Temple Dawn

Anna and I went out at dawn the other morning for breakfast at a 'dai pai dong,' or small open air kitchen, in Stanley Market. I was jet-lagged and was up early and Anna is an early riser anyway. Afterward, we walked along the boardwalk to a small temple tucked on a hillside along the north side of Stanley Bay.

It was a beautiful morning. Here, Anna is standing on the temple terrace. The temple was built in 1805 to worship Pak Tai (Bei Di in Mandarin pinyin), or the Northern Diety who triumphs over evil. The flags read 'Xuan Tian Shang Di' (in Mandarin pinyin), which means God of Mysterious Heaven - another name for Pak Tai.

Looking down from where Anna was standing with an incense coil in the foreground and rocks below.

This is a small shrine beneath a rock to Shao Lao Ren (again, in Mandarin pinyin), which means 'Old Man Life.' He's a god of longevity. Someone left a dragon fruit at his feet and a bag of candy by his side.

There was a Hakka woman tending to the area. Hakka (or Kejia in Mandarin pinyin) are a people who migrated to Southern China from Northern and Central China over the centuries. They speak a distinct dialect and have a distinct cuisine and, because the land was already settled when they arrived, are traditionally poorer than the indigenous Cantonese.

Many Hakka women work as laborers and are easily identified by their black-fringed hats.