Huge, brash and colourfully decorated, the Wong Tai Sin temple was built in 1973 in honour of the eponymous god, a shepherd taken by an immortal as a young boy and taught how to devise an elixir of immortality. Today he is one of Hong Kong's most popular gods and the temple one of the city's most revered Taoist shrines. The image of the god on the temple's high altar was brought from mainland China in 1915 and installed in a temple in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. It was moved to an earlier temple on the present site six years later.
Cheung Chau (Long Island) lies 24km southwest of HongKong and covers just 2.4sq km. It is far from empty -some 40,000 people live here - but a network of surfaced paths (there are no cars) allows you to explore the hills above the handful of streets that make up Cheung Chau village. In the village be sure to drop into the local market and to visit the Pak Tai Temple (1783), dedicated to the 'Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven'. Walks around the headland to the north offer lovely views over the island. Also visit the island's two popular beaches, Tung Wan and Kwun Wan, and scramble to the Cheung Po Tsai Cave, reputed hideout of a notorious 19th-century pirate.
Visitors with little time and wanting a taste of the New Territories would be well advised to take a HKTA tour. Those prepared to explore just one area on their own might make for Tsuen Wan ('Shallow Bay'), a typical high-rise new town which is home to an excellent folk museum. Located about 300m from the Tsuen Wan MTR station, the museum occupies a landscaped and slightly over-restored walled village dating from 1786. It consists of a number of individual village houses, each decorated in period style and designed to illustrate a particular aspect of traditional village life, including furniture-making, farming, festivals, handicrafts and ritual ceremonies.
Tucked away in the outskirts of Hong Kong, yet easily accessible from all areas of the city, the Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club is blessed with a stunning environment that is removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. Located dramatically on the Sai Kung Peninsula and surrounded by the South China Sea, the Golf Club seems as if it has always been there - one of Mother Nature's natural wonders. Divided into the "Highland Nine" and the "Ocean Nine", no matter where you are on the course, you can't help but be awe-struck by the view as you overlook the amazing eastern approach to Hong Kong Harbour.
No matter what you and your family want to do, the recreation opportunities, natural attractions as well as points of interest close to Clearwater Bay are limitless.
Joined to the mainland by a strip of land less than two kilometres across and with no major housing developments, Sai Kung Peninsula is as close to unspoiled countryside as you could wish for in Hong Kong. The hills are relatively low (the highest is 481 m.) and the walking is excellent.
The peninsula is divided into to two parts - east and west - by the road from Pak Tam Cheung to Long Harbour and unless you are exceptionally energetic you are likely to be hiking on one side or the other.
Most people arrive on the peninsula at Pak Tam Cheung by bus from Diamond Hill or Sha Tin, where there is a car park, a small shop and a visitor centre with a small exhibition. Buses and taxis also run from Pak Tam Cheung to Wong Shek pier, Hoi Ha and along High Island reservoir at weekends. A more interesting way to arrive is by the ferry from Ma Liu Shui near University KCR station, which stops at several points along the north coast.
