10,000 Buddhas Temple part 1 of 2

Next time you are in the Shatin area of The New Territories, the guide books will probably recommend you that you go to the 10,000 Buddha Temple. Go if you want to. When you walk out of the MTR station, follow the signs toward IKEA, but when you get to the bottom of the long pedestrian ramp, turn left toward the low mountains. You are going to have to climb some steps. (It should have been called the 10,000 Steps Temple). The temple does actually have 10,000 Buddha statues. They are everywhere. There are a few big ones, many medium-sized ones, and lots and lots of small one.

Me? I think that I am pretty much done visiting temples in Hong Kong. They are all starting to look the same to me. And they are all really new-ish. A thousand-year-old Buddhist temple? That’s cool. A forty-year-old temple? Not so much.

The minute you start your ascent, you will start seeing hand-lettered signs for two alternative destinations that you will never see listed in any guide books. I recommend you blow-off the 10,000 Buddha Temple and instead stop half way up the hill at the Wing Wo Bee Farm and the Starock Book Store.

Okay, the Bee Farm isn’t really a farm. It’s a house. Knock on the front door and the wife will answer. After welcoming you, she will lead you through their house and out the back door. There in the back yard that is little bigger than a volleyball court, the husband has built three or four dozen bee hive boxes from scrap wood. With bees swarming everywhere, he will give you a little demonstration. He will lift off the lid to one of the boxes and then slowly lift out one of the inserts so that you can see the honey comb. Take as many pictures as you want.

Back inside the house/shop, the wife will lead you to the display of jars of honey. Don’t be like the three-some who left just ahead of me who took up fifteen minutes of the couple’s time, took tons of pictures, and then left empty handed. Buy a little something.