Central & Man Mo Temple

Central, the bustling centre of Hong Kong. It's interesting what kind of sights you see around this neighbourhood, as it really demonstrates some of the economic disparity present in this city. However, this was just a bit of a more casual photo walk with a friend, without any particular goal or intent, so I'll explore Central a bit more at a later date.

The starting point was Duddell Street, a small little back road next to Lan Kwai Fong. It's best known for its small flight of granite steps, as well as the four last standing gas street lamps in Hong Kong. It's also quite a common area for wedding photographers to shoot, evidently.

Sunday mornings are not a reason to shut off.

I caught Central right before Chinese New Year (yes, this just dates how backlogged I am, but I promise I'll be caught up as soon as possible!) and there were some beautiful decorations hanging around.

As many before me have said, Hong Kong is a city of skyscrapers. While these aren't strictly skyscrapers, they still illustrate the sheer verticality of this city.

What's more interesting to me, is Hong Kong's ability to have so many interesting juxtapositions. Here, in the middle of industrial and commercial buildings was a rather large sitting area, laden with trees and such. This is a popular area for domestic workers to hang around on Sundays.

I accidentally followed the wedding photographer all the way here. 

As you ascend the steep hills, you'll spot the very handy escalators along the Mid-Levels. Translated from Chinese as 'half mountain area', this region is located halfway up Victoria Peak - a fitting name. 

Upon walking eastward, I got to the Man Mo Temple. Though it's technically in Sheung Wan, for all intents and purposes I'm going to consider it Central, for the sake of the name of this post.

The oldest and most important Taoist temple in Hong Kong, Man Mo Temple is dedicated to Man, the god of literature, and Mo, the god of war. Quite a fitting name, really.

What was unique about this temple was its liberal display of coiled incense from the ceiling. Truly a sight to behold when there were tons of them lined up in rows around the entirety of the temple.

My friend, Julia, enjoying all the bokeh in Man Mo Temple with her nifty fifty. 

I'm not one to really talk about gear, but it's in the low light situations such as my time here in Man Mo Temple, where having a prime lens really shined.

The temple was small, but the visitors were large in number. 

This was a calm, serene environment to be in - a stark contrast to the rest of Hong Kong. In a quaint, poorly ventilated and warmly lit temple steaming with incense and the occasional beat of a drum, Man Mo was an experience that I absolutely adored and a great place to unwind my brain in some peaceful photography.