Last weekend I was in the unique position to join a very special hike in the New Territories, in the Shuen Wan area, which is between Shenzhen (China) and Tai Po (Hong Kong). It was organised by the MeetUp group and it included a visit to a Hakka village and a Poon Choi meal.
It was an amazing day – we started at Tai Po Market, where a mini bus picked us up and took us to Chi Sum Road, where the 16km hike started. The first few metres we walked past a village with some typical houses and then the path entered a forest area.
The hike went from Wu Kau Tang to Lai Chi Wo, where we had lunch, and then from Fan Shui Au to Starling Inlet coastline, opposite Shenzhen and then to Bride’s Pool Road from where we caught a bus to take us back to Tai Po Market MTR. Here’s a link to a Google map showing the whole journey.
The hike was fairly flat path, not very overgrown and with just a few rocks on the otherwise flat path. It was an easy enjoyable hike, just the right amount of exercise to chat with other fellow hikers.
There were quite a lot of small rivers to cross – lots of different bridges along the way, some just a few big stones, others were a small wooden bridge.
We followed the Tiu Tang Lung Path…
… it took us past a lake, with a typical Hakka style house in the background…
… and after a few more minutes walking along the trail we reached Sam A Wan, a bay in the middle of nowhere.
On a sunny day one must have an amazing view from here – but unfortunately it was grey and cloudy. Still, what a nice place to visit! We stayed a little at the bay, talking and chatting and waiting for all 27 group members to catch up.
Next to the bay where a couple of old rice paddies, not in use anymore, and we just walked past them. I’m curious if this is how some of the people supported themselves in this very remote area of Hong Kong. It seems that the only way to bring in supply is via water ways, otherwise you’d be walking at least an hour to the next main road… We continued the path inwards, and there was actually a small asphalt track across the rice paddy, with a sign post and a street lamp… how bizarre, in the middle of nowhere.
Tomorrow, I’ll continue with a post about Lai Chi Wo, an old Hakka village that we visited.
bluebalu 
I did a (very) mini-hike with my kids in that area in January. Lovely area. Great to see the longer hike I might plan with an (adult!) friend. Thanks for sharing the photos.