Hongkong Bus Tours on the Cheap � #271 from Tsim Sha Tsui to Tai Po (and back again) History

Hongkong Bus Tours on the Cheap � #271 from Tsim Sha Tsui to Tai Po (and back again) History

Arek Madiun   5:00 AM   Comment  

Despite the fact that Hong Kong's MTR system is usually lauded by anyone and everyone, my number one preferred way of navigating this place is by bus. Sure, it's not necessarily as convenient or speedy (or even as cheap for that matter) but it's certainly a great way to familiarise yourself with the general layout of things and take in some sights that you may not necessarily get to see stuck underground. So, following on from a post I did a while back for the 64K bus route from Tai Po to Yuen Long, here is one that may be more useful to anyone staying in Kowloon but wishing to head into the New Territories for a few hours. It's the #271 bus from Nathan Road to Fu Heng Estate in Tai Po.

As you can see it's a fairly lengthy route that covers a reasonable amount of the territory including Kowloon, Shatin and finally Tai Po. In total the journey time is around 45 mins to an hour but this will depend on traffic and when travelling in a north to south direction (i.e. back into Kowloon) the bus often gets snagged up in the Nathan Road traffic chaos.

Officially speaking the start stop for this route is actually on the south bound side of Canton Road - around where the old Marine Police HQ (now known as 1881 Heritage - although I feel it should be called "Heritage" with double quotes) mall area starts. However, I usually catch this from the very first stop on the northbound side of Nathan Road next to The Peninsula Hotel (see below).

The wait for the bus is usually <10mins. I haven't checked the price recently but it was less than $10 when I first wrote this post...erm...4 years ago! Kids pay half afre, as usual, and under 4's get to ride for free. Here�s a few of the sites you will get to see as you whiz past at the usual HK bus speed (I believe William Shatner used to call it Warp Factor 10) such as the 100 year old banyan�s for starters (minus some that have been chopped down due to instability). Other than the trees there is the odd notable sight of the HQ for the Antiquities and Monuments office - a red brick building that was once the Kowloon British School - and St Andrew's Church. The latter is currently having its antique front wall being replaced by an ill-advised glass see through panel.

Just past the trees we come to the junction with Austin Road. The bus carries on up Nathan Road passing (on the left) the famous Shamrock Hotel - one of Kowloon's original high rise hotels built in 1952. Almost immediately opposite the hotel is the Prudential Hotel/Mall which occupies the site of what was once the childhood home of Bruce Lee. If you want to know more about that you can read this post, but we will carry on heading north along Nathan Road.

Shamrock Hotel left, Prudential Mall/Hotel right

Nathan Road looks fairly similar except when we get to the junction with the Gascoigne Road flyover. See the next snap. In case you are wondering the small sigh with the black circle is an 'accident black spot' sign. Nathan Road, it appears, is the most accident prone in the territory and has 12 other similar designated �black spots�. Apparently the Govt will give a place a "Black Spot" designation - complete with its own signpost - if there are six or more pedestrian accidents in a year, nine or more injury-causing accidents in a year or two or more fatal accidents in five years.

Not that the sign will achieve anything other than distract drivers wondering what it might mean therefore causing more accidents...

WATCH OUT!! Black Spot

At the junction with Waterloo Road the bus turns right on to said road and up towards the outskirts of Ho Man Tin. The action slows down a bit on Waterloo Road, but you can still see the very strangely shaped (and strangely named) Truth Lutheran Church as well as the famous Kowloon Wah Yan College and Kwong Wah Hospital. If you've read Martin Booth�s memoir Gwei Lo (US name: Goldenboy) should recognise the name of this road because it�s where the Four Seas Hotel used to stand. The building standing on that site now is the Kowloon Metropark Hotel. This happens to be the origin of the SARS virus in HK - brought there by a Mainland Chinese doctor and then spread around the globe from here in 2003. Not surprisingly the hotel group changed its name from Metropole to Metropark soon afterwards in an attempt to deflect some of the bad publicity.

Waterloo Road

Kowloon Metropark Hotel

At the end of Waterloo Road is the art deco Kowloon offices of C.L.P (China Light and Power). C.L.P is owned by the same family who own The Peninsula Hotel (amongst others), The Kadoories, am Iraqi Jewish family with links to HK and Shanghai stretching back many years. When I first posted this article several years ago I made a throwaway comment about a massive uproar ensuing if the building should ever be knocked down. It seems that it was a prophetic remark because demolition work started on the newer west wing of the building a couple of years ago. Thankfully the wing with the clock tower, as seen below, is set to stay.

C.L.P is actually the monopoly electricity supplier for Kowloon and the NT (Li Ka Shing owns the monopoly that supplies HK Island � HK Electric). The Kadoorie name can also be found on Kadoorie Avenue � the road where Leslie Cheung used to live (and where Andy Lau still does) and where one of HK�s more famous boys schools is situated: Diocesan Boy�s School as well as the famous experimental farm located in Lam Tsuen, Tai Po.

Notice the big red and yellow cube in the centre left of the upper picture? That's the emblem for the district we are about to enter - Kowloon City District. We've just been in and now left Yau Tsim Mong District (which as the name suggests, includes Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok).

Look to the left and right to see some older low rise mansion blocks dotted along the road. They are a good example of the type of houses that were here until building technology improved and taller buildings became the norm. It's a big shame because I much prefer these older buildings. They have so much more character.

One small part of Kowloon City district is the small area we are about to enter - Kowloon Tong. The area is well known for a variety of reasons but largely courtesy of the Kowloon Tong Garden Estate that was founded in the 1920's. Strictly speaking we are in fact now in the New Territories - a shocking revelation to many, I suspect, but the fact is that the New Territories lease signed in 1898 and enforced the following year included all the land between Boundary Street (which we are about to cross) up to the current border line with Mainland China. It's true...before 1899 the area immediately north of Boundary Street was still part of Mainland China!

Before we cross into the New Territories on the other side of Boundary Street though, pay attention to the rather elegant building on the left side of the road. This is St Theresa's Church, a local Catholic church that appears to have been partially funded with donations from a certain Benito Mussolini (apparently, there is a commemorative stone or plaque inside that bears his name).

On the opposite side of the road to the church is a (locally) famous school, the Maryknoll Convent School. Until recently the school grounds had a famous and rather old Norfolk Island pine tree. The bosses at the school seemed to be desperate to get rid of it, for whatever reason, but were restricted by a Government Preservation order (the school is a gazetted monument and any alterations to the grounds or building would require permission). So what happened? They (the school board) sneakily had the roots severed during some �drain maintenance�. The tree became unstable, was deemed a danger and was promptly cut down to the outrage of local residents and school alumni. What a bunch of sneaky bastards is all I can say...

Anyway, despite the sneaky people who run the school, you can see it�s a great looking building and dates back to around the same time as the founding of the aforementioned Garden Estate.

Speaking of the estate, as we approach it on the left in the bus, it's had its fair share of famous residents over the years including Bruce Lee, Lydia Shum, Chow Yun Fat, Stephen Chiao. Until a few years ago, Jackie Chan also had his main office at number 145 Waterloo Road. However, something happened that coincided with him sacking a bunch of peeps and going off about various political views that many HK'ers took him to task for and he upped and moved everything to a new HQ in Beijing. The plot that used to house his office has been completely levelled and nothing is left as you can see by the brief, blurry glimpse below.

Empty plot of 145 Waterloo Road

This was the famous location of one of JC's mad Japanese fans killing herself by ingesting poison after breaking into the property and for a time I figured he had it knocked down to stop people from trophy hunting etc. However, it turns out that the building was structurally unsafe - it was built to Jackie's very own design...!  - and had to come down before it toppled like a house of cards. I did get some pictures before it went but I'll save those for another post.

Moving over to the opposite side of the road is what is now known as Kowloon East Barracks. Pre-1997 this place was known as Osborn Barracks, one of the larger accommodation centres for the British garrison's married members. The barracks were named after the Canadian soldier, John Robert Osborn, who saved his fellow soldiers from a Japanese grenade by throwing himself on top of it during the Battle for HK in December 1941. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. There is a statue dedicated to him in Hong Kong Park that many tourists mistakenly believe is an image of him, but in fact it actually depicts a WW1 soldier and was donated by the famous Eu family from their estate at Eucliffe (a long gone castle-like property in Repulse Bay). Before the statue was moved to the park, it was sited at these barracks.

The barracks are now the property of the PLA but to be honest there never seems to be much going on there, it's almost as though it's empty. Even in my 3 years in Kowloon I have only ever seen two perimeter patrols by PLA soldiers. Other than that it's as quiet as a mouse. This place is prime real estate and there have been talks about getting the land back from the military for real estate development, but the way this HK Govt is so scared of doing anything that shows initiative in the face of their Communist overlords, I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

Anyway, moving on we head up past the Baptist Hospital and University before heading into Lion Rock Second Tunnel. From this angle Lion Rock doesn�t really look much like a lion anymore, you have to be much further east for that visual effect, but it�s still an impressive sight to behold. During the Occupy Central protests last year (2014), various yellow-coloured banners proclaiming "I want Universal Suffrage" were installed on the rock, much to the annoyance of the authorities. Sadly, I was never quick enough to grab a snap of any of the banners, but you can see one here.

Lion Rock

Further along the road it starts to slope up and this is where we are on the lower slopes of the Kowloon mountains with Lion Rock ahead and beacon Hill to the left. Nearby is Beacon Hill Road and the scene of Bruce Lee's death in Betty Ting Pei's apartment in 1973 and on the right we pass the apartment blocks that sit on Broadcast Drive. Once the home of various broadcasters including TVB, ATV (RTV/Rediffusion) and RTHK, only RTHK has managed to stick around and the sites of the other two companies have since been redeveloped into luxury housing. The snap below shows Peninsula Heights that stands on the former TVB studio lot at #63 Broadcast Drive.

It's not long before we are heading into Lion Rock Tunnel itself. The northbound tunnel we are entering is the original tunnel opened in 1967. At the time it was a dual direction tunnel with two lanes - one northbound and the other southbound. However, the inevitable rise of the machines meant that a second tunnel was dug out and opened in the late 70's the cater for the increase in traffic so now the original tunnel is northbound only and the new tunnel handles the traffic coming south into Kowloon.

Lion Rock Tunnel 1

Once on the other side of the tunnel we are in what most people now consider to be the real New Territories - even though, as mentioned, we've strictly been in them since crossing Boundary St.

After passing the toll booths you can look up to your right and see the famous Amah rock (Mong Fu Sek in Cantonese which means �staring after husband rock�). The legend is part of local folklore and is quoted in all the tour books � even my kids learned about it in kindergarten. It's well worth a trip up there if you get the chance (and reasonably easy to get to) but even from the bus you get a good glimpse. Sadly, I was a bit slow on the shutter and missed the opportunity for a better shot, this one will have to do.

Past here its a slow descent into Shatin valley, not much to see until we cross the �river� (the body of water formerly known as Shatin Sea) and you can see a building I mentioned previously in my Shatin -> Tai Po walk post. Yes, it�s the 'pretending-to-but-not-really-floating' floating restaurant.

We�re now on the home straight (for 6 years it literally was for me because I lived in Tai Po) and we join the Tolo Highway as it motors past the Shatin racecourse (I won HK$1800 there once � sheer fluke though I have to add) and further on down past the Chinese University of HK which sits on the hillside on the western side of the valley. (incidentally the remaining shots are all from Streetview because my trusty camera ran out of power *sigh*).

Racecourse on the right

University (CUHK) on the left

You can just see some of the University buildings peeking out from the hilltop above. Can you see the rather large-bore pipe that is running along the side of the highway? I believe this is the pipe that carries water taken from Plover Cove reservoir down towards Kowloon (I did see a schematic once but can�t remember where the water ends up before it gets put into the mains system?).

You�ll also notice a rather swish looking development just past it called Deerhill Bay. It sits on the former site of St Christopher�s Home � an orphanage run by the Anglican Church. The site was sold to Li Ka Shing (surprise surprise) with certain conditions in place so that he could build the Deerhill complex. The church got a massive payoff and several of the units as part of the deal and got into a spot of bother with the Inland Revenue as a result.

Deerhill Bay up on the hill

Incidentally, there is a relic from the KCRC�s past just below the Deerhill development. The old track route used to take the train along the bottom of the slope that the development sits on. I�ve marked it on the shot below but there is a distinct pathway in the land where the track used to sit before it started taking the more direct route alongside where the highway now runs.

Old route of the KCR track

Anyway, soon the bus moves into the left hand slip lane and takes the exit for Tai Po Market. Tai Po Market is the older part of town and Kwong Fuk Road is its main thoroughfare. Prior to the development of Tai Po into a 'New Town', the section of this road between Yuen Chau Tsai and Tai Po Market proper was a floating (and stilted) village of Hoklo boat people. It was the presence of these boat people that led to the establishment of the Tai Wong Yeh temple on Yuen Chau Tsai (see below). If you want to see some excellent pictures documenting the floating village then the Nick Dewolf archive on FLICKR is worthy of a look.

Tai Wong Yeh Temple in Tai Po Market

Of course the causeway is no more and the land has been filled in and a large proportion of the families were rehoused in Kwong Fuk Estate � the nearby Govt housing estate. Kwong Fuk Estate is actually the next stop on the route since leaving Kowloon � one of the reasons this bus gets to Tai Po quite quickly is the lack of stops between Lion Rock Tunnel and here. You could get off here if you wanted to (and you can catch the same bus back into Nathan Road from the stops on the opposite side of the road � you see, easy) or you can stay on for another stop and get off in the middle of Kwong Fuk Road.

If you do the latter you will find yourself going down the oldest and most important road in Tai Po. The trees on the left conceal the Old District Office (North) as well as the old Tai Po Police Station (currently being turned into a holiday camp I think?) and on the right, hidden away, is the old Police Bungalow � now the Norwegian International School.

Kwong Fuk Road

A bit further along you�ll see this quirky house, built in 1955. It�s called Man Sze Cheung Yuen and is a local enigma, nobody seems to know who owns it or what it�s used for. For a long time while I was living in Tai Po, this mansion had a large garden with what looked like an orchard in the back. However, recently, the trees have all been cut down and the garden space completely cleared and it looks like there might be some work going on to develop on the site. Eeek! I hope not because I really like this house and it's quite unique in Tai Po as far as I know.

The area it's built on, Tung Cheong Street, used to be a harbour front fish market where all the local fisherman would bring their daily catch to sell to the local population. This is one of the reasons why a large fishing community managed to spring up just down the road. I don�t know when the market disappeared but it was probably around the time of the reclamation works in the 70�s.

Man Sze Cheung Yuen

Anyway, once you see the house above it�s about time you made your way downstairs to get off at the next stop. You are now in the bustling centre of Tai Po Market and have a multitude of things to do and see (I'll do a Tai Po sights post later on) and when you get tired you can either head back to the MTR station and catch the train back to TST (via Hung Hom) or you can do it all in reverse by crossing the road and catching the #271 all the way back down to Middle Road � behind the Sheraton Hotel on Salisbury Road.

Hongkong Bus Tours on the Cheap: #64K from Tai Po Market to Yuen Long History

Hongkong Bus Tours on the Cheap: #64K from Tai Po Market to Yuen Long History

Arek Madiun   8:06 PM   Comment  

One of the best ways to explore Hong Kong (or any place for that matter) is by using the bus. Sure the MTR system is often quicker and cheaper but nothing really beats a bus tour and what better way to do one than on a reasonably lengthy scheduled route that costs less than a bottle of Coke Zero at the 7-11.

It is actually quite feasible to cover a large area of the territory on just a few carefully selected routes, and here is one of them - the 64K bus from Tai Po Market Station to Yuen Long. A route that takes in both the new and old of Tai Po, the lush scenery of the Lam Tsuen valley as well as the rather shambolic (but sometimes picturesque) tumbledown nature of Kam Tin's various container parks :-/

This route in particular has some well-trodden tourist spots on the way including the famous (but now rather naff) Fong Ma Po Wishing Tree, Ng Tung Chai waterfalls and Kadoorie Botanical Farm. It also has a few stops along the way where you can make a further detour if you don't fancy going all the way into Yuen Long. I've pointed them out as and when so just keep reading.The great thing about this ride is also that you can hop off at either end, go for a wander, and then return and catch the bus all the way back to your starting place. Even the most timid of visitors should have no problem wandering outside their comfort zones with such an easy trip, the only bit of thought needed is deciding which end of the route you wish to catch the bus from: Tai Po or Yuen Long. Either way is fine, the route I've described is the same, it's just that I did it from TP - YL direction.

The above Google Earth grab shows the approximate route the bus takes. The distance is actually less than 9 miles as the crow flies, but this being Hong Kong with its usually hilly and mountainous terrain means the bus mileage is around double that. The trip can be quick ( one way 45 mins) if the traffic is kind, or can stretch to 90 mins if the traffic gets busy. Either way, getting to and from your start/end points will add another hour onto the journey so this is something that can be done in a morning or afternoon.

So where to begin? If you arrived at Tai Po Market station via the MTR East Rail, you need to exit the turnstiles and look for the pedestrian subway/underpass that takes you to the bus terminus � it�s located right next to the Uptown Plaza escalators, so is easy to find.

Tai Po Market Station subway access to Bus terminus

At the bottom of the slope take the right hand branch and follow it around. On the way you�ll pass an exit on your left and another on your right, don�t take either of these but keep walking until you hit the second exit on the right hand side. Look closely at the picture below and you will be able to see the second exit in the distance just before the tiles turn red.

Here�s the exit you want, the sign on the right points you to the 64K (see below).

Just walk up the steps on the right hand side if this exit and you will see the 64K stop about 20 metres in front. You may have to wait a few minutes but the bus is reasonably regular so it probably won't be more than 10-15 minutes even if you have only just missed one.

Once on board sit back and enjoy the initial part of the journey through both the old and new parts of Tai Po. It�s possible to hop on the 64K later in its journey by catching it outside Tai Wo Station, but by then it could be quite full and you won�t get the pick of the seats (as I did when I was their age, my kids enjoy sitting at the front top of the bus, but these days the bars in front of the window tend to make my eyes go funny). Anyhow � all aboard, off we go and try not to be sick as the driver will invariably attempt full throttle whilst negotiating the tight bends and corners inside the bus station. Once daylight hits your face you know the initial puke-inducing whirlwind tour of the terminus is over and your epic HK bus journey has commenced.

Out of the bus station�

�and off we go. Wan Tau Tong straight ahead, but we turn right

After turning right at the first junction (above) we quickly pass Pan Chung New Village on the left which seems to be a bit of spillover from the original village of Pan Chung � Tai Po�s very own not-so-walled "walled" village. Further on and we zoom towards Wan Tau Street, the KCR railway bridge and the Tai Po Complex. Now, if you feel as though you are about to be decapitated Bond-style as the bus goes under the bridge, you could be forgiven.

Pan Chung New Village on the left, Tai Po Complex ahead

The rail track has passed over this point ever since it was first built at the turn of the last century. When Wan Tau Street (the road we are currently on) was constructed a bridge/tunnel was built so traffic could pass underneath.

DUCK!!

The problem was that with the introduction of large double-deck buses, the bridge was too low for them to get under. Unfortunately the bridge couldn't raised and the engineers instead had to dig under the bridge and lower the road instead - giving it a rather pronounced dip. A pragmatic solution to a tricky problem, only that the drainage here under the bridge is terrible and during heavy rainstorms the dip tends to look more like a swimming pool. My wife remembers an incident from her childhood when she actually saw a car floating under the bridge because it had tried to pass under the bridge when it was flooded. I haven't seen it get quite that bad yet, but it certainly gets deep.

Just past here is the bright and shiny new (at least compared to the rest of this part of town) Tai Po Market Complex. Here�s a partial snap I took a few years ago � the bus route travels towards the camera on the road at the bottom.

This building, sitting on the site of an old concrete playground, sticks out amongst the 70�s-era tenements surrounding it (from one of which I took the lower picture), but this modern sleek ship-like building has a whole bunch of great things inside including two levels of market stalls, a cooked food centre, a couple of levels of local Govt admin offices, a fantastic and modern library (beaten only, I feel, by Causeway Bay�s Central library) and two floors of sporting facilities.

Great Day Restaurant ahead � must be Heung Sze Wui St

Onward and left down Heung Sze Wui Street � a one way road named for the Tai Po Rural Committee HQ that was, until recently, found at the very end (Heung Sze means �rural matters�) on Po Heung Street. It�s been there for years and even showed up on some dodgy old Alan Tam music video back in the 80�s. However, just recently the HQ has upped-sticks and moved around the corner to an old school building on Shun Tak St.

Tai Po Rural Affairs Committee � now you see it�

�now you don�t!

The lower picture is actually the most recent and is a great example of how quickly things disappear and are replaced in Hong Kong. A huge complex of residential flats are being constructed as we speak and no doubt be following in the firmly established HK tradition of having a ridiculously stupid name such as Billionaire Heights, Bel-Air Apartments or perhaps just Royal Cheesy Bell-End Gardens.

Tree-lined Po Heung Street

Moving on down Po Heung Street � as you can see a kind of leafy tree-lined affair � and we go past some of the market area�s older streets on the left hand side. If you have read my brief introduction to Tai Po Market�s development, then you will know that these street were laid down as long ago as the 1920�s. They still largely contain very local shops run by local people which is why I like wandering around here - no signs of a takeover by homogeneous generic chain store jewellery shops yet. Anyway, moving swiftly on and we hit the junction with what was Tai Po Road but now goes by the name of Kwong Fuk Road.

Kwong Fuk Road was originally the final stage of the old Tai Po Road � the NT�s very first major artery which terminated at Kwong Fuk Bridge. Later in life the road extended over the bridge and onward into Fanling but when the Tai Po New Town development commenced the bridge was pedestrianised and the traffic re-routed over the newer Po Heung Bridge. It's the latter that we will cross in just a minute or two, but before then take note of the white and red buildings on the opposite side of the road.

The red/white buildings are part of the Plover Cove resettlement estate. This was constructed in the mid-60's the house the villagers (of the so-called Luk Heung or "6 Rural Villages") displaced by the creation of the Plover Cove reservoir to the north of Tai Po. Just opposite them on our left, as you start to cross the bridge, is the small school that was built as part of the village resettlement deal - the Luk Heung San Tsuen Gung Lap Hok Hau, which roughly translates as "Six Rural Villages New Village Public School".

The Luk Heung New Village Public School

Over the Po Heung Bridge, Tai Po Centre dead ahead

View from the bridge � can't take any more.

Across the bridge we are entering Tai Po Centre (the "New Town" proper). Briefly, all this land was originally part of Tolo Harbour and was reclaimed in the 80�s to create new housing for the rather large and ever-increasing local population. A product of rather more 'modern planning', this part of Tai Po feels pretty much like any New Town and (to me, at least) lacks much of the character that can be found on the other side of the river bank, but hey, that�s just my humble opinion.

Leafy but lacking character

Down onto On Chee Road we go and we turn left towards Ting Kok Road. Not many people realise but actually Ting Kok Road is one of Tai Po�s earliest roads and originally ran along the western and northern coastline of Tolo Harbour. These days of course, most of it is now land-locked, but in a previous time everything east and south of the road was water.

Approaching Ting Kok Road

As a result most of the buildings of interest are on the opposite side of the road. We don�t pass it on this trip but turning right at this junction will take us past the antique Tin Hau Temple. However, we are turning left and passing a couple more buildings of interest. The first is Sing Kung Cho Tong at 19 Ting Kok Rd. It's a private temple complex that has an affiliated T.C.M (Traditional Chinese Medicine) dispensary attached to it . Although this current building dates from 1990, its precursor was established in 1936 and was used by the Japanese Kempetai during the occupation for various interrogations and executions of the local Taipo population.

Sing Kung Cho Tong behind the red wall

Just a few doors down at #9 is one of my favourite building in Tai Po, a sort of art deco designed shophouse. It has an old carpet shop on the ground floor and the Govt Home Affairs dept website lists its build year as 1945 which makes it possibly amongst the oldest private buildings in Tai Po. The chaps at Gwulo mentioned that (on the Buildings Department database) sometimes 1945 is used as a default build year when the construction year of a pre-war building is not known � so it is quite possible that this groovy looking thing is actually much older.

Pre-1945 Art deco shophouse on Ting Kok Rd

It�s not long before we are passing the fire station and local Govt offices and onward towards Tai Wo Station with the Lam Tsuen River (originally known as the Kwun Yam River) and its two ornately decorated bridges. The first one we pass is Kwong Fuk Bridge. The structure is relatively recent but the name harks back to the early days of the market.

The current Kwong Fuk Bridge � historical in name at least

The second bridge, not far away, is the Tai Wo bridge built in the same style with decorative red pillars but without the historical past of its nearby neighbour�s name. Finally you will see the railway bridge before the bus turns away and we begin our next part of the journey.

Tai Wo Bridge with the railway bridge in the background

Tai Wo is a pretty drab looking place to be honest. It�s a large Govt housing estate finished in a very uninspiring beige and it is just...well, fugly! Before the new town was created the area was largely rice paddies as well as the site for the local abattoir, and the extended Tai Po Road cut through the middle of it on its way to Fanling. The bus goes under the station building and follows the same route towards Fanling before turning off to Lam Tsuen.

Tai Wo � just move along now, nothing to see here

Once beyond the station we join what is now called Sui Wai Road - named after a nearby village - but is the later addition to the Tai Po Road that formed part of Route 9 - a circular route around the New Territories that started and ended in Kowloon.

Sui Wai Road dead ahead, Lam Tsuen ridge line in the distance

This is where the journey starts to get a bit more picturesque as we begin our journey into the countryside. On the left we have a couple of modern residential developments known as Parc Versailles and Tai Po Garden and along the right runs the rail track on its journey from Tai Wo to Fanling.

Sui Wai Road

Parc Versailles on the left

Rail line, train and �The Wonderland� behind it

Behind the track is a new village house development called �The Wonderland�. The only thing I �wonder� about is who is crazy enough to fork out for a brand new house that sits right next to a noisy train line. They should have just called this place �The Sidings� and had done with it. Anyway, I recently found out that the land it sits on used to house a popular 'amusement' park called Greenville Park (????). It was fronted by a huge stone archway and had a popular restaurant inside as well as other amusements park...thingies. It seems to have opened in the late 40's and managed to stay in business throughout the 50's and 60's under various guises (park, restaurant, park/restaurant etc). I'm not sure of when it was demolished but it sounds as though it was still around in the late 70's and possibly the early 80's.

Approaching the Fanling Highway Flyover

Unfortunately for visitors, this area has seen a lot of major construction due to the creation of some extra lanes of the Fanling Highway. The whole area was covered in false-work as the extra lanes were being poured into place. Most of it seems to have been done now, but we're not sticking around here for too long anyway because once across the roundabout we are into the rather nicer environment of the Lam Tsuen valley and Lam Kam Road.

Lam Kam Roundabout

Off to Lam Tsuen

Leaving the roundabout we start up Lam Kam Road, the main thoroughfare through the Lam Tsuen valley. Now, I have to admit that this part of Hong Kong is one of the prettiest in the territory and this road, that runs the length of the Lam Tsuen valley and its 26 villages, is a great place to come and see some rural countryside. The bit we are now on runs for about 5 km in a southwesterly direction and there is staggering scenery on both sides.

Lam Kam Road

This road will be familiar with anyone who has already visited the Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree � the first major sight along here. The Wishing Tree�s story is a perfect example of how to become a victim of your own success or "death by exploitation".

Fong Ma Po � turn off for the naff wishing tree

Originally the wish throwing (writing a wish on a piece of paper, tying it to a kumquat and then chucking it into the tree in the hope that it stays hooked on a branch) was restricted to Lunar New Year. Unfortunately it was a good earner for the villagers and evolved into a year-round activity. The poor tree was constantly bombarded and became overburdened with wishes, eventually collapsing (in 2005) onto a passerby's head. So what do we have now? Well, the tree is knackered. It will take decades to recover. But luckily for all of us (but more importantly, the villagers) a new tree has emerged as the recipient of all those wishes...:-/

Destroyed tree on the right

There�s a lesson to be learnt here, but if you need me to spell it out for you then you're probably the sort of person that would throw a piece of litter into a tree in the hope that it would grant you a wish :-) Anyway, wish throwing costs money and isn't obligatory. If you don�t want to partake then the antique Tin Hau temple and super expensive (to make, not to use) public toilets are worth checking out on their own (yes, you did read that last bit correctly!).

Moving on and straight ahead you will be able to see Hong Kong�s highest peak: Tai Mo Shan. Being tall has its advantages, in Tai Mo Shan�s case it means that we can see it from pretty much anywhere in HK�on a clear day, that is. In this case, the Lam Tsuen valley sits at the bottom of the big mountain�s foothills, so it�s no surprise that it dominates the scenery here.

Tai Mo Shan and its transmitters

The transmitters on top of the mountain are mainly related to the Civil Aviation Department's radar station (for guiding and keeping tabs on aircraft), but it was recently discovered that the Govt had allowed the PLA to build a listening post up there, much to the chagrin of the locals who believe the land should be open to the public. We will return to Tai Mo Shan later from a different angle, but for the time being just sit back and watch some fantastic countryside roll by.

As you sit back try to imagine what this place looked like when the British took charge of the NT in 1899 and had to fight off the local militia. The 6 day war not only happened in and around Tai Po Market but also went up the Lam Tsuen valley as the British troops pursued the militia towards the Kam Tin plain along, what was then, a small footpath. The footpath has now been replaced by the Lam Kam Road (the road we are currently on) but thankfully the mountains remain as they always have been: green and spectacular.

Don�t relax too much though because you may also be tempted to hop off at Ng Tung Chai to visit either the waterfalls or the Man Tak Yuen temple�or both. The buses usually have a bilingual display at the front of the bus as well as audio announcements so missing the various stops � as long as you are attentive it shouldn�t be a problem. The Wishing Tree at Fong Ma Po, Ng Tung Chai and Kadoorie Farm � the 3 most popular stops along Lam Kam Road � are all announced in both Cantonese and English with accompanying textual display, so don�t fret.

Ng Tung Chai (in Chinese)

Speaking of Kadoorie Farm, this is actually just one stop up from Ng Tung Chai and is hard to miss (unlike Ng Tung Chai which is actually located up a side road) because it�s right on the roadside.

Kadoorie Farm entrance

You can hop off if you like � but don't forget this is not a hop-on-hop-off bus. If you get off now, then boarding alter will mean you have to pay whatever fare is displayed on the meter. The road gets quite steep uphill as we pass Kadoorie and this signals the end of the valley because once we crest the hill we will get views of Kam Tin and Yuen Long across the plain (and it really is flat down there) towards the Chinese border.

You�ll know when you are out of Lam Tsuen because not only will you be heading downhill but at the bottom is the roundabout that joins Lam Kam Road with Route TWISK. I�ll save the latter for another DIY bus tour at a later date, but it�s worth knowing that this ex-military road is one of the most incredible in the territory. It links Tsuen Wan with Sek Kong, hence the name TWISK. By all means get off here and catch the #51 bus into Tsuen Wan if you feel you have had enough of the 64K.

Just past the roundabout is the small village of Sheung Tsuen. Anonymous except for the fact that it was the site of the last major push by the Chinese militia during the 6 day war. Speaking of wars, there is also a commemorative obelisk here (see picture above), remembering the valiant efforts of the communist guerrillas during the Japanese occupation. It was installed just prior to the handover as the local villagers were suddenly and inexplicably overcome with patriotic fervour. Sadly, no one in officialdom took any any notice. However, it's a worthy monument to the brave guerrillas, many of whom were captured, tortured and summarily executed by the Japanese.

Moving on and we have now turned onto the Kam Sheung Road and sadly, what could be a wonderful and picturesque part of the NT is marred by the proliferation of light industry and general lack of care for the environment.

One of the Govt�s great failings in the NT is to sort out some of the complete and absolute unsightliness that has grown here. As you travel down Kam Sheung Road the one thing you will notice is the number of wrecker yards, heavy plant hire, container storage and assorted rusty corrugated iron-walled compounds where things are just left to rot and rust. It�s a real shame because there are some absolute gems here in the form of old houses, temples and the nice scenery that is still here, but hidden under all the crap. Here is a more mild example.

This isn�t too bad to look at, but it does get worse

Actually, if you look at the picture above you will notice our old friend Tai Mo Shan in the background and far left is the distinct hump of Kwun Yam Shan. We did actually pass right by Kwun Yam Shan earlier � Kadoorie farm is built on its lower slopes � but it�s hard to see its pointy shape when you are that close.

a nicer part of Kam Sheung Road

and a rather large rural homestead dating from 1967

Before we leave Kam Sheung Road we make a final stop along the way at the eponymous train station. Here is where the bus route conveniently intersects with the West Rail line.

One of the things that is making this part of the NT more appealing to live in (despite all the scrap metal yards) is the convenience of the West Rail line. From here you can be in Kowloon within 20 minutes. Or if you fancy heading a bit further west than the 64K will take you then it is quick (probably 10-15 minutes) to make it all the way to Tuen Mun from here. So feel free if you have had enough already to hop off the bus and head back home on the train. Or if you are staying in Kowloon and want to join the 64K at this point you can do that too because it also comes here on its returned journey back to Tai Po - just pay attention to the destination on the front so you don't get on the wrong direction. Anyway, for those of us carrying on into Yuen Long we will now start to hit the outskirts of this rather large old market town (now New Town).

Yuen Long here we come

Sadly my knowledge of Yuen Long is rather lacking. I can talk for hours about Tai Po and can pull out hundreds of stupid inconsequential facts about the place but when it comes to Yuen Long I'm fairly ignorant, so it's probably a good job that the journey is almost finished.

However, before we get to our destination, as we approach the famous Pok Oi Hospital, keep an eye open for what looks like a large temple complex on its western side (the bus goes right past there in a weird doubling-back kinda loop thang.

You can see it poking just over the bushes there. In fact it's not a temple but a large traditional style residential complex built by a local Hakka man in 1932. It�s called Pun Uk (literally �Pun�s House�) and I am glad to say it has a Grade 1 listing � although to be honest with its age and architecture it should have been made a monument a long time ago (first recommended in 1979). Why the Govt are dragging their feet I can only guess there are powerful vested interests that they are scared of annoying. Let�s face it, the Govt is scared of pretty much anyone these days. Interestingly the builder of the house was a major benefactor of the original Pok Oi Hospital � which may explain its immediate proximity. I am also reliably informed that this was also the Japanese military HQ for Yuen Long during the occupation. I�m sure its walls could tell many stories.

Nearing the end of this journey we turn onto the famous Castle Peak Road. This is the same road that originally linked up with the Tai Po Road to form the road loop of the NT I mentioned earlier.

This road in Yuen Long must be one of the busiest in the NT. It is packed full of all kinds of shops and also plays host to a great little transport system called the LRT (Light Rail Transit). Cheap, convenient and fun to ride it�s a great way to get around the western part of the NT. Anyway, that is pretty much it for our bus tour because when you arrive in this place�

Then, you have reached the terminus. So get off and have a wander � Yuen Long, like Tai Po has a good mixture of old and new to see so it is easy to spend quite some time exploring stuff (I can personally recommend a trip to the Central park with its open pagoda � especially if you have kids).

You have several choices for getting back home: the same bus back to Tai Po, West Rail from Long Ping Station (situated just north of the bus terminus you got off at) towards either Kowloon or Tuen Mun via West Rail, or LRT down to Tuen Mun.