Stanley, in the old days, was one of the major ports in Hong Kong. People traded here, fishermen lived here, and business changed hands most often in this area. Now, with most of the businesses being based in Hong Kong Island, and the shipping ports moved to Kwai Chung, Stanley has been transformed into a tourist destination where people can experience life as it was a century ago.
The Tin Hau temple is one of the two structures from the 1900s that still stands up to now. She was the goddess of safe sea voyages, and it is said that through her intercession, many lives were saved from the storms and the occasional "Perfect Storm" sized waves. Through the years, the temple has been rebuilt and refurbished, and now, it looks like this.
Even if fishing ships no longer dock at Stanley, the Tin Hau temple still plays a major role in the area. Now, people who have personal wishes go here to ask for her intercession.
All people need to do is light at least 3 Joss sticks, or incense sticks, stand in front of the goddess and make a wish before putting the sticks in front of her. But when you get there, you'll see that people put more than 3 sticks, some even putting more than 20. I guess they feel that the more sticks you put in, the better the chances of your wish coming true. (Sounds like one of those: the more entries you send, the more chances of winning kinda schtick.)
Outside the temple is an open ampitheater where I love to sit down and watch something that has always held my fascination - kids! Since most of the maids and yayas are on their day off on Sundays, parents usually bring their kids to Stanley because the air is fresh, there's a lot of room to romp around, and there are a lot of other kids to play with.
There are a lot of kid friendly stores in Stanley, my favorite being a store called "Kiss my Kids." It sells everything from Barney VCDs to bubble makers. Needless to say, the bubble makers are the best sellers. Even in Manila, all you need is a kid with a bubble machine and everyone gravitates towards him. I think this is what's happening to this kid in the picture.
Futher down is Stanley Beach, which, compared to our beaches in Manila, is more of a sandbox. It's got cream colored sand with a lot of rocks, which makes it quite difficult to maneuver. But since they don't have anything like our Boracay, people still flock to Stanley Beach to get their feet wet, and have their photos taken. And in this particular instance, I was asked by a couple to play photographer to them. Which I obliged to, happily.
While the beach is the spot people love being photographed in, personally, i prefer scaling the rocks and having my photos taken there. An abundance of giant boulders along the shoreline makes it a magnet for people who just want to sit down, chill out, or, feel pensive.
Melvin prefers to feel pensive. I call this his "I remember yesterday" shot.
This is Melvin's first time in Stanley, and he's loving it! Like me, he took so many photos, from structures, to food, to paintings. But mostly, he takes photos of a crazy person who loves posing with rocks. And that of course, is me.
Crazy poses means me pretending to be thrown onto rocks once i've been washed ashore.
Sometimes, I even go down, way, way down to reach the smaller rocks by the shore, I think it's a more photogenic area.
And it lets me do my favorite pose, which is this:
All these crazy poses, watching kids, and photographing temples make my Sundays more refreshing. This is my 3 hour respite from the craziness that is Hong Kong. For 3 hours, I forget that i'm here and pretend i'm in Sitges in Spain or some small town like Volendam in the Netherlands. And that feeling recharges me and readies me for the crazy week ahead.
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