God of Fortune (財神廟) @ Sembawang (三巴旺), Singapore

Spare the argument, the God of Fortune (aka God of Prosperity, God of Wealth, Cai Shen and 财神) is the "homo-sapien" symbol for Chinese New Year!

Everywhere you go, you can see the pictures of Cai Shen, the statues of Cai Shen, humans dolling as Cai Shen, Cai Shen toys and even songs that ring irritably with the descent of Cai Shen (cai sheng dao, dong, dong dong dong!).

Without doubt, this "specialised" temple in Sembawang (28 Admiralty Street), housing the God of Fortune, attracts a lot of people during the Chinese New Year.

And with the big TOTO draw of S$10 million looming then, my mom had to pray for some hopefully good fortune to tide the year over (she needs her shopping and my paltry pay is not helping).

To my surprise, Cai Shen is not ONE god!

From the mini placards placed in front of each statue, the responsibility for the god of fortune is in fact shared by different gods, each handling a directional (north, east, south, west and central) or type of fortune!

Not being an overly religious guy, i roamed around the temple, which is decorated with so many glittering gold decorations but is relatively small in size since the compound is shared with other temples.

The Shan Cai Tong Zi (善才童子) is a disciple of Guan Yin Goddess. There's a ladle that you can drenched the statue with water. He can help you to manage and attract your monetary assets.

The Dragon King! I don't really see any direct link with the God of Forune except that water is believed to help in the "birth" of fortune and dragons are believed to control the water world.

These four statues used to be located somewhere else to welcome all visitors. With the closure of some pathways, they have been assembled near the main entrance.

Dozens of coiled shaped incenses for the god(s).

Though we didn't win the TOTO S$10 million (sadly), our main hope is to be granted good fortune every single day of the year; financially, physically and mentally.

And i hope the same for everyone of you!

HUAT AH!!!!!