Hike to the Temple

During my first two years in Shenzhen Jia took me to Phoenix Temple (Fenghuang 凤凰), which was the nearest Buddhist temple to our community in Bao'an. Shenzhen has very few temples compared to other cities in China, but that's mostly because it's a very young city. Phoenix Temple is a young temple--the buildings are only a few years old--but the location supposedly has a longer history for Buddhists.

Getting to the temple was not easy. We took one of the older bus routes through the more isolated sections of Bao'an district. There were still farms in this area--mostly lychees and bananas. There were even bee keepers along the road selling honey. The boxes the bees were kept in were propped up by beer bottles.

It was a long walk up the winding road--it felt much longer than it really was because we always went when the weather was hot and humid. We were one of the few groups that didn't drive up. Fortunately, this gave us a chance to see the sights along the way, like my favorite sign in all of China. I still don't know why they would sell stupid chickens and ducks or why anyone would want to buy them.

Phoenix Temple was one of the least interesting temples I visited. But, it did provide some great views of Shenzhen on a clear day (if you're lucky enough to find one of those rare days).