Che Kung Temple (車公廟) is a fairly well-known place in Hong Kong, though it probably won't be in the general populace's everyday consciousness until Lunar New Year hits the city. Which makes it the perfect place to visit on any day of the week, though I personally find the temple to be worth visiting under a festive atmosphere and whilst jostling with the crowds (this not applicable to shopping mall trips.) The crowds visit during the second and third day of every Lunar New Year, depending on when one is done making the New Year rounds of visiting relatives.
The inside of the Che Kung Temple during the New Year. This is not the original structure, but an installment from the 1990s. This photo is from the third day of the Lunar New Year in 2011, this isn't even the peak visiting hour. Normally, from 11am onwards, the police have to cordon off the entrance to let visitors into the temple in batches.
A lot of the background information about Che Kung Temple can be found on the HK tourism website (and even on Wikipedia), so there isn't any point in repeating what is said elsewhere. But while these accounts note that the temple was built to commemorate the General Che Kung, there is also a lesser-mentioned narrative about the temple being built as thanks for Che Kung's help with fending off a plague that hit the Sha Tin Valley region centuries ago, thus providing a physical structure where this appreciation can continue to be displayed even today.
The cynic in me isn't sure whether current visitors are paying their respects to Che Kung, or just praying for better luck in the new year (one being an act of devotion, the other being a bit more orientated towards self-interest), but I suppose the line dividing these two practices is thin, and perhaps arbitrary. Devotion and self-interest are interrelated, especially in the context of spiritual beliefs in today's Hong Kong, which has never been fully articulated or defined (people I've talked to can't even say whether they feel it is superstition or religion, and they don't seem inclined to care for these terms.) Either way, short of wishing to bring harm to others, there really is no wrong reason an individual can have for visiting Che Kung Temple.
Stalls inside and outside Che Kung Temple telling pinwheels to visitors, so that they can 'spin for luck' inside their own homes. (Note; the blue bucket is an old fashioned way vendors used to stash their money. The bucket is attached to an elastic rope and pulled down when in use. Its public placement is deliberate, so that they and other vendors can help keep an eye on it too. You can still see this being done in the public markets.)
Politicians 'representing Hong Kong' visit during the New Year period to 'Kau Chim' (求簽), to literally 'ask for a sign' that indicates the upcoming fortune of Hong Kong. How these politicians think they have the right to represent the entire city is beyond me, though this is a topic to be saved for another day. Funnily enough, the 'sign' received this year has been described as pretty average (meaning; bad, but the media and politicians probably didn't want to paint it that way lest it dampens the city's morale); to which the Hong Kong population can attest to that being fairly accurate. It is only March, but whether it is the political or economic situation, the reaction from a lot of people would be a frustrated 'meh'/'bah!'
The inside of the temple is lined with giant pinmills. Regardless of the meaning these pinmills may have, anyone can appreciate the splashes of vibrant colour they offer for visitors.
Fortune-telling is a service offered at Che Kung Temple, but the main attractions during a New Year temple visit would be the 'wheel-spinning' (a metal fan with blunt edges where you can 'spin for better luck'), and the drum-beating (the loud noise will hopefully wake up Che Kung so that he could hear your wishes.) The queues for both activities are pretty long, but if you're going to make the journey there, you might as well try it out.
A quick note: for those with breathing problems, and those who do not enjoy the smell of incense and smoke, it might be wise to visit on a not-so-festive day. The amount of incense being burned during the New Year can be fairly intense, to the extent where Temple workers themselves wear medical and industrial face masks to protect themselves.
Incense burning is common on festive days, hence some temple workers brandish huge fans hoping to disperse the smoke and to help with air circulation. These are not scented incense, so do not expect floral scents to whiff around in the air.
And then there are the pinwheels. Some of these pinwheels could be better described as windmills, seeing how their sizes can range from keychain-sized to over a meter high. Pinmills styles have small variations every year; in 2011 they sold ones with little birds in the middle of a 'pinwheel cage', and in 2012 the 'pinwheel ball' was more predominant. Different pinwheels will have different wishes written onto their accompanying placards (ranging from academic performance, health status, love life, career progress, personal safety, and many others.) For those with shifty Chinese-reading skills (like yours truly), you can simply ask the vendor to find the one you want.
Pinwheels are not expensive, and bartering is an option (especially for multiple purchases.) My mother and I each bought a medium-sized pinmill this year, which brought the total cost to 45HKD. My mother bartered and asked the vendor to lower it to 42HKD, to which the vendor told us off for choosing an 'unlucky number' (the number '42' in Cantonese sounds like the word for 'death') and asked us to pay 38HKD instead.
So the last issue remains; how does one get to the Che Kung Temple? With this being Hong Kong, where old structures are never too far away from the comforts of 'urban modernity', the MTR has a Che Kung Temple Station on the Wu Kai Sha Line which should take you directly to the proximity of the temple. But here is a tip: is better to get off at Tai Wai Station and just walk there. It is less than 200 meters away from the stop, the route is well sign-posted, and it saves you the extra train fare. Plus, if you want to grab a bite before heading to the temple, Tai Wai does offer a lot of food joints.
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