K-in-HongKong: Tai O Fishing Village, Lantau Island
Anyeong! It's only 6AM in the morning and the sun has not even risen yet but Noona is already awake. On a Monday morning. Today is really a rare day. Hahahaha. Noona awoken up at 5.30AM because she has a stomachache, nature called pretty early today. Well she did eat a lot over the weekend. Now that she's awake and got nothing to do, she may as well start blogging early. #highlyefficientnoona
Noona is going to bring you to a little fishing village in the far side of Lantau Island called Tai O. Noona first heard about Tai O from her friend who has just came from Hong Kong three months ago. She was telling her about what you can do at Lantau Island and then, she mentioned about visiting Tai O. Since there is no way to reach Tai O by walking from the cable car station, Noona decided to take the tour package which include an excursion to Tai O fishing village.
360 Fishing Village Insight Tour:
Tour duration: 4 hours
Assembly point: Ngong Ping Village
Language: English/ Putonghua (Mandarin)/ Cantonese
Tour includes: Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, Tai O Boat Excursion, Tai O Fish Market, Return cable car ride
Tour price: Adult (HKD 390)/ Child 3-11 (HKD 320) for standard cabin, Adult (HKD 450)/ Child 3-11 (HKD 390) for crystal cabin
Tour price: Adult (HKD 390)/ Child 3-11 (HKD 320) for standard cabin, Adult (HKD 450)/ Child 3-11 (HKD 390) for crystal cabin
Tai O is home to the Tanka people, a community which makes a living by fishing. They have built the houses on stilts above the tidal flats of Lantau Island for generations. This tradition seems to be quite common for a fisherman village, just like the one that Noona has visited before when she came to Phuket, Thailand. The main difference between those fisherman villages and Tai O fishing village is that the latter build their settlement on the right side and left side and then connecting both sides with a canal bridge. As such, fishing boats can come passing by in the midst of the villages carrying both the fishermen and tourists alike. That is how Tai O Fishing Village got its other name, the Venetian of the East (at least, according to the tour guide).
Most people who is currently living in Tai O are elderly because the younger generation prefer to make money in the big city. They visit their parents/ grandparents occasionally on weekends or when they are on long public holiday such as Chinese New Year.
Noona would say Tai O is a modern fishing village because some of the houses have air-conditioner and guess what, there is wifi connection here. The advancement in technology is not surprising as the residents of Tai O Fishing Village are also earning their income from tourism.
A guided tour to Tai O Fishing Village will usually include a walk around the fish market and a visit to a small temple in the neighbourhood. Noona was actually not a fan of a temple but there is nothing else to visit here at Tai O so we just followed the tour guide while he's busy explaining the praying custom to the Western tourists.
Right outside the small temple lies an artsy building worthy of Instagram moment. Hahaha. Don't you think we have a habit of Instagramming everything nowadays?
The fish market is rather entertaining although its size is pretty small compared to the fish market that Noona visited at Yehliu in Taiwan. A lot of dried seafood is on sell here, including omg, is that a dried puffer fish?
Last but not least, the tour will include a return boat ride from Tai O to the "middle of the sea" in a futile attempt to see white dolphins. To be honest with you, the water looks pretty murky and hence, Noona does not think the white dolphins will like swimming inside it very much. Let's hope they are really still around, probably toward the vast sea where the water may be, hopefully, cleaner.
How to get to Tai O without a tour:
(1) From MTR Tung Chung station, take bus no. 11 to Tai O bus terminus. The journey will take roughly 50 minutes.
(2) From MTR Tung Chung station, take cable car to Ngong Ping village. From there, take bus no. 21 to Tai O to bus terminus. The total travelling time taken to reach Tai O is around the same (45 minutes) but you can experience the cable car ride.