Tai O 大澳

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Friends and I visited Tai O on 4 March.  It's about 3 weeks ago.  That day, we were blessed with sunshine. Since then we haven't seen any sunshine but grey and sometimes rain.



We could enjoy the tranquillity once we've got off the bus. On the left is the pier. Fishing boats parked along the coast.  Just follow the crowd to squeeze into the main town.  Shops on the both sides are selling dried seafood.




We started a bit wandering in the main town.  Both sides are mainly dry seafood shops. We left shopping as the last activity and proceeded to the market to purchase fish as part of our lunch.




Our restaurant 海韻素食菜館 is located in a village within Tai O. We went there via a more scenic route: passing through the pier, crossing a long bridge with nice sea views.  Finally we arrived at Nam Chung Tsuen.


 
 
 

We had sumptuous food,  Great dishes kept on flowing onto our table.  The most impressive is the duck stuffed with different ingredients and cooked for long hours to make it tender and soft.  Other signature dishes include tofu (soft and intensive soy flavour) and deep fried taro. Even friends who are extremely cautious on food did not stop eating deep fried stuff and put their thumbs up.



Our first program after lunch is to visit Tai O Rural committee Historical and Cultural Showroom.  It displays stuff used in the daily life in the old days.  It includes all sorts of containers, lamps, wedding clothing and sedan chair.  Click here for more photos. 

The next hours were very leisure, without strict program. We just walked along the main path, passing through stores selling all kinds of stuff, food, market, temples, houses with poor living condition, the sea with nice blue and reflections. Food stores and restaurants do not look very appealing but with long queues.  I enjoyed the mood, the hint on hard working, lonesome people, old heritage and memory of the old days.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Our last destination was to visit the Heritage Hotel. It was redeveloped from the old police station to become a 9 room boutique hotel.  The architecture is very colonial and delightful. It  will be nice to enjoy a leisure lunch or afternoon tea.  



Next to the reception is a small detention room.  At the back of the building, a corner shows the trace of 9 bullet holes left by a fierce shooting dated back to 1918.


We had a very nice day in Tai O. The day was short in the late winter.  I will come back one day.



Transportation

Since most of us live in Shatin, we started the trip with an airport bus (E42) passing through Shatin, Tai Wai, Tsing Yi and then we got off at Tung Chung to change a bus (Route 11) to Tai O. We needed to wait one or two buses due to the queue on Saturday.  The bus journey took about an hour.  If you are from Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, you can choose to take a ferry.  The journey time is also about an hour.  But it is much less frequent than the bus.
Location: Tai O, Hong Kong

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