Pai Tau Village – Sha Tin – New Territories – Hong Kong – 2010

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Buddhas, Hong Kong, New Territories, Pai Tau Village, Po Fook Hill Ancestral Halls, Sha Tin

Places in Hong Kong not normally visited by tourists

During a holiday in Hong Kong in 2010, I thought it would be good to get out of the densely populated area of Hong Kong Island, where I was staying and travel up to Sha Tin in the New Territories, where there is a small village called Pai Tau.The main reason I wanted to visit there was the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.  So one morning I caught the train from Causeway Bay up to Sha Tin; a pleasant trip as I left early and therefore got seat.

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is a little bit off the beaten track and I found myself asking several times for direction once I got off the train.  I could see it from the bottom of the mountain but just could not find the entry.And I certainly could not find the beginning of the steps that lead to the monastery containing the 10,000 buddhas – maybe it’s my dreadful sense of direction!!  But since that time, I have searched the internet and found that many people had a lot of trouble finding the monastery.  This is what I would have seen if I had found the entry…

(source: internet search)

So…by accident I found the Po Fook Hill Ancestral Halls, Hong Kong’s largest cremetorium and cemetery.  I now know that Po Fook Hill is often mistaken by tourists as the Monastery of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and initially I certainly was mistaken.  The location of the monastery is actually above Po Fook on the hill and accessed via the long Buddha lined path but I didn’t walk that far so missed out.

Who would have thought this is where I would spend a couple of hours but it really is a huge and interesting complex.  The whole development was designed in a traditional Asian architectural style and the last extension was finished in early 2008.Because of the temple and buddhas at the entrance and the pagoda in the centre, I really thought I was in the right place. Then it became clear to me I wasn’t and even more obvious that I had missed the entrance to the temple and walked into a big cemetery. It has large buddhas,  life-size gold painted scary looking warriors on the steps up to the Worship Halls as well as small buddhas engraved into slate.An interesting place to visit really and as I was there I thought I might as well take a good look around the grounds which were quite pretty with lots of different structures, buddhas and ornamental gardens.As well as cute little turtles in ponds…

All in all an interesting morning but I am still annoyed I never found access to the temple.