If you happen to be taking the West Rail to Turn Mun, between Tin Shui Wai station and Siu Hong…read morestation, try to look outside the window and you may see on your left there are two very iconic and eye-catching yet contrasting establishments. The two major structures are actually Miu Fat Monastery, as known as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall that was erected in 1980; and also a more modern architecture of glass and concrete that was constructed in 1999. Together they are the most popular Buddhist monastery complex in Hong Kong that attracts countless tourists each year. Today let me talk about the old building as that was the one that caught my eyes right away. Walk through the garden and you may see two regal stone lions and majestic stone elephant offering you a warm welcome. In front of you lies the three storey Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall that is colorfully and elaborately ornated with dragons and all kind of traditional mythical creatures. Inside the Mahavira Hall, and you can see three gold statues of Saktamuni, the Buddhas and they all are so gigantic that put visitors at awe. Reliefs and murals can be found on the walls. Columns are carved with gold dragons that are rather imposing. I am no Buddhist myself but Miu Fat Monastery does intrigue me a lot just because of its nicely adorned façade. I strongly recommend one to come here and you simply cannot miss this majestic building in Hong Kong.

This is second part of the Buddhist monastery complex in Lam Tei. To my surprised, it looks…read morecompletely different from the first one. While the façade of the traditional one is nicely adorned with orange tiled roof, this one, on the other hand, is very modern with glass and concrete, which serves as the main building nowadays. From its appearance, this new establishment does resemble a giant lotus, which glows at night. To me that is a little bit too much but this huge glass blossoming lotus does capture lots of people's eyes by offering the best view of the Tuen Mun area. Ascending the staircase, I was first greeted by a small golden Buddha statue. And later I saw some other statues that I still have no idea what deities they are representing, anyways, so I kept walking up for a while until I got to the top. The view here was extremely striking as this place is basically the tallest one in that area, so you can see mountains from afar unobstructed by any buildings; also the colorful monastery next to you. After the view and the flight of stairs, I was rather hungry so I was on my way to the community hall where I saw a Buddhist shrine. I am not a vegetarian but I have to say that they do serve rather nice food here. Overall, the majestic surroundings do give visitors a peaceful feeling and I will definitely see this as a nice experience.