Lazy Weekend

Last weekend was rather a lazy weekend. Thursday, classes were cancelled because of graduation (yes, the class of 2010 graduates in October, so graduates all have to come back for the ceremony, odd, I know). Kat and I went to visit the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. We got a little lost getting there, because it’s off the beaten track, but we eventually found it after exploring some other temple/cemetery-like place. 

 So we thought it was a cemetery because it had these rooms with walls filled with pictures of people and dates like (1940-2006) or something like that. And there were only Chinese people there, Kat and I were the only foreigners so it didn't seem like tourist site.

 View from this place/cemetery/temple?

To get to the Temple of 10,000 Buddha, we had to climb up 400 stairs, lined with gold Buddha statues. When we finally reached the top, we headed for the main room, where the 10,000 Buddhas are located. It was amazing. The walls of the rectangular room are lined with Buddhas, none of which are the same. Each wall has 30 rows of Buddhas and they were all perfectly placed. Outside the main building were more Buddhas (apparently the Temple actually has over 12,000 Buddhas) and provided a great view of the surrounding area/city.  

 

  

Typhoon Megi was expected to hit Hong Kong Friday night/Saturday morning so we decided to postpone our plan to visit Tai-O to a later date.

Saturday, Kat and I roamed around Kowloon and Harbor City. We had planned on going to Hollywood Road, which is famous for it’s antiques but I thought Hollywood Road was the same as Avenue of the Stars and took the MTR to the Avenue of the Stars rather than Hollywood Road. So we roamed around, ended up at Kowloon Park and walked through for a little bit, which was beautiful and was able to cross off my ‘Hong Kong To Do/See List.’ It was a lot nicer than Hong Kong Park- there was more to see and do including a pool, a maze, a fountain and more animals.

Sunday, we explored the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden. At the entrance, we weren’t able to find a map so it was rather difficult to find everything, but we eventually did. We were able to explore a greenhouse, which contained numerous types of flowers and plants. Then we went on to the rather small Reptile House and Zoological part of the park. There were so many different types of animals including Chinese alligators, tortoises, monkeys, lemurs, tamarins, and various types of birds. 

 The entrance to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Some lemurs