A Walk in the Park

Now that the weather is turning nicer, it’s time for a walk in the Sai Kung Country Park.

From the Chinese University, if you leave from the Science Park exit, the drive to the park is only 25 minutes. The new highway over Ma On Shan town gives a fabulous view of the green hills as you speed along at 80 km/h. The drive slows later, but it’s leafy and gently winding, taking you through the Ma On Shan Country Park. The bay is to your left and the hills are to the right.

A sharp left turn to Pak Tam Chung at the entrance to Sai Kung district and a 5 km drive will bring you to the entrance of the Sai Kung Country Park. Along the way, you’ll pass the war memorial for local guerrilla fighters who died during World War II. Incidentally, there’s an interesting reference to guerrilla activity around Sai Kung in Martin Booth’s Gweilo.

Free parking is available at the entrance to the park, but this fills-up quickly during the weekend. Paid parking is available at the Po Leung Kuk Holiday camp near the entrance. Vehicles are not allowed in to the park.

About 200 meters from the entrance, before you pass the bridge, take a right turn and walk along the nature trail leading to the Folk Museum. The walk is a treat in itself, with bamboo groves on your left and mangroves and a creek to your right. (Ignore the dogs; they only bark.) Helpful signs along the way describe the local flora, fauna, and history. You’ll be at the museum in 10 minutes. The museum is a restored a fortified village of the Hakka people built in the late19th century. It consists of houses displaying simple furniture and farm implements, pigsties, a cattle shed, and a watchtower, and provides a vivid picture of Hong Kong’s rural life in the past century. The nearby Catholic chapel has also been repaired. Please note that the Museum is closed on Tuesdays.

The museum keeper is Patrick Ng, who was an English major at the University of Hong Kong. Patrick is a delightful raconteur, highly knowledgeable about the history and culture of the local people. Patrick also composes poetry, a recent composition being “The Ballad of Pak Tam Chung.” A few minutes with him is a treat.

A short walk beyond the museum brings you to two abandoned villages. Yes, while Mong Kok is a mass of teeming humanity, villages are being abandoned in Hong Kong. The nature trail to the right leads to Wong Yi Chau village. A few yards beyond the village is a newly built colorful ancestral hall, which comes as quite a surprise considering the state of the village.

A left turn on the trail leads to another abandoned village, Hei Tsz Wan. You’ll see signs of rooting by wild boar along the way. (A massive boar, weighing more than 150kg, that attacked villagers’ bak choi, was shot near the park a few years ago.) This is a good place to pause and contemplate the hardships of rural life in old Hong Kong. Why did the people leave? According to a retired District Officer we met on the trail, the fear of a Communist invasion following the Revolution led to an exodus in the late 1940s and early 50s. Where did they go? Strangely, mainly to northern England and Scotland.

Another subject of contemplation is, why does the government build new water and electricity supplies to these abandoned villages? Plans that were drawn-up decades ago are being implemented now, despite changes in demographic patterns. Your tax dollars at work!

A few hundred meters along the trail brings you to a tranquil pier, an ideal spot for a quiet picnic. The graves on the hillside above the pier are well maintained; if you care to go up, you get the best views of the surrounding country.

All in all, an enjoyable day in the park.