Sai Kung

Once I visited the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, I then headed to a part of the New Territories that I had not yet been to; that of Sai Kung.

Sai Kung is the opposite of urban Hong Kong Island (where the skyscrapers are) and has a slower pace of life – though is still bit of a tourist area with bars and restaurants.  Sai Kung also acts as a gateway into some of the best countryside you are likely to find in Hong Kong.  Sai Kung Town or simply Sai Kung is a town on Sai Kung Peninsula (often called the ‘leisure garden of Hong Kong’), facing the Sai Kung Hoi (Inner Port Shelter), part of Sai Kung District in the New Territories, Hong Kong.  Sai Kung is the center of the surrounding villages and hamlets, and hence the name may refer to the areas in its immediate surroundings.  Having evolved from a fishing village, it is a paradise for seafood lovers, locals and foreign tourists alike.  Sai Kung is rightly famous for its seafood restaurants along the quayside, where you can pick your dinner from an aquarium and have it served any way you like.  It is nice to stroll alongside the waterfront as well as sit at a harbor-side seafood restaurant staring, stunningly at the glass tanks filled with a variety of crustaceans you want to eat – if that’s your thing.  I’m not a seafood guy but I still wanted to see the area.

It took me about 45 minutes to get there from the monastery as I had to take the subway, connect to another line, and then take a minibus.  But it was a nice ride as you kind of start the bus trip on a mountain or a hill and then once you get near Sai Kung, you start descending with good views of the town and harbor.  But in addition to the waterfront, I wanted to see Tin Hau Temple in the center of town.

There are over 70 temples (at least partially) dedicated to Tin Hau in Hong Kong.  Tin Hau is the Hong Kong equivalent to the Goddess of the Sea.  As you might remember, we had already seen the Tian Hou Temple on Cijin Island in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which was the Taiwanese version of the Goddess of the Sea.  Both are said to protect sailors and fisherman and is invoked as the patron deity of all Southern Chinese and East Asian persons.  This Hong Kong temple was built in the early twentieth century.  Pics of the temple below.

I walked around Sai Kung for a couple hours and then took a break and had a couple beers while sitting outside at a bar.  I was a little fatigued mainly due to the 400 plus stairs earlier in the day at the monastery.  After exploring, I took the minibus back to the subway and headed to Hong Kong Island to eat (the restaurants in Sai Kung didn’t do anything for me) and drink during the early evening before finally heading back to Shenzhen the same day.  It was a long day.  Some pics of Sai Kung below.  Note the seafood restaurants and glass tanks – some weird fish!  The fish in the fourth pic were huge; I was wondering how much $ they would cost?  In the last pic, all those canopies are seafood restaurants.