Trip to Po Toi: In Po Toi

After we arrived in Po Toi we unpacked our cameras and headed to the temple to take the first pictures. I could not help myself, but to snap a picture of Monica and Patrick armed with their cameras and already eagerly taking the first pictures of the temple in Po Toi.

The temple overlooks the Tai Wan bay and is richly decorated. It’s a Tin Hau temple, so dedicated to the deity of the seas and it’s there to protect the fisher men, boat people and the sailors out on the sea.

As is typical with Chinese temples, there are lots of ornaments and the prevailing colours are red and gold, to signify good luck. There are lots of good luck symbols on the inside and outside of the temple, and you can also see a number of dragons, that are said to protect the temple.

In front of the temple is a little incense burner and it was full of burnt incense, so people still come to this temple and offer their prayers to the Tin Hau god.

We walked back from the temple, through the one street that takes you along all the small village houses and we came past one that was heavily decorated. Lots of gods, buddhas, good luck signs and of course, the ever-present lucky cat. It was not waving this time, but it was only smiling, so I took a picture and smiled back at it.

There was also a real cat in the neighbourhood, a little ginger friend. Again, well-kept but shy. The people on the island must leave some food out for the cat, but apart from that it seems to be a wild cat, not trusting humans and trying to stay as far away as possible.

Po Toi’s heritage stems from fishing (the island is too rocky and steep to lend itself to agriculture) and even today you can still see fishermen preparing their cages and nets so they can go out and hunt for their catch of the day.