Our itinerary for Day 1 looked like this
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| Day 1 involved a long list of destinations such as Sha Tin Central Park, Sha Tin Public Library, Sha Tin Town Hall, Tsang Tai Uk Playground, Che Kung Temple, Kowloon Park, etcetera . |
We didn't get to visit all those places because of what happened next...
WE GOT LOST.
Our first destination was The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. When you look at it on a map, it looks very accessible if we were to come from our hotel. So we chose to go there first AND we chose to walk there.
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| A= our hotel, B= Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery |
We expected that we'd get lost, yes. BUT we didn't expect to get lost A LOT.
I blame myself for being conceited. I have this reputation among my family members that I'm pretty good at following maps AND directions but I guess we didn't consider the "foreign country factor" (which I define as the lack of people whom you can ask directions to arrive at your desired destination). Hongkong's primary language isn't English so we couldn't just ask anyone we meet on the street for directions to check if we were following the map right.
Anyway, after walking for quite some time (around 20-30 minutes), we finally saw signs which we thought pointed to the Monastery.
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| It turned out that we were WRONG. Again. Fuk Shan Tze is a new temple which is not open to the public. |
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| Sai Lam Temple IS Sai Lam Temple. |
Between the sign pointing to Fuk Shan Tze and Sai Lam Temple,we found steps that looked like it would lead to the Monastery. (We didn't take a picture of the steps because at the bottom of the steps sat a Chinese man who was talking on his cellphone. We might be accused of intruding his privacy.) We climbed up using the steps - I was even counting how many were there. When we got to162nd, we heard dogs barking. My youngest brother who was leading took a look at what was happening. He suddenly screamed "Andaming aso! Hindi nakatali at mukhang hahabulin tayo!" (There are dogs and it looks like they're after us!) So in a panic, we rushed down and you can imagine how tired we were already. *sigh
THE KINDNESS OF A STRANGER
When we arrived at the bottom, we saw that the Chinese man finished talking on his phone. I was really tired by then so I took the chance of asking him where the famous Monastery was. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Excuse me? Do you know English?
CM: (in a very apologetic tone and facial expression) English? *chinesechinesechinese* Not good. *chinesechinesechinese* Bad.
Me: Where is the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery? (Notice that even though he said that his English is bad, I still asked him. I figured if he knows how to answer in those few words, he at least knows very basic English ;)
CM: ahhh...*chinesechinesechinese* There there (pointing to the right). Straight. Sign. Buddhas.
Can I just say that we are very grateful to that man? Because we found the Monastery after he pointed it to us. That experience was amazing! ^___^
THE TEN THOUSAND BUDDHAS MONASTERY
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| This is my relieved and tired face. LOL. |
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| my sister Yang |
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| me |
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| Each Buddha is different; unique. |
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE MONKEYS
My siblings and I didn't get all the way to the top of the Monastery because at this point where my brothers are standing,
we heard noises from the trees. There were monkeys! :) At first we felt "WOW!" and we continued to feel that way until a monkey dropped to the ground and began walking towards us. And then we changed our minds and were once again in a panic when all the monkeys on the trees dropped to the ground and began chasing us.WHATAHALFDAY, huh?!
When we got back to the entrance of the Monastery, we decided to skip the other places, go shopping, and then just watch the Symphony of Lights at Victoria Harbor.
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| Mongkok/Nathan Road |
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| My brother is somewhat an imeldific when it comes to shoes and yet, he didn't buy any while we were there. He bought 3 (or was it 4?) pieces of wristwatch though. |
LASTLY, Victoria Harbor.
AND that wraps up DAY 1. ^___^
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