tim's experiment

I have wanted to visit Tai O for a long time. Many years ago, when the Standard was a real newspaper for which you had to pay, it had an investigative reporting team of which I was a member. Somewhere I still have the prize we were awarded for a story about Tai O. But we did not all actually go to Tai O, which was even less accessible then than it is now. One member went on a freebee, ostensibly to look at, and spend the night in, one of the stilt houses, of which more later. My main contribution was to tell her to keep her eyes peeled and ears to the ground, for it is axiomatic that in neglected outlying areas rarely visited by reporters there are stories waiting to be discovered. She duly returned with the expected feature on stilt houses and the makings of a cracking story on the local smuggling scene, with which we did very well.

So, at last, to Tai O. This is much easier than it was, because there is now an MTR line to Tung Chung. From here you can get a ferry, which is rather intermittent, or a water taxi. Or, cheaper, you can take the bus. This is quite a luxurious model by Hong Kong standards (Lantau has its own bus company) and is very frequent. It chugs over a pass through dramatic mountain scenery to the south side of the island. It visits a few seaside villages, and then chugs over another pass through even more dramatic mountain scenery to the north western corner of Lantau, which is where Tai O is. There is a bus station and a car park. From here on you are on foot.

The main tourist attraction is the stilt houses. As most of Tai O is either swamp or mudflat the inhabitants built out from the slim slice of terra firma on thin piles driven into the dirt. The effect looks a bit haphazard and fragile, but it seems they are safe enough. Some eager NGO has been renovating the stilt houses so most of them are now coloured the silver of, I presume, unpainted tin sheet. A few curmudgeons still have the traditional rust and some extroverts have painted their stilt houses in lively colours. Most of the houses look very much like those wood and tin sheet structures which used to carpet Hong Kong hillsides and were called squatter huts. Squatter huts were regarded as a plague and new ones were frequently demolished by a special unit of the Housing Authority. Whether the official hostility was due to the dangers of landslips and fires, the desire to free land for development, or sympathy for hut occupants is hard to say. Anyway most of the urban squatter huts have disappeared, though you can still find a few if you know where to look.

The inhabitants of Tai O managed to persuade the local sprig of the Hong Kong government to try a different approach. The huts have legal water and electricity. Emergency phones and public fire extinguishers dot the hut areas. Tai O people are said to be keen on keeping their traditional arrangements. A few of the huts still have an odd shape, like a small railway carriage or a large loaf. I presume these are modelled on the structures people used to have on live-aboard sampans.

Like most distant villages, Tai O has a large and prosperous primary school and a lot of old folks, but not much in between. It is a noticably hospitable spot. Ancient citizens will happily show you round their homes if you look interested. Other attractions: there are a lot of temples. The streets, which are too small for motor vehicles, make for pleasant walking. A variety of street food is offered and there are some pleasant eating spots on the river side of some stilt houses. I would like to note here the particular kindness of the staff in Solo: when I fell asleep on their sofa they did not throw me out, they put a blanket over me so I did not get cold.

It will be interesting to see how things go for Tai O. It obviously gets more visitors nowadays and is trying for s many as it can attract. There is a small museum. Sino Land is turning the old police station into a boutique hotel.  I understand they do not expect it to make money, which is perhaps just as well. There is a bed and breakfast in the main street with a promising bar but it closes when the owner is tired or busy with other things, so you need to book in advance. There are almost no “village houses” of the usual type, which perhaps goes to show that the demand depends on the ability to abuse the policy by selling to outsiders, which is hardly practical in Tai O because it is so far away. If you are trying to amuse someone in Hong Kong for a few days and you want something completely different, I recommend the trip. If you have time this is also the centre for dolphin watching.