Lung Cheung Rd. Wong Tai Sin MTR. Daily 7am-5.30pm. Small donation expected. Though lying just inside Kowloon, the lavishly decorated Wong Tai Sin Temple, built in 1921, is well worth a detour on your way into the New Territories. Wong Tai Sin (“Yellow Immortal”) was a Taoist monk during the Jin Dynasty (265-420AD) who achieved enlightenment after forty years of meditation and became known for his healing powers. The temple is Hong Kong’s major Taoist shrine, and some three million people visit annually to pay their respects, wish for long life and have their fortunes told. The temple’s forecourt walls are lined with scores of fortune-tellers, who read palms, bumps, feet and faces; some speak English and many display testimonials from satisfied customers - if you want to find out your chances at the races, this is the place to ask.

The main temple building with its statue of Wong Tai Sin is often closed, but kneeling crowds perpetually pack out the front courtyard, everyone burning incense and shaking pots full of numbered bamboo strips, known as “fortune sticks”. When one falls out it’s exchanged for a piece of paper bearing the same number, which has a prediction written on it. The busiest days at the temple are around Chinese New Year, when luck is particularly sought, and at Wong Tai Sin’s festival, on the twenty-third day of the eighth lunar month (usually in September).

Behind the main building is the Good Wish Garden (Tues-Sun 9am-4pm; $2), with Chinese pavilions, carp ponds and waterfalls.