Even though located on the far western side of Hong Kong's largest island, it's not THAT difficult to get to Tai O Fishing Village; fastest way via public transportation is to hop onto bus number 21 from the terminal next to Ngong Ping Village!
Bus journey was said to be about 15 minutes and i thought it's actually slightly faster as the bus didn't pulled over at any of the 10 bus stop in between Ngong Ping Village and Tai O Fishing Village.
Arrival at the final stop - note, not much shelter at the terminal and for aunties like my mom, an umbrella would be a necessary companion under the scorching hot sun!
Do note the timetable as frequency can be as long as an hour and like typical Singaporeans; i don't think we can bear the wait till the last bus in case there were too many people with a heightened risk we might not be able to squeeze in.
The hills of Lantau Island.
Helpful signs pointing us to the right direction; as in towards the main hive of activity within the village which i assume to be the market street and wing on street.
Traditional bamboo for the scaffolding common in Hong Kong! I heard it's heavily regulated in Hong Kong and to be a worker handling this kind of scaffolding; you are required to be certificated!
Gaudy artwork with teeth ready to scare the young kids!
There's a 20-minute boat ride you can take at HKD $30 to check out the waterway of the "Venice of Hong Kong". We were feeling the heat which was similar to Singapore and decided to spare ourselves the torture of being stuck on a wobbly boat; despite the chance of catching sights of the pink dolphins in the surrounding waters.
Official start of our Tai O journey; from Wing On Street!
A literal paradise for my mom who would have conjured the many dishes that would require the dried seafood products sold along the street; dried cuttlefish, salted fish, dried fish maw, dried oysters, dried shrimps etc etc!
I am simpler; was more attracted by the gigantic braised squid at one of the stalls you wouldn't miss out as it's along the way and very near the start of Wing On Street. There's the intention to have a serving later but i had too much sotong for lunch at Fook Moon Lam Restaurant (福滿林酒家).
By right, i should have walked straight but i opted to turn left instead as that path would bring me the iconic bridge of Tai O Fishing Village.
The official welcome sign to Tai O Fishing Village.
Suspension bridge, with its fluttering flags, provides convenience for both sides of the fishing village. Before Year 1996, the bridge was in fact made from rope and had been in use for 86 years before its replacement!
Much sturdier now and as the name suggests; the bridge can be suspended in event that taller boats need to traverse the waterway.
A fantastic spot to take nice photographs of the fishing village, with the hills at the back and the houses on stilts. Coming from Singapore, the latter wasn't much of a surprise since it feels a bit like Kukup in Malaysia.
Famous Triple Lanterns Cafe; sadly, i didn't manage to pay it a visit.
Fresh seafood from the water and i am kicking myself in my butt; i should have utilised my lousy Cantonese and asked if there's any store that would cook for us if i buy the mantis shrimps, flower crabs and flatfish!
Market Street where you can find Fook Moon Lam Restaurant (福滿林酒家) right at the end. Given the proximity with Wing On Street, items sold were rather similar even though i noticed a strange phenomenon; there seemed to be a lot of prawn paste for sale!
Dried starfish with the recipe to make it into a soup! Well, it would be helpful to indicate the nutritional and health benefits to drinking starfish soup.
I noticed a lot of dried pufferfish that were sold as keychains and ornaments! I am into buying things like that; prefer to take in the sights and photo-taking. Furthermore, if i buy them back, chances are they would collect dust. And Cavin hates dust.
The cat was in such deep sleep!
The legit market in the market street. Guess we had arrived too late and most of the stalls have already closed. It might honestly be nice to stay over for a night (to catch the morning buzz, sunrise, sunset etc, but there are only two hotels in the vicinity and not near the entrance.
One of my main objectives in visiting Tai O was to have the said-to-be-epic egg waffle roasted over the charcoal stove but it's already closed when i finally found the store. :(
Lunch at Fook Moon Lam Restaurant (福滿林酒家) where i over-indulged in many prawn paste dishes! Apparently, prawn paste is the local specialty but it's a pity that Alex didn't take too kindly to it; resulting in me having to eat most of the food!
Market Street directly in front of the restaurant.
To the left would be Kat Hing Back Street; time to walk a bit to digest the food of my over-stuffed tummy! The street did appear to be a tad too quiet compared to the main streets.
Toys and accessories shop with a giraffe bench outside.
Kuan Ti Temple - with Guan Yu as the patron saint, "the temple was constructed between 1488 and 1505" during the Ming Dynasty! That's hell of a history!
I walked in hoping to explore more but was chased out by the caretaker for taking photographs, i think. Frankly, i wasn't angry and could only blame myself for not asking for permission in the first place.
Whale bones in the temple.
A short description of the temple can be found outside. There were a few other temples in Tai O but knowing Alex; he easily gets bored when it comes to temple visitations and the hot weather wasn't helping.
Strolling around the area and i can feel the boredom expressed on Alex's face! His idea of vacation is more relaxing by the beach instead of shopping. My mom would have been the perfect companion!
Prawn paste in mini tubs and in brick form. It's fascinating that in Singapore, we are more accustomed to prawn paste fried chicken than any other prawn-paste based dishes. For me, i didn't even realize the versatility of the prawn paste until i tried some of the dishes at Fook Moon Lam Restaurant.
I have no bloody idea what fish this dried thing originally was.
Back to the suspension bridge again; there's another bridge further north but i doubt Alex would be keen to check it out. He was in fact looking forward to shopping at the air-conditioned Citygate Outlets which i had included as part of the itinerary for the day.
Panorama of the village, taken in the middle of the bridge.
More of the stores along Wing On Street; maybe because it's longer, there appeared to be a better variety of products and services as we walked deeper in.
Niche shops like the above which stood out from the traditional stores hawking dried seafood. On one hand, one might argue it's a dilution of the originality for the place although on the other hand, you need some diversity to drive the crowd. The issue is the balance.
At one glance, i really have no idea what the concept of the store is; it appeared to have souvenirs, antiques and a chiller selling drinks. It's so sparse; i think the owner doesn't desire earning much money.
Checking out the historical artefacts at the tiny Tai O Rural Committee Historic and Cultural Showroom! Click here for more pictures.
Back at the terminal.
With another five minutes to go before the bus were to depart at 3.00 pm. It's more a coach than the bus and turned out we were not the only kiasu ones; it was already half filled when we boarded.
The directory was a bit confusing as it differentiated the timings for Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with differing fares too; red font ones were for Sundays and public holidays whereas the black font ones were for Mondays to Fridays; as we visited on a Friday, the fare we paid was HKD $6.60 a person.
Interior of the coach; you can stand if there's no seat although the lack of hanging straps and grab handles made it a real challenge up and down the hilly road.
Last picture - of the hills as we travelled back to Ngong Ping Village.
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Location Map
As above.
For the summary of my seven days' itinerary to Hong Kong (with a day trip to Shenzhen), please click here.
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