When You Wish Upon A Tree...

I'm glad I went hiking on Monday, because it's been raining most days this week. The only other nice day was Wednesday when we met up with our friend, Michael, for lunch. To our astonishment we realised we had not seen each other for almost three years, despite the fact we all live in Hong Kong. We can thank covid for that, plus the fact that although it is small here people get really bogged down with work and it becomes really hard to find time to do anything. I say it's like that here, it's probably like that everywhere.

Anyway, we had a very pleasant lunch in Figo's Italian restaurant in Discovery Bay, which Michael very kindly treated us to. Peter had his usual thin crust four cheeses pizza and I had a set lunch. My lunch consisted of cauliflower soup, halloumi burger and lemon tart. Michael also went for the set lunch. He had the soup, roast chicken and a coffee.

Lunch in Figo's.

Lunch in Figo's.

After lunch we had some drinks in Three Sheets, a bar near Figo's. In this place you can either sit by the bar or inside a nearby marquee. We sat in the marquee.

Drinks in Three Sheets.

Drinks in Three Sheets.

On Friday, I decided to visit the famous Hong Kong wishing trees. These have been on my to do list for a while. I wasn't sure whether to do them now or wait till Chinese New Year when they will be inundated with people, but eventually I decided to do them now and avoid the crowds. To get there I went to Tai Po Market Station on the MTR and then took the 64K bus to Fong Ma Po Village in Lam Tsuen. Fong Ma Po is a Punti Village in the Eastern New Territories and its name translates as 'Place for Grazing Horses.' Like all traditional villages in Hong Kong its entrance is guarded by a gate with two lions.

Village Gateway.

Once I had passed through the gateway, I could see many statues of gods and goddesses and boards covered with wishes. I later learned these boards had been put up for people to place their wishes on so that they would not damage the trees by placing their wishes there.

Statues of deities.

Statues of deities.

Statues and incense.

Wishing papers.

Wishing papers.

This village has a Tin Hau Temple dating from around 1768. It was beautiful inside, but I was not allowed to take photos, so I had to make do with photographing the outside only.

Rainy day at theTin Hau Temple in Fong Ma Po.

Doorway of the main temple building.

The Tin Hau Temple in Fong Ma Po.

Close up of doorway at the Tin Hau Temple in Fong Ma Po.

Offerings on a shrine outside the Tin Hau Temple, Fong Ma Po.

Flags behind the Tin Hau Temple.

Near the temple there is a cultural centre. It did not seem to be open and I could find no information about it online, except a blog by someone who comes here a lot and says the cultural centre never seems to be open. It has very ornate doors. There were beautiful displays of plants here for Chinese New Year and some colourful murals decorating the walls.

Lam Tsuen Cultural Centre.

The doors of the Cultural Centre.

Spring blossom and dragon at the cultural centre.

The Cultural Centre Mural.

The Cultural Centre Mural.

The back of the Cultural Centre.

The Cultural Centre, lions and mural.

The Cultural Centre, lions and mural.

Chinese New Year flowers.

Chinese New Year flowers.

Behind the cultural centre there are three large banyan trees which are considered to be wishing trees. The legend of the trees began hundreds of years ago when a man saddened by the fact his son had difficulty learning sat down despondently next to one of the trees and made a wish. Soon after this his son began to make good progress in his lessons and the man believed his wish had come true. Around the same time a woman suffering from a terrible illness visited the trees and was miraculously cured. News of these events quickly spread and the legend of the wishing trees was born. The first ever wishing tree was actually a camphor tree, but it burnt down and a nearby banyan tree took over the role of wishing tree.

During the Lunar New Year Festival crowds used to flock to this village to write their names, dates of birth and wishes on joss paper, tie the paper to an orange and throw it at the wishing tree. If it gets caught in the branches, the wish will come true. The higher up in the branches it lands, the quicker the wish will be fulfilled. If the paper and orange fall to the ground, the wish was too greedy and it won't come true, though it is possible to tone the wish down a bit and try again.

However, in 2005 while people were performing this custom, a branch fell to the ground injuring two people, one of them was just four years old. The branch had no longer been able to bear the weight of all the wishes.

This prompted the government to intervene. Nowadays it's possible to look at the wishing trees, but if you want to throw your joss paper and orange, you can only do this on a fourth fake plastic tree. I'd have to say, this fake tree looks pretty realistic. The real wishing trees are being given a rest and some time to recover.

When all the wishing trees were in working order, each tree symbolised a different thing. The first tree would grant wishes related to academic performance, career and wealth. The second would grant wishes related to marriage and pregnancy. At the third tree wishes about anything and everything would be granted, a sort of miscellaneous wishing tree!

Old building near the wishing trees.

The plastic wishing tree looks quite real.

Oranges and wishes.

One of the real wishing trees next to the plastic tree..

A closer look at this tree.

One of the original wishing trees at the entrance to the village.

Shrine next to the tree.

You must not throw things at the trees nowadays.

Message about letting the trees recover.

When the branch collapsed,the tree was pruned, some of the wood from its branches has been kept.

Near the trees there was a circle of statues representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac. These were fairly basic. I struggled to identify some of them. Most of them were covered with coins which had been placed there for luck.

Animals of the Chinese zodiac.

The snake. I am a snake.

The ox. My husband is an ox.

The pig.

The rabbit, next year is the year of the rabbit. I struggled to identify this animal.

The rooster.

Near the trees there was a centre for making ceramics and an activity centre for children.

Centre for ceramics.

Centre for ceramics.

Activity Centre for Children.

I had a quick look at some other parts of the village, too, but these seemed to be mainly residential. There were several restaurants near the entrance to the village.

A quick look at the village.

Restaurant in the village.

When I arrived back in Tai Po, I had a short walk around. I could see signs that Chinese New Year was on its way.

Chinese New Year lanterns decorate a street in Tai Po.

Shop selling Chinese New Year decorations.

I had a quick look at the Tin Hau Temple here. This temple was built in 1691. It is dedicated to Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea, as well as Guanyin, the goddess of mercy and Guan Yu, the emperor of benevolence, courage and prestige.

Lion guard outside the Tin Hau Temple, Tai Po.

Tin Hau Temple, Tai Po.

Incense coils inside the Tin Hau Temple, Tai Po.

Shrine inside Tai Po Ton Hau Temple.

I also found some beautiful autumnal trees, some interesting street art outside a pub and some cherry blossom.

Autumnal trees.

Street art.

Street art outside a pub in Tai Po, Hong Kong.

The cherry blossom was absolutely surrounded by photographers taking pictures of it. In fact if they had not been there I doubt I would have even noticed it.

Photographers surrounded the cherry blossom.

Cherry blossom.

Cherry blossom.

Cherry blossom.

Cherry blossom.

Instead of taking the MTR home, I jumped on a bus that was heading to the airport and got off in Tung Chung. The scenery on these airport buses is normally beautiful, but it was raining heavily and fog had descended, so I did not photograph it.