The Idols of Sha Tin

My clothes smell smoky. I think it's because of all the incense that we were exposed to today. We went to Sha Tin to go to the Monastery of 10 000 Buddhas. Until just recently, we thought that that's where we'd been, but somehow we must have taken a wrong turn. We ended up at what we think was a Buddhist cemetery. It was still pretty cool, although filled with incense. There were still a lot of Buddha statues there, although not 10 000. Some looked like this:
The disappointment of not actually being at the monastery isn't too great, because the cemetery was actually pretty cool. I haven't ever experienced a cemetery with an escalator before. In Hong Kong, a lot of the land is pretty mountainous, so an escalator is a pretty good idea for saving time and allowing elderly people to scale fairly steep slopes. Like pretty much every cemetery I've ever been to, it was peaceful and beautiful. There were a lot of flowers and waterfalls. However, the amount of incense was somewhat offputting. It's kind of nice at first, but then it just builds up. It kind of ruins the pastoral atmosphere of a countryside cemetery.

Monasteries and cemeteries are great attractions actually for the simple fact that they do not charge admission. Sha Tin possesses another attraction where one does not have to pay for entry.

Snoopy's World may seem both cheaply constructed and somewhat run-down, but it is a source of mirth for many small children. Most of the amusements are quite straightforward and probably would not occupy the attention of most 7 or 8 year-olds for very long, but the younger ones don't seem to be able to get enough of it. I don't know how surprising it is in this day in age, but out of the cemtery, the monastery, and Snoopy's World, the latter is the most popular. I still don't really get Peanuts. I'd be interested to see what people in Hong Kong think of the comic strip and also why they built a shrine to it. Somehow, I think the answer would have to do with the cuteness of the characters rather than with anything that the characters represent.

In other news, Lindsay and I bought new running shoes the other day. I also bought a chess set for around $20 CAD that I have since seen advertised on Amazon.com for $60 US. We're off to Phuket on Sunday. We're both looking forward to it.