TSS arrived in Hong Kong early on the morning of Tuesday, 18 December. My goal for the day was to find the Hong Kong LDS Temple and attend a session. I had a printout of a photo of the temple, its address - 2 Cornwall Street - and phone number. TSS was berthed at the famous Star Ferry Pier, which opened directly into the Ocean Terminal Mall, a beautiful upscale shopping mall.
The area directly outside the Mall was being decorated for Christmas with spectacular oversized snowpersons, trees, arches, etc., draped with tinsel and lights. Before long, throngs of locals and tourists would be jostling each other, trying to take photos of the big things both with and without family members or companions standing in front of them. I never felt comfortable about taking photos so I didn't.
The bus stop, a taxi stand, the ferry terminal and the ocean pier were within yards of each other. I headed to the buses and went to the tiny kiosk where a man worked, making sure the buses kept to their schedule and giving information to riders. I showed him the printout of the temple and asked which bus I should take and what time it left. He didn't speak Englishbut somehow I got a bus number and figured out it would be coming soon to the lbus lane next to the kiosk.
The first bus driver I showed the picture and asked shook his head and said, No. So I asked a few others and then went back to the original bus lane when a new bus drove up. That driver smiled and said Yes, so I paid my money and got on board, sitting next to a window on the driver's side, on the lower level. Yes, it was a double decker bus! I promised myself I'd ride on the upper level on my way back. On this first ride I wanted to see where we were going and be able to get off quickly when I finally spotted the temple.
I got out my camera and while keeping a sharp eye out for Cornwall Street, put the lens against the glass window and started snapping photos. I wanted to get some shots of the street scenes along the way. They are all more or less blurry because the bus was almost always either rolling along or stopping at bus stops or starting again but the following ones are the best and give an idea of the flavor of the architecture and the people.
The Streets of Hong Kong
Scene 1.
Scene 2. 1108
Scene 3. 1109
Scene 4. 1110
Scene 5. 1111
Scene 6. 1113
Scene 7 = Building propped up by bamboo scaffolding. 1116
Scene 8. 1117
Scene 9. 1118
Scene 10. 1119
Scene 11. 1120
Scene 12. 1121
Scene 13. 1122
Scene 14. 1123
The bus traveled on and on and on and I got more and more and more nervous. A woman seated across the aisle asked me where I was going and I told her. She told me we were definitely on the right bus and she would be getting off just before the temple, which was near the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where she worked and I couldn't miss it.It still took a very long time, all of it on first one very long road and then on another that took off at an angle to the first one. After a very long ride, suddenly the bus turned left onto a very short, narrow residential street, went to the end and turned right onto another short street, then turned right on a similar but slightly busier street. I was surprised to see that the sidewalk on my side of the street abutted a high concrete brick wall, obviously a retaining wall for the hill at its back. And there, on the wall itself, was a street name sign with the words, "Cornwall Street." I gasped and the next thing I saw was - the temple!
At the Temple
I pulled the cord to signal the driver to stop. The temple was on a corner and the bus stop was just past the side street. I hopped off the bus, turned left and stared up at the beautiful temple as I walked toward it. Its architecture is very different than that of any other LDS temple, mainly because of the very limited and expensive real estate available in Hong Kong. This one has several stories, with church offices and a meetinghouse (chapel) on some of the floors with the temple itself on the upper levels. Naturally, I started taking pictures.
First photo of temple, view of the right side with the front at right angles. 1126
View of the Angle Moroni statue atop the temple. 1129
Sign with name of the temple - in Chinese, of course - above a small pool of water. 1132
Welcoming open gate leading onto the temple grounds. Note shadows of beautiful leaves on the granite wall beside it. 1133
Inside the grounds, a fountain is on the opposite side of the wall where the temple name sign is on the outside. 1134
I turned 90 degrees so the fountain was at my back and there was the entrance to the temple, decorated with beautiful red and white poinsettias for Christmas. 1135
View to the left of the entrance, with stairs leading upward. 1136
Close-up of the red and white poinsettia decorations. 1138
View to the right, leading to a stairway giving onto the side street. 1139
View of pillar. 1141
Poinsettias juxtaposed with green tree. 1144
View of fountain from half-way toward the entrance. 1147
View back toward entrance gate and pillars. 1147
Bonsai tree against thae pillar. 1149
Then I turned off the camera and put it away. I took a deep, relaxing breath and happily walked toward the entrance doors.
Two hours later, after attending a session, I was back outside and took out the camera again to shoot some photos as I made my departure. I included some I wanted to take earlier but hadn't had time to take because needed to get to the session on time.
Interesting limbs of winter-barren tree. 1153
Planter with lovely plants. 1150
Corner angle of the building. looking upwards. 1155
Pillar with portion of building in background. 1156
Sign on the outside wall. 1158
View from near stairway to exit, looking back toward entrance doors to temple. 1160
Front windows with flowering tree. 1161
Side window, with gate pillars in foreground. 1162
Another side view, with side window. 1164
Corner view showing front and side windows. 1166
Final view. 1167
On the Way Back
I crossed the side street and walked along toward the bus stop, following the directions given me at the temple. They must get enough visitors to Hong Kong attending the temple that they'd drawn a diagram showing how to get to the bus stop and made copies to give to them. I had mine in hand.
The first building on my left had an interesting banner sign warning about the dangers of mosquito bites. In honor of the MBI (Mosquito Barcoding Initiative ) people aboard TSS, I took a photo of it. 1168
Near by was a street sign showing directions. Tsim Sha Tsui is where the Star Ferry Pier is located and where TSS was berthed. 1173
Building with beautiful gate with open fretwork at the top and bottom and address in English and Chinese above. 1174
At the first street corner I came to, at a T-crossing with an attractive university building straight ahead, with a planter of beautiful plants in the median strip of the street. 1178
Close-up of planter. 1179
Close-up of roof of building with a stairway down the roof. 1180
I crossed the street at the signal light and turned right in front of the building, walked a ways and came to the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, the one I had been told was near the temple.Sign at the driveway entrance to the hospital; some construction was taking place. 1181
Entrance to the hospital. 1182
I walked and walked and walked and finally came to a side street with a traffic signal light. Just after I crossed it, I came to the bus stop and a few minutes later, along came the bus, The same driver was driving it and he recognized me. I greeted him, paid my fare and went up the stairs to sit on the upper deck, just as I'd promised myself I'd do.I sat on the driver's side of the bus so I would be near the left side of the road (they drive on the left there). I whipped out my camera to take more pictures on the way back.
Imagine my surprise when I saw a mosque! There was a lovely metal image of a mosque on the wall outside the grounds. I managed to get a good shot of it. 1184
Mosque grounds. 1186
View of adjacent apartment complexes. 1186
Street scene. 1188
Wall with trees behind. 1189
A Christian church-sponsored school. 1190
More apartment buildings. 1191
A parking area between two buildings. 1192
Another apartment buildings. 1194
Close-up of apartment grounds. 1195
Trees and their shadows on the wall. 1197
Highway overpass. 1198
Street scene. 1199
Another apartment building. 1200
Interesting tree with wall behind. 1201
Steep stairway leading down from street higher up the hill, obviously taken at an angle. 1202
High retaining wall with stone "sculptures" alongside the road. 1204
Sign along the street in the business district. 1206
Tall skyscraper. 1209
Street scene with double decker bus coming down opposite lanes. 1210
Red and black music keyboard sign at the Hong Kong Music store. 1213
Another shot of the business district (blurry). 1215
Picturesque barren trees silhouetted against the sky. 1217
Cut stone wall of hillside beside road. Another, parallel, road is on the street at the top of the hill. 1233
Lovely park-like area planted between buildings. 1237
Street scene, with proof that 7-11 is in Hong Kong. Didn't realize it was there until now! 1238
A clothier's store open to the street, a common sight. 1240
A sign in Chinese. I don't know what it says and hope it is rated G. 1241
A typical Chinese shop open to the street. 1242
Nice architecture on the wall and a gateway. 1243
A bit farther along. 1244
It was quite a while before I took the opportunity to look around me in the bus. I was startled to see that there was a TV screen at the front of the bus near the windshield. 1245
Close-up of the tv screen. 1246
An advertisement sign on the street. 1248
There is also Body Shop in Hong Kong. 1249
Interesting structure on sidewalk. 1250
Street scene with pedestrian barricades on the corner. 1253
Corner of Nathan road with outdoor escalator leading to upscale business or store. 1255
Close-up of Nathan Road street sign in English and Chinese. 1258
Tile mosaic on paving-stone sidewalk. 1259
Stylish steps leading to building. Interesting architecture. 1260
A tower in a parklike area. 1262
When the bus came to the end of the route at the Star Ferry Pier where I started out from, I descended from the upper level and left the bus. Crossing the street to the Ocean pier, I walked past all the large-size Christmas decorations and their admirers and into the shopping mall. When I got to the corridor that had the doors leading to the cruise ship piers on the left side, there were signs indicating I was in the right place.Sign showing that the Embarkation place within the mall. 1263
The changing words at the bottom show the names of ships berthed at the pier. Here it shows Oceanic II, which is TSS's real name. 1264
Temple Street Night Market
I was back at TSS in time for lunch. Later I met up with Nancy and Nikki and we decided to go out that night, take the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) subway to the Temple Street Night Market and do some shopping. We walked to the nearby Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and bought our tickets at one of the automated machines, after a helpful local helped us figure out how it worked. We had a map with us in a small size tourist guide I had and it enabled us to get from the subway stop where we got off to the Night Market with little grief. The market took up an entire street between small stores with brightly lit signs. It was a colorful and exciting place to be. There were people everywhere and the market vendors were packed into small spaces with their colorful wares of all types displayed enticingly. It is named Temple Street because at its far end at Yau Ma Tei street is a traditional temple.
View of the Night Market street down Temple Street. 1266
We walked all the way through the market, enjoying the sights and sounds. Nancy bought a beautiful cashmere sweater set for a very low price. I looked at Chinese Opera and Bamboo Flute CDs but didn't buy anything. We got to the temple and walked around it to the left and circled it in the mostly dark street. Informal street vendors lined the streets on all sides. At the far side were areas set up where amateur Chinese Opera singers, traditional musicians and musicians of other types performed for the visitors. There was no charge except to take a photo. I was cheap and just enjoyed the singing without taking any pictures. Probably a dumb idea, but that's what I did.
On the far side of the temple was a street where fortune tellers were set up in vendor-like booths. Nikki was interested in having her fortune told so we walked along looking for the "best" fortune teller for the purpose. In other words, an English speaker!
She finally found one that had a good command of English, bargained for a price and settled in for the process. Nancy and I hung around trying not to listen too hard. As it turned out, Nikki wanted us to listen in and later give us our opinions on the fortune.
Directly across the street was a brightly lighted marque over a long building. 1267
Nikki with fortune teller. He inspected her fingernails and hands using a magnifying glass and told her some aspects of her fortune. 1268
He gives her more aspects of her fortune as he looks at her palm. 1269
Nikki was satisfied with her fortune and as we left, she told us about everything the fortune teller had said and asked our opinion. Everything seemed logical and was interestingly accurate in certain details. We walked back to the Temple Street Night Market and this time I bought the CDs I'd looked at earlier and almost bought a beautiful dark green (my favorite color!) silk double-sided robe with a beautifully colorful dragon embroidered on the back. It was a bit too tight across the hips, though, and they didn't have a larger size so I passed up the opportunity.We walked back to the subway and headed back to the Star Ferry Pier, into and through the mall to the door leading to the gangway of TSS. We were in time for dinner! It had been a great day.
