Just A Rainy Day On Hong Kong Island.

Temples in Shau Kai Wan.

On Tuesday 2nd July I had arranged to meet up with Jason, Sheena and Linda in North Point. I decided to set out earlier than necessary and go and see a temple in Shau Kei Wan that I've been meaning to visit for ages.

One thing I find strange about Hong Kong is that some of the most interesting things to see are almost completely unknown. In Shau Kei Wan, for example, there are lots of beautiful temples and there are very helpful pink tourist signs showing where they are, yet I am pretty sure the temple I went to scarcely gets a mention. I only found out about it by watching a video of someone visiting (all in Chinese). It took me ages to work out where it was and how to get there. For some reason I expected the walk there to be really complicated, but it wasn't.

To get to this temple I took the MTR to Shau Kei Wan Station and exited through exit A3 next to the bus station. I then walked up the right hand side of the bus station till I saw an overhead walkway. I went onto the walkway and headed left. I could see the small red buildings and prayer flags of the temples on the hill in front of me already, so I knew exactly where to go. I just kept walking towards the mountains until I ran out of walkway then came downstairs into Aldrich Street Playground.

I haven't mentioned the name of this temple yet, as it is actually a collection of six different temples, which are located in a cluster on the edge of the mountain. To get to them it's necessary to climb up a long staircase. Well, I say long, there are quite a lot of stairs, but it only takes a couple of minutes to get up there, even if you are as unfit as I am.

There's very little information about these temples online, but as I understand it, two of them were once located in Aldrich Village. This village was demolished in order to build some of the modern high-rises of Shau Kei Wan, and the temples were relocated to the mountainside.

I did not know it at the time, but three of the temples are quite unusual. They were built to commemorate three characters from a very famous Chinese epic novel called 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.'

'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms' is a fourteenth century novel written by Luo Guanzhong. It tells the story of the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the tumultuous events that take place when three warring kingdoms are fighting to seize control of China. This novel contains real people and events, but is heavily embellished making it a work of fiction based on facts. It has around 800,000 words and almost a thousand different characters in it. I am not even going to pretend to understand it, but I will try and say something about the characters from the story that are in this group of temples.

I began my climb. At the foot of the stairway there's a big notice board all in Chinese, apparently it belonged to Aldrich Village and displays the names of the temples.

Sign at the foot of the hill.

Lots of stairs.

Almost there.

I took the climb slowly, as it was a very hot and humid day. Eventually, I reached an archway guarded by two stone lions. There were four Chinese characters written above the archway, of course I cannot read them, but I found out later that they say: ' a good place produces outstanding people'.

Lions guard the entrance.

I wandered through the archway and immediately saw a statue of a horse outside two connected temples. This horse is called Red Hare. He features in 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms'. In the novel he is described as being capable of "galloping across cities and leaping over moats." It is also said that: "He neighs as if he has the ambition of soaring into the sky or diving into the sea."

Inside the temple with the statue of Red Hare.

Red Hare originally belonged to a warlord called Dong Zhou, but was then given as a gift to another warrior, Lü Bu, in return for him killing his own stepfather. After Lü Bu dies in battle, Red Hare is given to Kwan Tai. Kwan Tai's temple is directly behind the horse statue.

Red Hare.

Small model of Red Hare.

Kwan Tai riding Red Hare.

Kwan Tai (Guan Yu in Mandarin), was a general during the Three Kingdoms' Period, but is now revered as the god of war. If you climb up the stairs on the left hand side of Kwan Tai's Temple, you will arrive at a really unusual temple guarded by two tigers. No, I didn't mean to write lions, these really are tigers. I have never seen these guarding any other Chinese temple. This is the temple of Cheung Fei (Zhang Fei in Mandarin). He is also a character in 'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms' story. He was a very brave general. The tigers indicate how strong he was as the Chinese consider tigers to be stronger than lions. (Personally I wouldn't like to be near either of them if they ever decided to have a fight.)

Tiger guards.

Tiger.

Cheung Fei.

Go up a few more stairs and you will reach the temple of Lau Bai. Lau Bai is yet another character in 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms' story. In fact at the beginning of the story Kwan Tai, Cheung Fei and Lau Bai meet up in a peach orchard and offer sacrifices to the gods, then take an oath of brotherhood and promise to fight together in the wars of the three kingdoms.

They pledge: "We will rescue each other in difficulty; we will aid each other in danger. We swear to serve the state and save the people. We ask not the same day of birth, but we seek to die together. May Heaven, the all-ruling, and Earth, the all-producing, read our hearts. If we turn aside from righteousness or forget kindliness, may Heaven and Human smite us!”

Of the three 'brothers' Lau Bai is the oldest and most important, so his temple is the highest one. Cheung Fei is the middle brother, so his temple is in the middle and Kwan Tai is the youngest so his temple is the lowest. I noticed some interesting statues of lion dancers outside this temple.

Lau Bai's Temple.

Lau Bai's Temple.

Lion dancer.

Lau Bai.

There are beautiful views over Shau Kei Wan and the mountains from Cheung Fei and Lau Bai's temples.

View from outside Cheung Fei's Temple.

View from Cheung Fei's Temple.

View with Buddha.

View from Lau Bai's Temple.

View from Lau Bai's Temple.

Flags outside Lau Bai's Temple.

Looking down on the temple.

There are also lots of windmills for good luck and lots of lovely green plants.

Plants.

Plants.

Windmills.

Behind the temples, currently encased in scaffolding for restoration, there's a giant statue of Lau Bai.

Giant statue of Lau Bai.

There are also scenes from 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms' depicted all over the temples.

Scenes from the novel.

The Three friends in the peach orchard.

Characters from the novel I think.

Painting on the side of the temple.

At the time of my visit I knew nothing about 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms'. I began my explorations by going into The Kwun Yam Temple adjacent to the Kwan Tai Temple. Kwun Yam is the goddess of mercy. Her temple is very calm and peaceful with a brightly lit statue of the goddess.

The temples of Kwan Tai and Kwun Yum.

Kwun Yam Temple.

Kwun Yam painting on the wall of the temple.

Lanterns in the temple.

Looking out from the temple.

Next door in Kwan Tai's temple there is a collection of rather dangerous looking knives padlocked to the wall and a display of lion and dragon dance costumes. I believe at a certain time when it is one of the gods' birthdays a procession with dragons and lions comes here from a temple by the sea in Shau Kei Wan.

Kwan Tai.

Kwan Tai.

Dragon.

Dragons and lions.

Knives.

Statue next to Kwan Tai.

There were several little shrines in the courtyard outside the temples and statues of what I think is The Monkey King. He is a character in the story 'Journey To The West'. I don't know if he's also one of the thousand characters in 'The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.'

Monkey King.

Monkey King.

Shrines.

Shrines.

Drum and bell.

The other two temples in this group of temples are the temples of Fuk Tak and Hung Shing. There's also a shed here belonging to The Nam On Residents' Association who look after the temples and a turtle filled pond with lots of statues behind it.

Statues by the pond.

The way to the Fuk Tak and Hung Shing Temples is protected by two mighty looking guards.

The way to the other temples.

Guards on the way to The Fuk Tak and Hung Shing
Temples.

Temple guard.

Temple guard.

The Fuk Tak Temple is dedicated to the earth god. It is more than a hundred years old. It was removed from its original site in Aldrich Village after the second world war.

Fuk Tak Temple.

Fuk Tak Temple.

The Hung Shing Temple dates from 1980 and was also moved here from Aldrich Village.

Hung Shing.

Hung Shing.

The temple attendant was starting to lock up the temple in preparation for it closing at 4 pm, so I had to leave. I had a quick look at a small temple at the foot of the stairs. It was quite pretty, but I don't know whose temple it is.

Coming down the stairs.

Small temple at the foot of the hill.

Outside the shrine at the bottom of the hill.

I hurried back to the MTR through the market and it was so colourful there I couldn't resist taking a few more photos.

Dried goods .

Fruit and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables

Vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables.

Poultry.

Plants.

Flower stall.

Flower stall.

Fish stall.

Fish stall.

Cat.

Then I took the train to North Point. It was pouring down by this time and I was glad I had remembered to bring my umbrella. Linda, Sheena and Jason were already in The Villa Villa Restaurant. They had ordered pizza, chicken wings and two different kinds of fries for us to share. The pizza base looked really burnt, but this was because they add squid ink to it. I've never come across this before. It tasted really good, though. There are two types of fries here. The tastiest are made with potato dipped in egg yolk. These are delicious but so unhealthy. The healthier, but less tasty ones, are made from sweet potatoes.

All of us.

Chicken wings.

Squid ink pizza

The tastier fries.

We had a fun chat about what we had all been up to and about our plans for the summer. Jason, Linda and Sheena are nearly on summer holiday, but as I well remember the ends of terms are always so busy they feel endless. I got to catch up on all the gossip and it was lovely to be together again. Linda very kindly treated us all to the meal. Happy Summer!!