Tin Hau Temple, Yau Ma Tei

The exciting news is that I am going to Macau and Hong Kong again at the end of May, thanks to Viva Macau's fabulous special. I just can't wait. More and more I am determined to write a book about Macau, a place I find so attractive and mysterious. I just need to find a little room to hole up in for 2 or 3 months and really explore that crazy little island from top to bottom.
But this time it will be a pure holiday (well, I may be taking some rather extensive notes in Macau, as a sort of preliminary exercise).
And wonderful Hong Kong can't be passed up - my partner is rather addicted to the place, and spends his days buying clothes while I potter about, going to the movies or visiting temples. I love visiting the Broadway Cinematheque, which is the kind of old-fashioned arthouse cinema that Sydney used to have. It shows the world's most eclectic collection of movies and an attached bookshop, DVD shop and cafe. There's also a rather guilty Macdonalds right next to it, where I can sample the regional variations of that great chain (including deep-fried peach pies, mmmmm....)
Nearby is the wonderful Tin Hau Temple, a Kowloon institution and a wonderful place to do some people watching. The main temple hall is a mysterious collection of almost unidentifiable deities, but to be on the safe side I always make offerings to them. The temple appears to be participating in some sort of community service program, because the attendants and cleaners always seem to be heavily muscled and tattooed young men who look like they are on day release. Actually, at the right time of day (and night) the courtyard outside showcases the most wonderful collection of outcasts, addicts, petty criminals and other people of ill-repute. I love to while away an hour or two on a bench there.
Outside the temple is also one of the world's most insane Kwan Yin shrines - a spontaneous collection of donated statues barely kept in order and balancing on an improbable worship cabinet intended for a suburban home. I love the disorder and fervour of it, and feel its powerful energy each time I pause at it and offer up a prayer or two.