Tin Hau Temple @ Repulse Bay

There are a lot of Tin Hau Temples in this City because, a long, long time ago, Hong Kong used to be heavy into fishing.  There are still many fishing villages dotted around the islands.  But, Tin Hau temples were constructed as apart of the City's fishing history.

Tin Hau is the goddess of the sea and protector of the fishermen (Sounds very Game of Thrones!).  On the east side of Repulse Bay sits the Tin Hau Temple.  It's one of many that I have found that are heavily ornamented and frequented by locals/tourists.

There are two sections of this temple.  The upper section (pictured below):

...and the lower section (pictured below), which sits on the beach:

Here's the Bridge of Longevity.  On the plaque it says that if you walk across this bridge once, you'll gain three more days to your life.  We crossed it twice, but I might cross it some more when I make it back down to Repulse Bay.

Of all my years going down to Repulse Bay, I had never thought of checking out the Tin Hau Temple. So, it felt like a great find!

Urban Hiking: Stanley to Repulse Bay

Something new I discovered is that you can walk through from Stanley to Repulse Bay via some beautiful little trails.  If we had more time, we could have also walked over to Deep Water Bay.  I don't know the exact route we took, but it was a great urban adventure.  

Some great finds:

1.  Here's a shot of a beautiful creek that was right down the hill from some apartment complexes.  It looks like we're in a proper wilderness.

2.  We walked down one trail and found a bunch of creatures of the forest wandering around.  It was like walking through one of those OTHER lands in a fairytale:  Like the land of wandering creatures...

3.  Besides walking along the roadside, we found some great paved trails.

4.  I envy the spectacular view that these people wake up to!

5.  And, lastly, we found some interesting plants out on our urban hike.  I felt like I was exploring a rainforest or some place exotic because I don't normally see these things in Yuen Long.

Prior to my friend suggesting this hike, I had never thought about spending the day hiking and ending it at the beach.  Along the urban hike, I actually made a list of reasons why this was such a good idea:

1.  you sweat it all out and then jump into the ocean to cool down,
2.  you can walk under a canopy of plants, which feels a lot cooler than walking along the roadside,
3.  you can treat yourself to pizza or something at the end if the journey
4.  and it's a great activity to experience the Hong Kong outdoors.

I want to plan another hike, which ends at the beach...and have a proper lazy beach day afterwards!