Ended up at Po Fook Hill by mistake trying to head up Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery. If it wasn’t for the, ironically, 10,000 people here, this would actually be ok. It’s a massive cemetery, apparently the biggest one in Hong Kong (not sure if that is fact or not), and quite interesting to see.
Earlier in the day we went to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, spent a few hours there, went for some lunch at New Town Plaza then were supposed to head to Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery. There’s no sign posts for that, at least that I could see and we just followed all the people, and there were thousands. Thought we must be in the right place but was a bit skeptical after taking some elevators up, which aren’t on any sites about 10,000 Buddha’s.
Anyway as you go up, it’s mostly elevators and some very interesting “graves”. I’m not sure exactly what the deal is, but it’s basically a bunch (hundreds) of rooms with things which look like mailboxes, which I can only assume is the ashes. It’s actually quite interesting and we decided to go right to the top since we were already there. On the way you might see some monkey’s, which will steal anything so keep your possessions close.
At the top of Po Fook Hill you get some nice views overlooking parts of Shatin and if there wasn’t so many people there this would actually be something really unique and different to see if you’re not from Asia. Ordinarily we wouldn’t visit a place like this so late in the day on a weekend, but thought we’d check it out since we were already in the area and it’s not that close to where we live.
Yes, there were definitely a lot of people here, but not I’ve seen worse and you can keep moving and it wasn’t too bad. I don’t know why Po Fook Hill isn’t on more people’s things to do in Hong Kong Lists. I guess it’s because it’s a cemetery, but again, if you’ve never been to China or Hong Kong, I think you’ll find this quite interesting. There’s a lot of burning going on, so don’t go wearing your best clothes because you might get ash all over them.
Po Fook Hill isn’t really a place to bring kids but if you visit here with them, they might actually find it okay and not be completely bored, especially if you play spot the monkey. Grobbler found it ok and was asking exactly what it was and seemed reasonably fascinated. I’ll probably be attacked by some strong man behind his keyboard for suggesting you visit Po Fook Hill as a tourist place, but that’s nothing new.
To get to Po Fook Hill, you take the MTR to Shatin Station, take Exit B and walk past Pai Tau Village. Walk left around the road and you’ll see the entrance to go in. If you want to go to Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery, there’s a little walk way beside a building, it’s to the right of the main entrance and exit of Po Fook Hill.
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