Chi Lin Nunnery

For this. I thought I would take a short trip up north in Kowloon to see the Chi Lin Nunnery. It was a bit of a trek, being the farthest distance I had traveled within Hong Kong to that point.

I caught a bus here, a train there, missed a stop over yonder, and finally got off at Diamond Hill. Here's where I made another observation about this small part of the world. There are so many malls. Perhaps I am using "mall" incorrectly here, or maybe I just happen to be traveling to all of the most popular places in the city, but at every turn there seems to be a sprawling shopping complex just waiting to drain the credit cards of unsuspecting passersby. After being bombarded by storefront after storefront of consumer goods trying to find food, succeeding, and leaving the premises, I located Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden.

We've lost the war on terracotta.

According to the very minimal research I did before arriving at Chi Lin, it's a Buddhist temple opened in the 1930s and renovated in the 1990s. Either because of those renovations, very thorough maintenance, or a combination of the two that the complex looks almost brand new.

Learn to see the forest for the tr... Wait what?

At first, I was a bit disappointed as it seemed on the outside that it was constructed with the purpose of capitalizing on the tourism generated by temples in Asian countries. But the more I looked around, my mind changed. I was basing my enjoyment on the expectations that structures like these needed to be old and weathered. But, at some point in time, they were new. I was given an opportunity to see what a temple like this looks like without being touched by deterioration. And with that thought, the bright paint became more beautiful.

I can't tell you how many birds have photobombed my shots.

Speaking of rethinking my previous approaches, after my visit to Sky100 yesterday, I wanted a chance to get a good view of the Hong Kong skyline at night from Victoria Peak. So I grabbed another thousand different modes of transportation and eventually made my way back to the mountain on the main island.

I don't remember what city this is.

I also sat around a bit just to people watch.

Try not to look creepy when you do that.

From the peak, I tried to catch a taxi sitting nearby to get me back to the bottom of the mountain. The driver told me that, because it was after dark, the cost would be HK$400. I said screw that and went to wait in a long line to catch a bus. I didn't learn until a couple days later why I should have done more with that situation.

Waiting in line, a couple came to me asking about the cost of the fare for the bus. I answered their questions to the best of my ability given my far-from-extensive knowledge of the HK bus service. We talked more and eventually found that we were both from Houston. The more we talked, it came to light that for a good period of time, we lived within a mile of each other. Small world, right?

I ended the night by being a lazy American and ordering food at McDonald's to take back to my room and enjoy while watching Game Grumps. I learned that the McNuggets in this part of the world are still, in part or in whole, using dark meat. A pleasant surprise to me. White meat might be better for you, but I don't eat nuggets for my health.

And I certainly don't travel the world for my health.