Photography now allowed inside Tai Hang's Lin Fa Kung (i.e., Lotus Temple)!

The Lin Fa Kung in Tai Hang dates back 

to the 19th century and the Qing Dynasty

The temple's principal deity is Kuan Yin 

-- the Goddess of Mercy

Many lotus shaped lamp offerings also can be seen 

in the religious space whose name translates 

from Cantonese as "Lotus Temple"

In the first year or so after I moved to Hong Kong, I made it a point to go check out a number of Taoist and Buddhist temples in the territory.  Fairly early on, I got to discovering that while photography was allowed in Hong Kong's Buddhist temples, this usually was not the case in the Taoist temples.

This state of affairs puzzled me -- particularly since the Taoist temples I had visited in Malaysia and Macau didn't have such anti-photography strictures.  And while Hong Kong friends I asked about this gave some suggested answers (such as that there was a fear that photographs might capture images of spirits inside of the temples), those seemed to involve more guess work and speculation than actual facts.

I think we got closer to the truth when a Singaporean friend suggested that the photography restrictions were the result of the Chinese Temples Committee -- which administers a large percentage of Hong Kong's Taoist temples -- wanting to retain image rights of the temple interiors and the objects that were housed inside the temples.

In any case, those administrative authorities look to have relaxed their "no photography" rules recently -- with the result being that when I re-visited Lin Fa Kung over the weekend, I finally was able to take photos inside the temple that I find visually interesting -- and not just because it's architecturally unique, with a building shaped differently from other Kwan Yin temples and a back section that lies on a large rock atop of which the goddess is said to have appeared.

To be sure, flash photography still is not allowed inside of the temple.  (And I understand that restriction as the flash of cameras can be blinding and also distracting to people going there to pray.) Still, as I trust that you will agree upon viewing two of the photos at the top of this blog entry, there is much that comes out well enough in shots taken without the use of a flash. So this kind of photographic compromise is one that's okay to and fine by me.  :)

Kowloonside's Pau Toi Shan (Devil's Peak) and Lei Yue Mun (Photo-essay)

It's one of two places that I know of in Hong Kong called Pau Toi Shan in Cantonese -- but whereas the Pau Toi Shan on Hong Kong Island is known as Fortress Hill in English, that over on Kowloonside is known as Devil's Peak.  As far as I'm concerned though, the 222 meter high Kowloon hill known both as Pau Toi Shan and Devil's Peak is well named in both Cantonese and English.

With regards to its Cantonese name: as I understand it, "Pau Toi" translates to Fortress and "Shan" as Hill -- and Devil's Peak is a hill that did have a fort (and battery) atop it.  As for its English name, for a hill that's not very high, it sure can look devilishly formidable -- and the ascent up it is on the steep side, and somewhat torturous on a super hot and humid day.

As it so happens, it was on a super hot and humid afternoon that I last elected to go up it -- and on my own too!  In my defence, I was craving de-stressing exercise that day -- and, since I've been up there before, I knew that the path up to Devil's Peak was one where I'd see a fair amount of other people.  And not only were the views from its summit really breathtaking, so too were some of those to be found down below in Lei Yue Mun (where I began and ended my hike)... :b  

Even before one gets to the top of Devil's Peak,

scenic vistas spread out before one

 Inevitably, there are many steps to be conquered

before one gets to the hill's summit

Looking east from the ruined redoubt  (which makes 

a brief appearance in Project A), with Tung Lung Chau 

barely visible and close to the horizon

The view to the west takes in Tsim Sha Tsui and

the central section of Hong Kong Island -- 

and, yes, a trigonometrical station atop Devil's Peak :)

 A beautiful butterfly stopped to rest 

atop the ruined redoubt

The path I took down Devil's Peak passed by what looked like 

a squatter area and ended up near Lei Yue Mun's Tin Hau Temple

 Close by it were these interesting shaped rocks

-- on which were perched some fishing enthusiasts

What some see as ramshackle structures and boats,

I think contributes to a pleasantly picturesque scene

Drinking in views and casual dining at Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan

Yes, this really is Hong Kong! :)

 More specifically, those cliffs are part of Sai Kung's

Tai Long Wan -- and also feature (to the

south of the beach area) in the above photo :)

 On the other side of this rickety bridge

are two cafes whose location is hard to beat ;)

One super hot summer's day two years ago, a friend and I made our way out to Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan and spent some time hanging out at Sai Wan and Ham Tin beaches. Last year, I returned to the area with a different friend -- and on a cooler day with far more pleasant hiking weather.

Earlier today, I completed my third hike to Tai Long Wan -- one which, like with last year's, had my hiking buddy and I heading out via a trek to Chek Keng followed by a cool boat ride to Wong Shek Pier and a bus ride back to Sai Kung town for dinner.  And once again, I found myself thinking that it is quite a trek but it really is a pleasant excursion!

One major reason is, as I trust that my photos (in this blog entry but also the photo-essays I've linked to) show, Tai Long Wan really is a beautiful place -- with sometimes downright breath-taking scenery of the kind that few people associate with "Asia's World City".  

Something else that adds to this hike's pleasure quotient is that one can break up the trek at Sai Wan and Ham Tin -- and not just to go walk on the beach or swim in the water either.  More specifically, there are cafes along the way where one can sit down for a bit and eat something tasty or just pleasantly sustaining. 

At Sai Wan, there were at least three different eateries open today -- two of which offer awesome beach views.  At one of them, my hiking buddy and I snacked on refreshingly cold tau fu fah (soybean pudding) for HK$5 a bowl (despite the English menu listing the price as HK$10 a bowl!).

At Ham Tin, there are two cafes on the northern side of the beach -- both of which were doing roaring business this afternoon.  The one we went to also had tau fu fah on its menu but at this place, we opted to share a plate of fried rice with chicken and pineapple mixed into it.  Costing us HK$50 (pricey by some standards -- but hey, you're paying for the cafe's location!), it was substantial without being so filling that we'd feel too "heavy" when slogging over the final hill of our hike to get out of Tai Long Wan over to Chek Keng.

A piece of advice if you are thinking of adding chili sauce to your dish of choice at Ham Tin: be warned that you are likely to feel that spice burning inside your stomach on your hike out of the area!  And yes, this is the voice of experience speaking -- as that's what happened to me last year!  So this time around, I made do with the fried rice "as is".  And really, when washed down with such as a glass of "pineapple ice" (for HK$22), the meal actually is pleasant enough to the taste without adding anything to it. :)

Seasonal and Anger (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Finally, fall is here!  And yes, I know the Chinese calendar's Mid-Autumn Festival fell on September 29-30 this year but in sub-tropical Hong Kong, it's only recently turned seasonably cool.  

 

When I lived in England and the USA, I associated the fall primarily with autumn leaves that were beautiful on trees and fun to walk through piles of after they had fallen down to the ground.  In Hong Kong though, my seasonal thoughts tend to turn to food -- specifically, Shanghai (AKA hairy) crab, for autumn is the peak time to imbibe this seasonal delicacy (whose meat isn't much to shout about but whose "roe" (sperm, really) is amazingly delicious)!

 

And when the temperature drops further, I'll have another taste treat to look forward to: namely, Mont d'or cheese -- which, like Shanghai crab, is available only at particular times of the year. Ideally eaten warmed up and eaten straight from its round wooden box, it's lovely as a dip for such as apples and sweet potatoes -- or just plain toasty bread -- and really good to share with a friend (with the accent on "a" as the portion served at Classified -- my "go to" place for this cheese (thanks to a tip from Jason Bon Vivant!) -- is just right for two people to feast on).

So far, no anger -- and people who've read this far might be wondering how I'm going to go about combining Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunt themes for this week  Well, the answer is that the anger comes in when I think of how limited are my chances to eat these two delicious foods that I really do find delightful!

More specifically, Shanghai crab is on the expensive side -- and very messy to eat. Believe it or not, as much as I love the taste of its roe/sperm, I just can't bring myself to eat it in restaurant because it embarrasses me so that I make such a terrible mess when attempting to pick these actually quite small crabs apart to get at their edible parts!  Consequently my ideal conditions for eating Shanghai crab include eating it in the home and company of people who I feel comfortable eating messily in front of -- or even better, with individuals who are happy to open up the crab for me, as was the case the last time I had this delicacy!!

 

Then there's the fact of it -- and the Mont d'or cheese -- being available for only a limited time each year.  And in the case of the Mont d'or, so rich is a meal in which it forms the center piece that I feel unable to eat it more than once a month (if that); with the result being that -- grrrrr -- I only got to have it twice last year as it no longer was on the menu when I wanted to eat it for a third time that season! ;( 

From High West down to Aberdeen (Photo-essay)

In the eyes of many people (including those at Time Asia who voted it the Best Urban Hike in their 2004 Best of Asia issue), the Dragon's Back is the Hong Kong Island hike to go on  While I've happily hiked the Dragon's Back not just once but thrice now (each time in the company of different friends), there are many Hong Kong Island hikes that rival that popular one over on the eastern side of the island in terms of sheer enjoyment, never mind challenge.

And as unlikely as it sounds, it really is the case that one of those other hikes begins at Victoria Peak -- though it's also true that it detours up to High West before going down that 494 meter high peak from whose summit some really great views can be had to the very Scottish-sounding town of Aberdeen -- known in Cantonese as Hong Kong Tsai (i.e., Little Hong Kong) -- over on the south side of Hong Kong Island... :b

The north side view from atop High West includes concrete jungle, 

the blue waters of Victoria Harbour and natural greenery

The view to the south and east from High West of Pok Fu Lam 

(in the foreground) and Lamma Island (in the distance)

Zoom lens view from above of old along with new

buildings in the Pok Fu Lam area

Rather than ignore the "Road Closed" sign, 

my hiking companionand I elected to safely

go back down the trail we had gone up on

After getting back on the Hong Kong Trail,

we passed by this lovely waterfall 

 

The kind of scene that can look like it's miles 

away from civilization -- but actually isn't so!

Some measure of the distance we covered on this hike can be

gathered from learning that the peak in the far distance in this photo 

is that of the same High West that we had been on earlier ;b

A few kilometers further and Aberdeen -- 

and that day's hike's end! -- was in sight! :)

Critter spottings in the vicinity of Mui Tsz Lam

Is that a blue tiger or blue glassy tiger (butterfly) in the photo?

This looks to be the common tiger butterfly -- which,

true to its name, is one of the butterflies I spot most

frequently when out hiking in Hong Kong

 

 Not a butterfly but a moth -- but beyond it being

on the small side and my finding it pretty,

I can't tell you much else about it ;(

 

Today being a Sunday with fine weather (i.e., rain-less, cool(ish) and not too humid), no prizes for guessing what I did this afternoon.  This time around, my hiking buddy and I went along a route that took us from Sai Kung (more specifically Tai Ping Tsuen) over to Sha Tin via portions of the Ma On Shan Country Trail, Maclehose Trail Section 4 and part of of a century old path linking the villages of Mui Tsz Lam and Pak Kong whose existence I found out about by reading the blog entry in  Journey to Hong Kong about it.

 

Should there be any doubt, the scenery along this hike was diverse, often interesting and sometimes downright splendid.  And I also did have a number of non-butterfly and -moth critter spottings, including of a golden orb weaver spider in the process of either consuming a grasshopper or wrapping it up some more for storage -- and a couple of lizard like creatures in a stream.

But I was particularly struck today by the number and variety of butterflies and moths my hiking buddy and I caught sight of today.  Interestingly, the spottings generally occurred early into and at the tail end of our trek, with few butterflies and moths catching our eye during the relatively level middle portion of the hike -- and it was when we were in the vicinity of Mui Tsz Lam that these insects were the most willing to have their photographs taken.

 

After returning home and doing some internet research, it makes sense why this is the case: i.e., Mui Tsz Lam is home to a fung shui wood and fung shui woods have been identified as ideal butterfly watching spots.  (Actually, and more generally, fung shui woods are vibrant and dynamic habitats for a variety of wildlife in addition to being invaluable living herbaria.)

 

On a less scientific note: I don't want to end this blog entry without asking people to click on my photo of the common tiger butterfly and check out the enlarged visual.  More specifically, I want to know: is it just me or doesn't the very top part of the insect look to you too like a man with a white face wearing dark glasses and large headphones along with antennae?! ;O

Spooky and On a Shelf (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

While out hiking in Hong Kong, one regularly passes by a grave (or more) and sometimes even through a cemetery.  But strange as it may seem, I generally don't find the final resting places of the dead that I come across in the Big Lychee to be all that spooky.  (Thinking about it, I reckon it's because they and their surroundings often are so clean!)

So I decided that for my entry for Sandi's Photo Hunt this week, it'd be better for me to go create my own "spooky" -- and, of course, all the better if I could come up with efforts that were also suitable for Gattina's different Photo Hunt theme. And with the help of reflections along with antique sculptures on display by the window of a shop on Hollywood Road (a Hong Kong public passage whose construction predates the establishment of the Hollywood district of Los Angeles!), I do believe that I came up with a couple of nifty spooky pics -- far spookier looking, in fact, that any of the Halloween-themed items on sale at a number of stalls on nearby Pottinger Street.

But guess what one of my photos of the displays of such as fuzzy black spider toys, "severed limbs" and "skulls" with eye-catching eyes has that my more creative shots lack?  Why, items on a shelf as well as in plastic trays and cardboard boxes, of course!  So dual Photo Hunt missions accomplished -- which is a relief because I did wonder for a while if this was the week when I'd finally feel obliged to choose between taking part in one and not the other... :O