The greatest population growth in Hong Kong is primarily in the New Territories, north of Kowloon; the new towns consist of concrete high-rise buildings, bringing dramatic transformation to the once tranquil landscape. However, large parts of the New Territories have been made into country parks, where you can take lovely walks in the forests and observe beautiful butterflies (of an astonishing number and variety)--and even discover pretty white sand beaches. If you have more than the usual three or four days for sightseeing in Hong Kong at your disposal and enjoy the delights of natural beauty, you should definitely plan to spend at least one or two full days exploring the New Territories at leisure.

The Temple of 10,000 Buddhas is one of the most popular temples in Hong Kong. It can be reached via the Canton-Kowloon Railway (KCR); trains leave from Hung Hom or Kowloon Tong in Kowloon. Kowloon Tong also has an MTR subway connection, which might be more convenient for some people.

The temple was founded in 1950 and built at the foot of a hill. On the first of its two levels is a tall pagoda with decorated pavilions at both sides. One can either climb the seemingly countless number of steps or just take an elevator to the temple. On the inner walls of the lower temple hall are shelves with lots of tiny golden Buddha statues--10,000 of them, if not more! On the upper level of the temple, there are the ancestral worship halls--rooms with hundreds and hundreds of small niches in the walls. Each niche contains an urn and is covered with a tablet with a picture and name of the deceased. Outside, fires burn in small stoves, where paper representations of food, money, and other offerings are burned in order to gain the god's favor for the dead.