Day Trip To Hong Kong’s Tai O Fishing Village

Escaping To Lantau Island

On the surface, it may look like commercial shopping malls and tacky tourist facilities have colonized the island. But much like the rest of Hong Kong, there is more to Lantau Island (郎島) than what meets the eye.

Lantau Island, in many ways, still manages to preserve that rustic edgy side of Hong Kong which you can only see in films. With its tin metal bungalows, massive jungles, and hidden temples, traveling to Lantau is in every sense of the word an adventure.

While you still have the touristy cable cars, Discovery Bay, and loads of strip malls, a quick slip behind the curtain will take you down the path less traveled.

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Getting Around Lantau Island

The vast majority of people traveling to Lantau Island head straight to Ngong Ping 360, a cable car that offers some of the best views of Hong Kong and the island as you are airlifted to the peak of Lantau. But the second you see the massive snaking line to buy tickets and the outrageous price of 260 HKD (33 USD), you may decide to ditch this tourist trap altogether. Fortunately, Lantau Island is filled coast to coast with off the beaten path destinations.

While Tai O Fishing Village (大澳) is not necessarily unknown, the town does preserve a side of Hong Kong that has been lost behind massive skyscrapers and shopping malls. Attracting mostly local tourists, you will practically have your run of Tai O’s stilt houses, rusting bungalows, and rocky beaches.

From Tung Chung simply take bus11 to Tai O. The price is 11 HKD (1.40 USD) on weekdays and 19 HKD (2.40) on the weekend. If you still want to make the push past the tourists and go directly to Ngong Ping, you can take bus23.

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Turning Your Back On The Beaten Path

After a scenic hour and a half ride to Tai O, you will be let off in the center of town. To your right, you will see colorful murals, cutesy boutique shops, and a small trickling of tourists going to and fro. Rather than diving headfirst into all the trendy cafes and the youthful ambiance, you may choose to take a u-turn off onto the less trodden path to the left.

After passing a row of decorative houses, adorned with colorful couplets, the jungle and homes give way to unveil the crashing blue waters of the sea. You won’t find a beach in which you can simply lay out a towel and soak up the sun. But jagged rocks and coral are littered with such obscure oddities that it is almost as if the seafront is an open-air vintage thrift store.

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Stepping Back Into Tai O Fishing Village

Not surprisingly, Tai O has been used as a backdoor to Hong Kong by pirates and smugglers for centuries. Tai O is historically occupied by a sub-group of Han Chinese known as the Tanka (疍家). This group of people is known as sea gypsies due to the fact that they usually live on Chinese junk ships. Although considered outcasts by a majority of the population, the Tanka traditionally make a living off of their boats by fishing and smuggling.

While most of the contraband brought through Tai O were guns, tobacco, and drugs, people were also smuggled into Hong Kong through this fishing village. Illegal immigration through Tai O was especially prominent during the Chinese Civil War. Many of the people smuggled into Hong Kong through this port never left the shores of Lantau Island and made a home in Tai O.

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The Stilt Houses of Tai O

While Tai O has a bit of a rough history, being a well-known haven for criminals and pirates, nowadays the fishing village has a far more clean image. As smuggling and the honest trade of fishing has waned in recent years, tourism has become the main source of income for many locals.

While you will find a cluster of hipster cafes around the entrance, most of the stilt houses still maintain that lawless edgy look that one could imagine that the fabled Kowloon Walled City had in its heyday. The lopsided buildings, meandering dark alleyways, and shanty like stilt houses do not give off a feeling of despair or poverty. But the colorful flowers, traditional Chinese couplets, and lively culture around every corner add a ying-yang-esque vibe to the entire village.

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Daily Life In Tai O

The population of Tai O is made up of mostly the elderly. Other than the tourists, you will seldom see a young person running a shop or taking their dog for a walk along the waters of the fishing village. One of the reasons for the decline of Tai O is that young people head to the city for more opportunities. This same story is told in nearly every traditional village around the world.

Despite the dwindling population, the people of Tai O are still going strong. Manning the convenience stores and restaurants around the village, the community seems to never have been closer. Even on street corners and some of the small parks acting like an oasis from all the crowded houses and bungalows, locals can be seen gossiping, playing cards, or just lounging around.

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Exploring The Outskirts Of The Village

After exploring Tai O, you may be tempted to try and squeeze a trip to Ngong Ping and the iconic Tian Tan Buddha. While you can hop on bus21 and arrive at Ngong Ping in just around 30 minutes, this is a whole lot to fit into one day. Tian Tan is very much a weather dependent destination. If you find yourself arriving too late, the contemplative face of Buddha may be shrouded by a thick layer of mist.

Lantau Island is not a place that can be enjoyed in one day alone. But if you are looking to explore more of the sites around Tai O, you will find that many monasteries and temples are hidden deep in the jungle between the village and Ngong Ping. One of these temples is the Ling Yan Monastery (靈隱寺), a temple tucked away behind dense trees and teeming with monkeys

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A Day Exploring A Forgotten Side Of Hong Kong

As the largest island in Hong Kong and one of the least developed, Lantau offers a lot to be explored. Regardless if you are attracted to the beaches, jungles, or mountain, a day trip is not enough to do Lantau Island justice. Even the small fishing village of Tai O deserves to be taken in at a snail’s pace. Unlike downtown Hong Kong, Lantau exists in a bubble far away from the noise and stress of the city.

To truly immerse yourself in Tai O, you will need to do as the locals do. Stare off into the sea from a crumbling concrete wharf, lounge about in the city square, and sip some tea in one of the local cafes. While you may be used to whizzing around Hong Kong from place to place on the metro, Tai O is all about taking it easy and relaxing off of the beaten path.