Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [74]
CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG ART MUSEUM Map
2609 7416; www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/amm; Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, Central Ave, admission free; 10am-5pm (closed public holidays); University
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum is divided into two sections. The four-floor East Wing Galleries house a permanent collection of Chinese paintings, and calligraphy, but it is the ceramics, jade objets d’art and other decorative arts that are especially worth inspecting, including 2000-year-old bronze seals and a large collection of jade flower carvings. The West Wing Galleries stage five to six special exhibitions each year.
A shuttle bus from University station travels through the campus to the administration building at the top of the hill; for the museum, get off at the second stop. The bus runs every 20 to 30 minutes daily and is free except on Sunday ($5) from September to May. From June to August, it costs $1 Monday to Saturday and $5 on Sundays.
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SHA TIN
Eating Click here; The Arts Click here; Sleeping Click here
Although it is a large new town that has sprung from the blueprints of urban planners, Sha Tin (Sandy Field; Map; population 637,000) retains some traditional Chinese houses, giving parts of it a historical feel that’s absent in most of the other New Towns. Built mostly on former mud flats, which produced some of the best rice in imperial China, it is now the place locals flock to on the weekends to place their bets at the nearby racecourse or to shop at Sha Tin’s New Town Plaza ( Map), one of the biggest shopping centres in the New Territories. For visitors, the drawcards are the temples and one of the best museums in Hong Kong.
Sha Tin lies in a narrow valley on both banks of a channel of the Shing Mun River. Fo Tan, where the racecourse is located, is to the northeast, and Tai Wei, where you’ll find the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, is to the south. Though once separate villages, they are now extensions of the Sha Tin conurbation. Sha Tin MTR East Rail station is west of (and connected to) New Town Plaza in central Sha Tin. Buses arrive at and depart from the MTR East Rail station, the bus station below New Town Plaza and the one at City One Plaza on Ngan Shing St on the opposite side of the channel. You can rent bicycles from several kiosks in Sha Tin Park, south of New Town Plaza shopping centre.
10,000 BUDDHAS MONASTERY Map
2691 1067; admission free; 10am-5pm; Sha Tin
Perched on Po Fook Hill about 500m northwest of Sha Tin MTR East Rail station, this quirky temple is worth the uphill hike to visit. Built in the 1950s, the complex actually contains more than 10,000 Buddhas. Some 12,800 miniature statues line the walls of the main temple and dozens of life-sized golden statues of Buddha’s followers flank the steep steps leading to the monastery complex. There are several temples and pavilions split over two levels, as well as a nine-storey pagoda that can be climbed. For sustenance the complex also has a vegetarian restaurant ( 10.15am-4pm or 5pm). Be aware the temple may close if it’s raining heavily.
To reach the monastery, take exit B at Sha Tin MTR station and walk down the ramp, passing a series of traditional houses at Pai Tau village on the left. Take the left onto Pai Tau St, and turn right onto Sheung Wo Che St. At the end of this road, a series of signs in English will direct you to the left along a concrete path and through bamboo groves to the first of some 400 steps leading up to the monastery. An alternative route down is to take the path from the lower level. This will take you back down to the houses at Pai Tau Village by the rail station.
AMAH ROCK Map
This boulder southwest of Sha Tin may look like just a rock, but it’s an oddly shaped one and, like many local landmarks in Hong Kong, it carries a legend. It seems that for many years a fisherman’s wife would stand on this spot in the hills above Lion Rock Country Park, watching for her husband to return from the sea while carrying her baby on her back. One day he didn’t come back