Day 2 in Hong Kong

We spent our second day in Hong Kong mostly on Hong Kong Island. Thanks to jet lag, we were up bright and early. On our way up the mountain to visit Ohel Leah synagogue, my favorite building in Hong Kong, we passed this outdoor market. It’s so Chungking Express!

And the never-ending construction in Hong Kong.

We met Erica Lyons, the publisher of Asian Jewish Life magazine, who took us to Ohel Leah and gave us a fabulous tour of the temple.

Ohel Leah was built in 1901 and has been in use ever since, except for several years during the Japanese Occupation (when it was used for something else, but no one is quite sure what that was). The inside has been restored to its original interior. Stunning.

We then took a winding cab ride up the rest of the mountain to the Peak. Fortunately, we picked the clearest day of our trip to visit the Peak and see the views from it.

And the houses on it.

Erica and I stopped for a quick photo on the observation deck.

Here Tom and I stood before another view of Hong Kong below.

This observation pagoda has been around for decades and is something I remember from my first trip to the Peak more than 20 years ago.

After lunch down the mountain at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Erica took us shopping on Hollywood Road, which sells antiques and used to be the only place in Hong Kong where one could hear Mandarin. Times have certainly changed since then! We finished our afternoon at the Man Mo Temple, a little oasis in the middle of urban Hong Kong.

I’d never been inside Man Mo, although I’d walked by it many times when I lived in Hong Kong.

It was dark inside, yet very colorful.

Here is the temple’s altar.

A very peaceful start and finish to our day on Hong Kong Island. Next up–the New Territories!