Temple Tourist traps - no photo’s allowed!

Tin Hau Temple - Yamatei, Kowloon

Man Mo Temple - Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

Just maybe I have an old fashioned view of what tourist attractions are meant to me, in an overly simplistic way, I believe a good tourist attraction is a site that is open to the Public, you have ample time to walk round, study, talk, soak in the atmosphere etc and then take a photograph as a permanent reminder of your holiday.

Perhaps I am in the minority but I do take issue with tourist attractions which are sanctioned by the HK Tourism Board, are heavily promoted, they are world famous and when you get there, no photographs or videos are allowed, it seems a pretty stupid rule to enforce considering that the vast majority of Temples around Hong Kong have no problems at all with being photographed.

The two temples listed above are world famous, I imagine that probably every tourist arriving in Hong Kong knows about them and is on the to - do list, western tourists to visit for cultural purposes and Chinese tourists to pray and visit for cultural purposes and once inside, it is really hard not to reach for the camera.

I understand (as much as anyone can understand) that these are religious sites and I always observe proper protocol and imagine the vast majority of visitors would show proper respect, but it seems very odd that these particular temples are heavily promoted as a tourist attractions, so consequently they attract many visitors as both are in central and easily accessible locations and obviously visitors like to take photo’s.. go figure.

You can get photo’s of the outside of the Temple and if you are quick photo’s through the doorways but that’s it I have visited both sites recently and they do appear to enforce the NO picture or video policy.

Both of these Temples have parks and adjoining rest areas very close by and they are just as interesting and they do not have restrictions on photography, I particularly like the Hollywood Road Park near to the Man Mo Temple.

In my opinion, if the owners or administrators of the Temples want privacy, then close them off completely and do not have them promoted as a Tourist site, it is even sillier when they put up signs asking for silence and respect which is not what you are going to get from busloads of Tourists arriving every 15 minutes!!

So to me, these two temples are to be avoided, there are other much more interesting temples and the like which have no issue with photographs.