10,000 Buddhas Monastery

After finishing up at the conference this morning, my friends and I decided we would brave the torrential downpour and strike out for the 10,000 Buddhas monastery.  I had done some pre-trip research and had directions and map in hand.  It would involve switching metro lines four times and heading out toward the end of one line.  We donned our rain gear and headed out.  No problems navigating the metro connections, we probably didn't stand on any platform more than two minutes before the next train arrived and we continued our journey.  The signage for each station was very clear.  It was a lot of walking and escalators, but that is pretty par for the course in HK. (escalator repairmen definitely have full time employment here!)

We finally exited the metro station and got our bearing in the neighborhood. (It was still pouring down rain).  We headed in the right direction and soon found this temple gate...

We thought...yes, this must be it, the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery....We entered and started climbing stairs.  I had read that there were a total of 400 stairs to the top.  With various buddhas lining the walk. 

This was the first one we approached.  I loved the smell of incense in the air.  I liked the accommodation of having the flame to light the incense sticks in the little lantern house.

Its interesting how the city clings to the coast and the lush hillsides are almost entirely undeveloped.  In so many coastal regions, the houses go right up the hill sides.

I was expecting 400 steps, but not in the 'moving' format of an escalator...bonus!

 We paused to admire the view around us on each patio as we went toward the top.  I looked out at one point and saw this fellow!  I was so surprised!  He was not caged or anything - money in nature.

 We saw more Buddhas as we went up, but nothing like 10,000...

 There were many of these burial niches on each terrance as we went up each level.  Many had photos of their loved ones.  It kind of reminded me of the cemeteries that I saw in Italy.

 You can see how the city apartments come right up to the temple grounds, with the lush hillside butting up against it. 

 After climbing many stairs, we finally reached the top of the complex, only to discover that there were not 10,000 Buddhas in sight.  We were drenched to the bone (fortunately it was 80 degrees, so we were not cold).  My friends were ready to pack it in, but I was determined to find these Buddhas.  I asked a staff person on site, but she just gestured downward to me.  I couldn't interpret what that meant about how to get where we wanted to go, other than it wasnt' where we were.  The entire complex had a lot of signs, but they all looked like this...(also not helpful).

I finally found another tourist and approached him.  He spoke English and had just visited the Buddhas and said "your in the wrong place"(which we had figured out).  He gave us good directions to find the right trail to the Buddhas.  We worked our way back down (by stairs, the escalators only went up).

Pretty garden views.

This was the sign we had missed.  We were in the Po Fook ancestral worship hall.  We followed this other much less obvious path and discovered...Buddhas!

There were 400 steps, no escalators.  (It was still pouring down rain.)

Some looked newly painted, others were not in as good of shape.  They had all different items in their hands and were taking many different posses.

The sight at the top was worth the extra hike (and the drenched clothing).

This is a close up of one of the walls of the temple, which are covered with small Buddhas, each in a different pose.  They are each about 8 - 12 inches high.

We traipsed back down the 400 stairs back to the metro station and managed the four different connections in reverse order.  The stations and trains were much more full than they had been earlier in the day.