Kowloon

Me with the offerings in hand
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On this Saturday, I took a 30 minute bus, then a train (subway) to an area of Kowloon called Wong Tai Sin. There area is actually considered "New Kowloon" north of Kowloon. I was going there to meet two women that were born and raised in Hong Kong, Dora and Lois. I connected with them through email. Rebecca, the former Spanish teacher in Oak Bluffs, used to work with them in the fashion merchandizing industry. They still work for the same company in Hong Kong and they were very willing to give me a "local" tour of the area.

shaking the chim, "what will I do with my life........"
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We met at the train station and walked over to the Wong Tai Sin Temple on this beautiful Saturday.  This is a Taoist temple named after the deity Wong Tai Sin. Many people worship here to ask the deity to grant their wishes, primarily about money. Devotees bring fruit offerings, burn incense and shake out bamboo fortune sticks. Dora set me up to participate in the incense burning and fortune stick shaking. You shake the container of chim (flat numbered bamboo sticks) while making a silent request to the deity until one stick falls out. "Don't forget to thank him!" Dora instructed. You take the stick numbers to the fortune teller and he/she tells you your fortune. It was quite entertaining. I shook the sticks to answer all the big questions in my life and we took the numbers 82 and 9 to the fortune teller behind the temple. The fortune teller only spoke Chinese so Dora and Lois translated for me. "You will have a smooth life......" That was the gist of the fortune. I can live with that.

The fortune teller said, " You will have a smooth life......."

Dora, me and Lois
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We then headed to a very local Chinese restaurant for lunch. This was so local that everything was in Chinese characters with no pictures for support on the menu. I would have had a hard time ordering without Dora and Lois! It was a decent meal, but I must admit, I would take Thai, Indian or Vietnamese food over Chinese food any day! I am still practicing with the chopsticks!

The next stop on the tour was Chi Lin Nunnery which is a beautiful, peaceful place with gardens, lotus ponds and amazingly crafted buildings, built without the use of a single nail. Separate buildings containing various Buddha statues enclose the gardens and ponds. The buildings were modeled after the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). I read that a total of 95,000 pieces of timber were used in the construction of this place!

Dora translating my fortune from the Chinese fortune teller
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Dora and I stopped for tea when Lois had to leave. It was really nice to have the chance to talk to someone that is not a teacher in Hong Kong! I recommend getting a private tour of Kowloon with Dora and Lois. The locals know best!