Getting Lost and Movies
We tried to make it to the light show they do at the water front each night, but we didn’t make it because we got lost. We got off the metro at a stop we thought would be where we wanted to go but really this was a stop in the basement of a mall that is in the base of a giant apartment complex. It was a maze to get out of the place, and we got very lost trying to get out.
By the time we emerged to the street, the light show had already begun so we missed it by the time we walked the short distance to the waterfront. So, that is one HK adventure that will have to wait until next time. We did take the chance to walk down their Avenue of Stars though that is right on the water.
It’s a lot like the star walk in Hollywood mixed with Grauman’s Chinese Theater because some of them had hand prints and signatures in the cement. This installation pays homage to the Hong Kong film industry, its stars and movie makers. We hadn’t heard of most of them until we found Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li.
Man Mo Temple
Our last day in Hong Kong, before catching our train back to Guangzhou, we headed to Hong Kong Island to find a Toaist temple that was very important to the segregated Chinese community of HK during the 1800s and early 1900s. It was built in 1847 and used not just as a place of worship, as it is still used, but as a community center and assembly hall for resolving disputes.
Inside are several altars set up to worship various all of the gods and goddesses of Toaism with the main two of this temple being the Gods of Literature and Marshal Arts or War or Man and Mo. There were offerings in front of each statue of fruit and incense. And there was a lot of incense burning all over including some really cool coils of incense hanging from the ceiling.
We then wandered around the city through the narrow streets and up a really intense set of escalators in search of some good food. We did find a 7-11 and got Slurpees but ended up going to McDonald’s the best value we could find for the money and time.
After this we journeyed back across the border, getting a little confused trying to get out of Hong Kong, and back to Guangzhou. That night we found Ikea, right by the train station, and had Swedish meatballs for dinner. The next morning we flew safely back to Hefei.
If only China weren’t so darn big, then it would be much easier to go back and visit places like Hong Kong. But, alas, it’s a ginormous country with so much to see, experience and learn so return trips are very unlikely until maybe someday I return to the vast Orient.
My next adventures will be a little more localized like the Yellow Mountain, the mountain everyone outside of China has seen in traditional Chinese art and doesn’t know what it is. We just think it’s a traditional Chinese painting style, but no it is an actual place that has been put into Chinese art and legend because of its beauty. Until next time, remember “Adventure is out there!”
