Sha Tin

Inside the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery
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Today we took the railway out to Sha Tin, a town in the New Territories.  The first attraction we visited in Sha Tin was the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, a monastery that actually has about 12,800 little Buddha statues lining the walls of its main temple.  The main temple is about 400 steps up a steep hill but at least it is an interesting climb:  life-sized golden statues of Buddha's followers line the stairs.  I wouldn't call them pretty, but their various facial expressions and postures definitely made them unique.  The temple area itself is very colorful, with an area to get drinks, places to leave insence and offerings, a 9 storey stupa, some large statues, and the temple itself.  Though we saw a couple of other tourists, I felt that this was a quiet and "real" place to visit; most people we saw were doing worship by leaving insence and the like.

The 10,000 Buddhas Monastery from above
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We also visited the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, probably my favorite museum in Hong Kong yet!  It is in a very pretty 3 storey building, complete with an inner courtyard, lots of flowering trees, a large impressive entryway and all the little things that make a museum enjoyable: plentiful benches to rest your feet, well-done exhibits with both interesting facts to read about and beautiful items to gaze at, signs to point the way to separate exhibits and keep you from getting lost, and a good amount of interactive exhibits to keep your interest going!  I liked being able to watch clips of Cantonese Opera and use an interactive program to see what traditional opera makeup would look like on my face; the "collection" exhibit where we saw gorgeous jewlery, card cases, and glass tableware; and my favorite, the design gallery, where desingers can show off their creations that are both functional and beautiful/fun.  We really liked the creations for the kitchen in the design gallery and wish we could have bought all of them!  My sister did buy one at the museum gift shop, a silicone tea strainer that not only steeps your tea but stirs it, and it won't scratch your cup.  Fun souvenir!

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum
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We ended our day with a great dim sum dinner at a restaurant in the Times Square mall, very close to our hotel.  Our time in Hong Kong went very quickly, as there is always something fun to do here!