A few weekends ago I took part in another treasure hunt by HK Hunter (read here about my previous hunt in the Sai Kung area) and this took me to an area of Hong Kong that I’ve never visited before: Wah Fu Estate.
This is a public housing estate located in the Pok Fu Lam district, which was built on a new town concept in 1967-1978 and includes amenities like a shopping mall, wet market, schools and even a public library. The whole estate has a total of 18 residential blocks – and my fellow treasure hunters told me that it’s one of the few estates that has a sea view!
It is also the first estate that was designed differently from the most common type of public housing that was developed and used in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then the typical housing was a seven-story tall house with no elevators and shared bathroom and sometimes kitchen facilities.
Wah Fu Estate was one of the first revolutionary public estates with individual flats that had its own kitchen, toilet and balcony. But still, the first buildings (Wah Fu One Estate) were built in the old slab style. The old slab buildings are just like a huge rectangular tube, nothing is really special.
The 5.7 hectare estate, had over 50,000 people living there during its peak period – nowadays it is home to 27,000 people. It stands on an Aberdeen hillside overlooking Waterfall Bay and is just 500 metres from the luxury Bel-Air development at Cyberport – but of course, it is far less luxurious but also more colourful!
bluebalu 