Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [86]
Tung Chung: Served by bus 3M from Mui Wo (opposite the ferry pier), bus 11 from Tai O (from the bus terminus at the end of Tai O Rd) and bus 23 from Ngong Ping.
All buses listed above run along some, or all of, South Lantau Rd, the junction with Tung Chung Rd being the point at which the bus will join or leave the route.
Ferry Mui Wo: Major services from Central leave from pier 6 at the Outlying Islands ferry terminal. Ferries also depart from Chi Ma Wan (also on Lantau), Cheung Chau and Peng Chau.
Chi Ma Wan: Served by the inter-island ferry from Mui Wo, Cheung Chau and Peng Chau.
Tai O: Reached by the service that operates from Tuen Mun in the New Territories via Sha Lo Wan and Tung Chung (both Lantau).
Tung Chung: Reached by a regular service from Tuen Mun. It’s also served by the less-frequent service that comes from Tai O and Sha Lo Wan (both Lantau) before going on to Tuen Mun (or vice versa).
MTR Tung Chung station is at the end of the line of the same name.
Taxi Telephone the call service on 2984 1328 or 2984 1368. Sample fares to Ngong Ping and the Tian Tan Buddha from Mui Wo and Tung Chung/Tai O/Hong Kong International Airport are $125/45/145.
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Some of the tiny, traditional-style village houses still stand in the centre, including a handful of Tai O’s famed stilt houses on the waterfront. There are a few houses that escaped a fire in 2000, plus a number of shanties, their corrugated-iron walls held in place by rope, and houseboats that haven’t set sail for years.
The stilt houses and the local Kwan Tai temple dedicated to the god of war are on Kat Hing St. To reach them, cross the bridge from the mainland to the island, walk up Tai O Market St and go right at the Fook Moon Lam restaurant. There’s a couple of other temples here, including an 18th-century one erected in honour of Hung Shing, patron of fisherfolk; it’s on Shek Tsai Po St, about 600m west of the Fook Lam Moon restaurant.
SOUTH LANTAU RD Map
1 from Mui Wo & Tai O, 2 from Ngong Ping, 3 from Tung Chung
Just under 5km southwest of Mui Wo, Pui O is the first of several coastal villages along South Lantau Rd. Pui O has a decent beach, but as it’s the closest one to Mui Wo it can get very crowded. The village has several restaurants, holiday flats galore and, in season, stalls renting bicycles.
Cheung Sha (Long Sand), at over 3km Hong Kong’s longest beach, is divided into ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ sections; a trail over a hillock links the two. Upper Cheung Sha, with occasional good surf, is the prettier and longer stretch and boasts a modern complex with changing rooms, toilets, showers and a snack bar. Lower Cheung Sha village has a beachfront restaurant, Stoep Restaurant (Click here). Long Coast Seasports ( 8104 6222; www.longcoast.hk; 29 Lower Cheung Sha Village; 10am-sunset Mon-Fri, 9am-sunset Sat & Sun) is a water-sports centre offering windsurfing, sea kayaking and wakeboarding. Prices vary widely, but basic windsurfing costs from $100/300/500 for an hour/half-day/day, while a single kayak rents for $60/180 for an hour/half-day. Beach umbrellas are also available from $50 a day. Some claim that the Venturi effect on the wind from Tung Chung makes this the best windsurfing in Hong Kong, especially from November to March.
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THE PINK DOLPHINS OF THE PEARL RIVER
Between 100 and 200 misnamed Chinese white dolphins (Sousa chinensis) – they are actually bubble-gum pink – inhabit the coastal waters around Hong Kong, finding the brackish waters of the Pearl River estuary to be the perfect habitat. Unfortunately these glorious mammals, which are also called Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, are being threatened by environmental pollution, and their numbers are dwindling.
The threat comes in many forms, but the most prevalent – and direct – dangers are sewage, chemicals, over-fishing and boat traffic. Some 200,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage are dumped into the western harbour every day, and high concentrations of chemicals such