Houses of Worship, Big and Small

I think I'm getting used to how very different buildings are shoe-horned in together in the same area. At first, I was surprised to find tiny, tented shops squeezed into alleys between office skyscrapers, or decrepit "guesthouse" hotels sharing curb space with their four-star cousins. I quite like this feature of the city, as you never know what you're going to find when you turn a corner.

The Wan Chai area is no exception. On our way to visit a drapery shop there on Queen's Road, Andy and I came across this temple tucked away between shops and residential buildings:

A steady stream of worshippers arrived to burn incense, either inside the main temple, or off to the side in small grottos set into the rock.

As we wandered down the road, I noticed that almost every shop has a miniature shrine placed on the ground, just outside the door, containing the stubs of burned incense sticks. You really have to look closely to see them:


I'm really looking forward to learning about these shrines, and about Chinese religion generally.