You Learn Something New Every Day.

Old meets new in Hong Kong.

I was looking at some videos on Hong Kong when I came across one in Chinese that showed an old style fishing village with houses on stilts, but directly behind them there were lots of tall, imposing high-rise buildings. I couldn't work out where it was, but I knew I wanted to go there. After a lot of searching, to my great surprise, I discovered it was Tung Chung. I go to Tung Chung all the time. It's very close to where I live, but I had never seen this fishing village.

I discovered the fishing village was called Ma Wan Chung and that the high-rises towering over it were Yat Tung Estate. I've been to Yat Tung Estate. It is a group of public housing blocks that has its very own art walk and a wet market themed on old Hong Kong.

Old and new on the waterfront.

I read there was a way to go to Ma Wan Chung which first goes to Tung Chung Battery, a ruin I have not investigated yet, but I messed up and went the wrong way, so Tung Chung Battery will have to wait until another time. I accessed Ma Wan Chung by going to Yat Tung Estate and heading towards the water. I came across an Islamic centre which had a path next to it. On the other side of the path there's currently a building site. The path leads to Ma Wan Chung.

Islamic centre.

Route to the village next to the Islamic centre. It's very easy to miss.

Tung Chung was a fishing village long before it was a new town and apparently there has been a settlement around the Ma Wan Chung area since around 618AD. At one time there were fields growing rice, garlic and spring onions here. The waters were teeming with crabs and lots of different kinds of fish.

Nowadays you could come here simply because it is different from the usual high-rise, or to have a meal in a seafood restaurant, or because apparently it is a fantastic spot to watch the sunset.

Restaurant.

Some of the village is in good condition and some is fairly broken down, but in my opinion all of it is interesting and definitely worth a look.

Sturdy looking houses.

Sturdy looking houses.

A bit less sturdy looking.

A bit less sturdy looking.

Even less sturdy.

Oh dear!

Naturally being an old fishing village many of the houses were on stilts, so it reminded me of Tai O though on a much smaller scale.

Houses on stilts.

Houses on stilts.

Houses on stilts.

There are a few piers here including the old Tung Chung Pier, which I assume was the main pier at one time before the new pier was built. It was decorated with paintings of different kinds of sea creatures. Some of the piers looked like they were about to collapse.

Tung Chung Old Pier.

Art on the pier.

Art on the pier.

This was the most scenic pier

This pier doesn't look too safe.

Unsafe pier from a different angle.

Naturally there are also lots of boats, including some ferries.

Boats.

Boats.

Boats.

There were some bridges connecting different parts of the village. As I crossed the bridges I could see mangroves in the water.

Bridge.

Bridge.

Bridge.

Mangroves.

Of course the village had some little shrines, though I don't think it has a larger temple.

Shrine.

Shrine

Some of the village has been beautifully decorated with artwork. This was along the old pier and on the walls of several houses.

Artwork.

Artwork.

Artwork.

Artwork.

Artwork.

After a good wander around taking in a variety of sights (it's a bit like a maze and I fear I may have accidentally wandered into someone's house at one point), I headed off to Yat Tung Estate.

Street.

Washing.

Hair salon.

I found this building very pretty.

Close up.

Boots.

Yat Tung Estate has several blocks and covers quite a large area. In between the blocks there are open spaces where children can play in the playgrounds, and old men play mahjong with their friends. This area has several sculptures which are known as The Art Walk. I didn't try to follow The Art Walk. I just decided to photograph art works that I bumped into accidentally. I encountered quite a few.

Old men relaxing.

Art work.

Buffalo and ducks.

This was an odd one.

Family circle.

Then I headed to Hong Kong Market. This was much more interesting than I had been expecting. It is done up as if it is located on the old style streets of Hong Kong and is overflowing with fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and dried goods. It was a great place to take photos.

Near the entrance there was an old-fashioned style barbecue restaurant. There are several entrances and the main one was decorated with rickshaws and old post boxes.

Old fashioned restaurant.

Main entrance to Hong Kong Market.

Post box.

Rickshaw.

Another entrance to the market.

I liked that the market was done up to look like old Hong Kong. There were pawn shop signs, old fashioned barbers shops, old style shop houses.

Street scene.

Street scene.

Barber's shop.

My favourite areas to photograph were the very colourful fruit and vegetable stalls.

Fruit stall.

Fruit stall.

Fruit stall.

Durian.

Green Vegetables.

Vegetables.

Vegetables.

Vegetables.

Vegetables.

For the meat eaters there were ducks and chickens and fish and sea food.

Ducks and geese and chickens.

Fish.

Fish.

Seafood.

Seafood.

One of my favourite stalls was the beautifully laid out egg stall.

Eggs

sausage and eggs.

There were also some flowers and household goods.

Flowers.

Household goods

On my walk back to the centre of Tung Chung I passed food that had been placed outside to dry in the sun.

Drying food on the street.