Hong Kong, Part 3 – Markets and Temples

On By StevenIn International Travel - Hong Kong

Author’s Note: This is one of five posts looking to the past, to my trip to Hong Kong in September of 2008. Some of the details may be a little fuzzy because it was twelve years ago.

After work one day, some of the group wanted to go to the market in Mong Kok and I decided to tag along.

It was hot and crowded, and I could have bought a variety of interesting things for very little money. I didn’t really see anything I wanted though. I did go back later in the week to one of the jade markets to buy some gifts for people back home.

On the last day of the trip before heading back to the US, I finally had a chance to go find a Temple. We sort of blundered into it walking around after work, actually.

This particular Temple was along Nathan Street, surrounded by nice public spaces and lovely trees.

These incense coils were gigantic and fascinating- each one would last more than a day.

I have no idea what these statues represent. Nowadays when I travel I try to learn more about what I’m seeing, but I was not so prepared in 2008 for this. I regret not learning more about my surroundings at the time.

The Temple had several different rooms, with different items displayed.

Here’s another peek at those magnificent spirals of incense.

Look, it’s Chairman Meow!

The Nathan Street entrance to the temple contained a public square rest garden, with some bridges, koi, and a Nine-Dragon Wall there behind me, containing reliefs of nine different Chinese dragons.

Based on the location, and with the help of Google Maps, I think I have successfully identified this as the Yaumatei Tin Hau Temple. I did not have the foresight back in 2008 to learn the name of the place that we had stumbled into.

Have you ever been to a temple in China or Hong Kong?

39/52 (and 18 of 30!)

11 thoughts on “Hong Kong, Part 3 – Markets and Temples”

  1. Deepika

    Lovely photos. I haven’t been to any temple in China or Hong Kong.

    In India we use spiral incense like thing as mosquito coil to shoo away mosquitoes 😀

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    1. Thank you! But there’s behind the scenes magic here- I started with more than 250 photographs, and discarded a LOT before choosing the few dozen to go into posts. For everypicture you like, there’s ten more that I thought were meh. 😀

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        1. I mean I still have them all- tens of thousands of photos from every trip I’ve taken since I started being a camera guy. But I sort them and say “blurry. out of frame. just not a very interesting photo.” And those sorts of decisions guide what goes into the blog.

          I like to think of it as me presenting a fillet of my photos to you- I show you the ones that I think are the best of them.

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  3. Lovely photos! Yes, I’ve been to Beijing! And when I went on many of my travels it was a jaunt around the world in 2001 and so I missed almost all the details, plus it was while 9/11 happened here, so I experienced trauma because I was away on a trip of my lifetime, and didn’t know anyone. Now, 19 years later, it all seems to mess together since when I returned from that trip I was so embroiled in life that I didn’t look back much.

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