Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [93]
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TRANSPORT – PENG CHAU
Ferry Services from Central leave from pier 6 of the Outlying Islands ferry terminal. Ferries also depart from Mui Wo and Chi Ma Wan on Lantau and from Cheung Chau. Additionally, regular kaido operate to Peng Chau from the Trappist Monastery and Discovery Bay on Lantau.
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MA WAN
Ma Wan ( Map) was once famous as the gateway to Kowloon, where foreign ships would drop anchor before entering Chinese waters. If you want to get away from it all Ma Wan, a flat, rapidly developing island between the northeastern tip of Lantau and the New Territories, is hardly the place to go. It has a couple of temples devoted to Tin Hau, a long beach on the east coast at Tung Wan and a massive, high-end residential community called Park Island. Basically you’re here to view some startling engineering feats (the Lantau Link) and perhaps to visit Ma Wan Park ( 3446 1163; www.mawanpark.com; 9am-5pm daily), an appealing park and open space that also serves as an education centre focusing on nature, energy use and the environment. You can’t fail to notice Noah’s Ark, a ‘lifesize’ version of the biblical craft with plastic versions of the world’s animals strolling down the gangplank.
LANTAU LINK BRIDGES Map
The real reason to come to Ma Wan is to take in the enormity of Tsing Ma Bridge to the east and, to a lesser extent, Kap Shui Mun Bridge on the west. Together they form the rail and road link connecting Lantau with the New Territories via Tsing Yi Island. While catapulting Ma Wan headlong into the next century, the bridge has guaranteed an end to the island’s solitude. Neighbouring Tsing Yi has a special viewing platform for those particularly interested in seeing the bridge up close (below).
NOAH’S ARK Map
3411 8888; www.noahsark.com.hk; 33 Pak Yan Road, Ma Wan; admission adult/child $100/85; 10am-6pm; Central-Park Island ferry
Looking like it has beached beneath the Tsing Ma Bridge, this peculiar mini–theme park is loosely dedicated to the biblical story of Noah, and has plenty of fun interactive games and distractions for younger kids as well as plenty of refreshment options.
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TSING YI
Tsing Yi ( Map), disfigured by oil depots and extended by land reclamation, serves as a stepping stone for the gigantic Tsing Ma Bridge, which is a 1377m suspension bridge. Don’t even think about visiting the beaches here.
Tsing Yi is the large island to the east of Ma Wan on the MTR’s Tung Chung and the Airport Express lines.
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TRANSPORT – TSING YI
Airport Express Tsing Yi station has services from Hong Kong and Kowloon or the airport.
Green minibus For the Lantau Viewing Platform and Visitor Centre take minibus 308M from Tsing Yi MTR station (exit A1).
MTR Tsing Yi station is on the Tung Chung line.
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LANTAU LINK VISITORS CENTRE Map
2495 5825, 2495 7583; admission free; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6.30pm Sat & Sun; MTR Tsing Yi, green minibus 308M
The Lantau Link Visitors Centre and its viewing platform (admission free; 7am-10.30pm Sun-Fri, 7am-1.30am Sat) is where you can take in the enormity of Tsing Yi Bridge and the Lantau Link, the combined road and rail transport connection between the New Territories and Lantau. The centre contains models, photographs and videos of the construction process – very much a crowd-pleaser for trainspotters and the hard-hat brigade.
The Lantau Link has since been overshadowed somewhat by the Stonecutter’s Bridge, a graceful 1.5km span bridging the gap between the massive international container terminal in the New Territories and Tsing Yi Island.
The visitors centre for the Lantau Link is in the northwest corner of Tsing Yi Island just to the south of Ting Kau