Hong Kong – Man Mo Temple

Posted on by Parul Thakur

That morning, I woke up to a long weekend in India and it meant a day off in Hong Kong. Usual breakfast and daily chores followed and once I was alone, I started reading about nearby places to visit in the vicinity. When you want to have a day that brings to you something new, things do fall in place.

I had read about Man Mo temple somewhere and hence thought of checking up more details on the internet. To my luck, the oldest and the largest Man Mo temple in Hong Kong was at a walking distance from where we were staying. You are reading it right – Man Mo is the name of Gods and there are many small Man Mo temples in Hong Kong. The one I am talking about is a declared monument of Hong Kong and very famous among worshipers.

  • Man Tai – God of Literature
  • Mo Tai – God of War

The temple compound has not one but three blocks – Man Mo temple, Lit Shing Kung for the worship of all heavenly gods and Kung So is an assembly hall where community affairs and disputes were settled in olden days and serves as a prayer hall in the present times.

Most of the temples in Hong Kong open at 8 am in the morning and I reached there little before noon. Being a working day, the place wasn’t very crowded and I had ample time to spend, read through the information, observe the locals worshiping and go around for a round of pictures.

The entrance – the colors make it grand and vibrant
The spiral coils of burning incense
The spiral coils of burning incense
These are all little oil lamps..
These are all little oil lamps..
Scriptures on the wall
Scriptures on the wall
One of the prayer compounds
One of the prayer compounds

Those spiral coils of incense give a heavenly smell to the entire place. I realized very late that it was actually incense and not some bamboo decoration and it looked very beautiful in that natural and lamp light.

The feel of being able to sit in a compound that was built over 150 years ago gets you grounded to the reality and that’s what happened to me. God has no shape or name. No religion can really define what God or a higher power means to someone else. It’s the faith that we are being looked upon keeps us going.

This temple was never on my travel plans but having visited this place, I will surely recommend this to you on your trip to Hong Kong. Would you like to see something like this?

Today I’m sharing another travel tale from my recent trip to Hong Kong for Day 3 of NaBloPoMo and NoMo.

 

32 thoughts on “Hong Kong – Man Mo Temple”

  4. Oh I’d love to. I enjoy going to temples that are not crowded and give the feeling of space and peace. I love the smell of incense and the tinkling of temple bells. I hate the crowded ones with those snaking queues where there are people rushing you out even before you’ve got a glimpse of the idol. Where’s the point of going there?

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  16. Wow! So gorgeous.
    Aren’t you glad you visited in spite of not having it on the list.

    These pics reminded me of a Chinese temple I visited (one that’s become an exhibit, now); looks pretty similar.

    Thank you Parul. 🙂

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