Off to Parents' Farm.

Water lilies at Parents' Farm.

It's been so long since I've been hiking and today I was desperate to get out of the house. Yesterday deafening drilling went on just outside our front door from 9am till 5pm with only a short break when the workmen stopped to have lunch.

I had cleaned up our flat everywhere on Sunday, but the dust generated by the workmen got in even though the door was shut. Everything in our house was covered with a thick layer of filth. I was really pissed off.

On Tuesday I couldn't take any more of it. I offered to take Peter out so he could get away from it too, but he said he'd just stay home with noise excluding headphones on, listening to a book. As the drills started shrieking, I fled.

I took the MTR to Tsuen Wan West Station, then headed to the bus station where I boarded bus 234A to Sham Tseng Village.

Ting Kau and Tsing Ma Bridges from the bus.

Sham Tseng was at one time a small rural village. Now it has a mixture of village houses and towering apartment blocks. There's also a branch of the Garden Bakery here. Sham Tseng is famous for its roasted goose restaurants. There are lots of these, plus many other kinds of restaurant located along the main road.

Roast goose restaurant.

Roast goose restaurant.

Roast goose restaurant.

Restaurant.

However, it wasn't Sham Tseng I had come to see. I wanted to walk to Tsing Fai Tong on the hill behind Sham Tseng.

Tsing Fai Tong is a Hakka village, which was established around two hundred years ago. The Hakka villagers here lived by farming. It was a hard life in quite a remote location, so over time many of the villagers moved away and took jobs in factories or other areas. Eventually all the residents decided to move out of Tsing Fai Tong and live closer to the sea, so they built New Tsing Fai Tong Village near the coastline just behind Sham Tseng.

Then in 2002 there was a surprising reversal. A group of villagers moved out of Tsing Fai Tong New Village and moved back up the mountain to Tsing Fai Tong where they created an organic farm. They called the farm Parents' Farm as it was their ancestral homeland.

To get to Parents' Farm I first walked to Wellcome Supermarket. On the right hand side of the supermarket is Sham Hong Road. This is the start of the forty-five minute uphill walk to Tsing Fai Tong.

Sign for Sham Hong Road.

I walked towards Emmanuel Primary School and then started heading along the narrow path through Sham Tseng Village. There are some lovely colourful houses here.

Emmanuel School at the start of the walk.

Shrine in Sham Tseng.

Doorway.

Doorway.

Village.

Village.

Bananas growing in the village.

I continued through the village along a path lined with yellow railings. I reached a small temple known as the Temple of Heaven and Earth.

Path with yellow railings.

Temple.

The roof of the temple.

Mural in the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Doorway in the temple.

Fish mural in the temple.

At one point I reached a place with three paths. I should have followed the sign for Tsing Fai Tong New Village here, but the path to that looked like it was going to the main road, so I tried the other ways. They both went to houses and were dead ends. There was a public toilet here, too. Eventually I tried the path that looked like it was going to the road and realized there was a path off it that I hadn't noticed before. It was the correct way.

Tsing Fai Tong New Village sign.

I soon came to a set of stairs with a green railing. Thankfully here was clearly marked as the hike to Tsing Fai Tong. From this point it's impossible to go wrong unless you leave the main path and wander off a dirt track. It's very straightforward. The path goes up several sets of steps and there are some steep bits, but it isn't too bad. There are a couple of pavilions where it's possible to stop and rest. The sun even made a brief appearance and brightened up the skies.

Stairs with green railings.

Sign for Tsing Fai Tong hike.

Pavilion.

Pavilion.

Pavilion.

Selfie.

Blue skies.

There was a man walking his dog and for some reason the dog attached itself to me. The man was only walking as far as one of the pavilions but the dog continued up the hill with me. It took its owner a while to persuade it to come back down.

Looking back the way there are good views over the Tsing Ma and Ting Kau Bridges.

View over Tsing Ma Bridge and Garden Bakery.

View over Tsing Ma Bridge and Garden Bakery.

There were lots of lovely white and yellow Gordonia flowers all the way along the trail. There were also a variety of brightly coloured berries.

Gordonia Flower.

Gordonia Flower.

Gordonia Flower.

Berries.

Wild flowers.

Eventually I saw steps off to the right of my path. I knew this wasn't the right way, but went up to see if there was a view. Naturally it led to a grave. These are traditionally positioned in high places preferably with views over water for good fung shui. From this point I could see a huge waterfall. I took some pictures using my zoom and tried to get nearer to the falls later, but I could not find a way even though I found the stream that led to them.

Grave.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Stream.

Stream.

I rejoined the main path. I could also see the waterfall from here through the trees. Soon I came to a sign for Tsing Fai Tong.

Sign for Tsing Fai Tong.

Not long after I arrived at Parents' Farm.

Parents' Farm.

Parents' Farm.

Parents' Farm.

Parents' farm.

The farm produces lots of organic vegetables and there are lots of goats and cows here. The animals can largely roam free. Lots of goats passed by me. There was also a dog. It was very calm and showed no interest in any of the visitors to the farm.

Cow.

Cow and goat.

Goat.

Goat.

Goats.

Dog.

Best of all there were several ponds filled with gorgeous water lilies. These were really quite stunning. It's these lily ponds that this village is most famous for.

Pond in Parents' Farm.

Pond in parents' farm.

Pond in Parents' Farm.

Pond in Parents' Farm.

Water lily.

Water lily.

Water lily.

Water lily.

There were lots of other flowering trees and bushes too. I've heard you can buy some drinks here but I didn't see where that was. It may only be available at weekends as lots of hikers pass through then.

Flowering tree.

Flowering tree.

I walked past the farm and found lots of cars, including some that have been abandoned. Clearly it is possible to drive here via another route.

Car.

Car.

I also found even more lily ponds.

Lily ponds.

Water lily.

A group of young people arrived and they seemed fascinated by the goats. They were trying to hand feed them bits of grass. The goats were very tame. It is really quite rare to see farm animals in Hong Kong.

Goat.

Goat.

Goat.

On the way back down I took a detour along a small path next to a sign post in the hope that it might lead to a viewing point. It did.

View when I wandered off path.

From here I walked back down to Sham Tseng. It's possible to do longer hikes from Tsing Fai Tong, but I am breaking myself back in gradually. I really am out of condition and overweight.

I seemed to be on the flight path for the airport as lots of planes kept passing over my head as I walked.

Plane.

I noticed a little elephant shrine on the walk down that I had missed on the walk up. The elephants had little cups of water to drink. It was quite cute.

Elephant shrine.

I did a bit of shopping in Sham Tseng then caught a minibus to Tsuen Wan Station and headed home.

My walk had raised my spirits enough for me to tackle the horrendous mess those workmen had made of our house.

Today Wednesday the workmen are painting the outside of the building and doing a great job of getting paint all over our windows. Sigh! When will this renovation ever end ? No wonder we love escaping to Macau.