The Tai O Fishing Village, Lantau Island, Hong Kong

            Visit Hong Kong | The Tai O Fishing Village, Lantau Island, Hong Kong ....... which came to life after 1949.

Please note you can also visit the nearby Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha), est. 1989, The Iconic Po Lin Monastery est. 1906, + ride the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car back to Tung Chung, these attractions are located about 15 minutes (ish) from the Tai O Fishing Village by Blue Taxi or Public Bus, all these places are located on Lantau Island, NT, Hong Kong

A visit to Lantau Island makes for a splendid day out, including travel time roughly 7 or 8 hours | Instagram Heaven

Due to the popularity of the attractions on Lantau Island and taking into account I have done tours of Lantau Island over 250 times, I have my own “order of doing things” to avoid big crowds and lines which I tend not to deviate from.

MTR (Subway) to Tung Chung on Lantau Island

Single decker Public Bus to the Tai O Fishing Village

Single decker Public Bus or Blue Taxi from the Tai O Fishing Village to the Big Buddha | Tian Tan Buddha

Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car from the Big Buddha to Tung Chung (25 minute ride through the mountains)

MTR (Subway) back to town from Tung Chung

Prior to 1949 the Tai O Fishing Village was a sleepy backwater because of poor transport links to the rest of Hong Kong and commerce was fishing, salt processing and shrimp paste processing, in 1949 many people fled China and came to Hong Kong as refugees and Tai O was a popular place to settle.

I first went to Tai O in the summer of 1972 and have been back there hundreds of times since then and after living in Hong Kong for so long, I have earned the right to have an opinion about the Tai O Fishing Village, I can be pretty blunt.

It has 2 parts to it, the modern town with houses, apartment blocks and normal buildings and then across the water you have the same with the addition of stilt houses, please note the stilt houses are NOT unique to Tai O, they can be seen in many locations in Hong Kong, many travel blog writers who see the world through rose tinted glasses wax lyrical about Tai O being “the Venice of the East” which is laughable, I have been to Venice and it is not even close to being the right comparison, the Tai O Fishing Village is a dump by comparison.

Despite my comment above I am a huge, huge fan of Tai O quite simply because it is so different to the rest of Hong Kong, because it is so far from town it is in essence a retirement community, it is very quiet Monday to Friday but get’s really busy on the weekend with visitors from all over Hong Kong (Hong Kong residents) who see visiting Tai O as a monthly ritual and they have this innate desire to purchase a jar of shrimp paste which is partially manufactured in Tai O along with other dried fish products. (which incidentally can be bought anywhere in Hong Kong, go figure!)

The waterways in Tai O are generally horrid, strewn with litter and all manner of waste, some of it organic as the stilt houses flush directly into the waterways, so what looks like a discarded Mars Bar probably isn’t! but do not let that deter you, keep your hands away from the water, schools of odd looking fish will deal with the “Mars Bar” and tell yourself that the Tai O Fishing Village is quite fascinating which it is!

You can visit the Tai O Heritage Hotel which is brilliant and has a lovely restaurant and yes, they have shrimp paste dishes on the menu...  on the walk back you can see the shrimp paste processing plant (the odour is pretty noxious), take a boat ride to try and see the pink dolphins - I have seen them only once in all the times I have been on the boat to try and see them but the boat ride is great as you also get a tour of the stilt houses through the waterways, I actually also do a lot of walking around the area where all the stilt houses are located, there are lots of dodgy restaurants, lots of interesting street food to try, some totally weird sights, packs of toothless old crones sat outside sizing you up for the pot, some really old Temples, lots of back alleys and yes, plenty of souvenir shops as well...   Brilliant.

Commercial fishing was banned in Hong Kong quite a few years ago, you will notice in the waterway hundreds of powerful “speedboats” which I have always suspected are engaged in smuggling activities given the proximity to Mainland China which is just a few miles away across the sea, cigarettes are a popular commodity.

Make the Tai O Fishing Village a priority to visit when you come to Hong Kong.

Taken on: January 4, 2019

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Camera:	Sony DSC-RX1RM2
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/2000)
Focal Length:	35mm
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Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Action (High speed)
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