Man Mo Temple and Tim Ho Wan Restaurant: Week 8 / Day 56 / March 7
Hong Kong: The weather is looking pretty wet and dreary again today. I think people from Seattle would feel right at home here.
Our first destination today was the Man Mo Temple in central Hong Kong. I have seen this temple listed as one of the oldest in Hong Kong, but it only dates from 1847. It is dedicated to the worship of the civil or literature god Man Tai and the martial god Mo Tai. In addition to being temples of worship, this building was also used as a location for settling disputes between local Chinese and the colonialists during the 1800s.
The first hall we entered had an area for purchasing offerings before proceeding to the various shrines and altars.
Within the large hall were a number of shrines with statues and offerings.
Throughout the room there was a bit of haze from the many candles and incense being burned.
Exiting this hall we then entered a hall to the right. This one seemed to be dedicated to honoring dead ancestors. This hall was composed of multiple rooms of varying complexity and detail.
Some of the areas had very simple markers, while others were more detailed. I believe the red ones mark vacant locations.
Also, if you look carefully at the red tags, you can see that the number 4 has been replaced in all cases by another symbol. Presumably, this is done due to the phobia of the number 4 prevalent in Chinese numerology.
We went outside momentarily before heading into the last hall on the far left.
This last hall was quite large and also very thick with smoke from candles and incense.
As before, there was a location to purchase incense and candles, and, clearly, many had taken advantage of this opportunity.
I have come to the conclusion that Chinese temple life and asthma are not a good combination.
Leaving the temple area, we headed down the road where there were a number of antique shops.
We saw items for sale here up to $500,000 USD. I am sure there were plenty of things even more expensive, but a lot of the stores were locked and would have required the owner to buzz us in.
The overall effect was less that of antique shops and more of a museum with price tags.
There were also some street side stands that had items more in my price range.
From here we headed over to Tim Ho Wan restaurant for lunch. An excellent Dim Sum restaurant, it is the second cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world. We ordered from the à la carte menu and selected a variety of items to share.
The restaurant was surprisingly empty as I had read online about the crowds. Perhaps the rain kept people away.
The most interesting thing we had was the chicken’s feet with black beans.
Considering how much we ate (we were stuffed) and the quality of the food, it was a bargain at $27 for the two of us including tip.
After resting and drying out at the apartment for a bit we headed over to the Dragon Centre Mall. It is a nine story mall with an interesting collection of shops. There is also a roller coaster over the central atrium of the mall up at the ninth floor. Unfortunately, it was not in use.
There is also an ice rink on the eighth floor.
In addition to the usual stores ringing the atrium, there is a maze of smaller vendor stalls (knick-knacks, comic books, nail salons, tattoo parlors, acupuncture,…) back behind one side of the mall on a couple of the floors.
There were also two rather large arcades. We stopped at one of them to play air hockey and a soccer game for a while and then headed back for the night.
Glad you went to Dragon Centre. A friend told me that someone fell out of the indoor roller coaster several years ago, and it hasn’t been used since.
Also, no tipping expected in HK
“Also, no tipping expected in HK” – then they most have loved me. I tipped almost everywhere – but, usually less than the American amount.