

Hong Kong: East Meets West

The view of the city on Hong Kong Island from the top of the peak at night.

Hong Kong is a big, fun, exciting city/region. It is a special administrative region of China, and consists of several small islands and a small coastal part of the main land.

The view of Hong Kong Island (on a very hazy day) from the ferry

One of the best parts about it is that it is a real combination of western and eastern culture. Parts of the city feel very modern, and very much like New York City. Others are more remote, and feel rustic and beautifully foreign. One of the coolest things is how close these two parts can be together.

One of the street markets selling clothes, food, trinkets and everything in between.

Hong Kong's "Times Square", in one of the shopping districts of the city

For example a few blocks from the business district are narrow streets full of shops selling everything from curios to whole octopus to all sorts of different ingredients that I would have never thought useful for food. There is the oldest temple in Hong Kong in between skyscrapers and apartment buildings, a few blocks away from the neighborhood of ex-pat bars and clubs.

The Man Mo Temple, the oldest temple in Hong Kong, in between skyscrapers and shops.

The official language of Hong Kong is Cantonese, but most things have English translations- like street signs, and metro stops. I have only run into a few restaurants whose menu doesn’t have an English version, and a few cab drivers that don’t know English at all. Although the ex-pat community is large, it is still a minimal percent of the population, and now that Hong Kong is a part of China, it is getting tourists from the mainland, and now Mandarin language is becoming important for tourism.

Something interesting you couldn’t help but notice in the city was the emphasis on sanitation. Many people wear surgical masks over their nose and face. On the subway, there are “sanitation mats” which you can step on to sanitize your soles, and the escalator handrails have signs on them saying how often they are sanitized. There is also a big pollution problem in the city. I never really noticed it, but there is a pollution index you can check daily, it’s by percent, and also has a rating from low to high. Some of the days I was there it was at the high rating, but again, I never noticed a difference in the air.

While I was in Hong Kong I got to see all different parts of the city, as well as visit some of the outlying islands. It is a truly incredible place, and has only given me more of a travel bug to see more of Asia.