Templo de Kun Iam: NAPE Travel Guide (4.5★)

Three halls, one goddess

Incense coils hang from the roof beams in spirals. Under them, the temple runs back from the street as three halls, one behind the other, joined by small courtyards. Each hall is a little dimmer than the one before. You walk in a straight line toward the goddess at the back.

Locals call it Kun Iam Tong, and its formal name is Pou Chai Temple. A temple stood here by the late Ming dynasty. Most of the buildings you see date from the 17th century. Along with A-Ma, it’s one of the oldest and most important Buddhist sites on the Macau peninsula, though fewer visitors make it this far north.

What to look for inside

The roofline is worth a look before you step in. Its ridges carry glazed ceramic figures and porcelain scenes, typical of southern Chinese temple building. Inside, everything is arranged around the altars:

• Front hall: the Three Precious Buddhas, representing past, present and future.
• Middle hall: the Buddha of Longevity.
• Rear hall: Kun Iam herself, dressed in embroidered robes like a Chinese bride, with offerings and fresh fruit set out in front of her.
• Side walls of the rear hall: the eighteen Luohan, the Buddha’s disciples. People have long said that one bulging-eyed figure stands for Marco Polo.

Look up as well as along. Lanterns, carved wood and the smoke from the coils turn the ceiling into its own layer of the room.

The garden and the treaty table

There’s a terraced garden behind the halls. Banyan trees grow out of rock and over walls, and their aerial roots hang above the paths. Two of the trees grew into each other. They’re known as the Lovers’ Tree, and couples once came to them to pray for lasting love.

The garden also holds a round granite table and stools. On this table in 1844, the Viceroy Qiying and the American envoy Caleb Cushing signed the Treaty of Wangxia, the first treaty between China and the United States. It’s a plain object for something so significant, and it’s easy to walk past it.

Timing your visit around the crowds

The doors open at 7am every day and shut at 4pm, so an afternoon visit runs out of time quickly. Weekdays are quietest from 7am to 9am. At weekends, the calm lasts only from 7am to 8am.

Don’t arrive between 10am and 3pm at weekends. That’s when the courtyards fill up and you’ll be squeezing past worshippers at every altar. Plan on 45 minutes to an hour, or longer if you want to sit in the garden.

Lunar festivals change everything. Kun Iam’s birthday and the 26th day of the first lunar month bring big crowds. The 26th is when people come to symbolically “borrow money” from the goddess for the year ahead. Check the lunar calendar before you go.

Moving through a working temple

This is a place of worship first, and you’ll see people praying at every hall. Some simple habits keep you out of their way:

• Step over the raised threshold at each doorway rather than on it.
• Never stand directly between a kneeling worshipper and the altar. Pass behind them.
• Ask before photographing people mid-prayer, and check for signs about photographing the statues.
• If you want to light incense, buy it at the temple’s own counter. Hold the sticks in both hands, bow three times and set them in the urn.
• Dress modestly. Covered shoulders are the safe choice.

A small donation box sits near the altars, and dropping in a few coins is the usual way to say thanks. Nobody asks for an entry fee at the door. The fortune sticks in the bamboo cylinder are for anyone to try: kneel, shake until one stick falls out, then take its number to be read.

Getting there and what’s nearby

The temple is on Avenida do Coronel Mesquita in the Mong Ha area, a short walk from the hotels and waterfront of NAPE. Several city buses stop at the “Kun Iam Temple” stop out front, and a taxi from the Senado Square area takes about ten minutes.

You can join it with a few neighbours for a half-day in northern Macau:

• Lin Fung Temple, the Lotus Temple, where Commissioner Lin Zexu met Portuguese officials in 1839.
• Mong Ha Hill, with its old fort and a shaded park above the streets.
• Lou Lim Ieoc Garden, a Suzhou-style garden with a zigzag bridge and lotus ponds.
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial House on Avenida Sidónio Pais.

Do the temple first while it’s quiet, then walk on to the others as the morning gets busier.