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next stop was the walled village of Kat Hing Wai. This village
dates to the 1600's when it was built as a fortress for the Tang clan.
The Tangs were some of the first inhabitants of the region when them
moved from central and southern China over 800 years ago. Today the
villagers farm the adjacent land and rice fields The village with
its protective walls and moat stand as a reminder of a typical Cantonese
village of several hundred years ago when walls were needed to protect
the inhabitants from the bandits that roamed the area. |
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A
narrow passageway |
Ken
explores one of the passageways at Kat Hing Wai |
Drying
the laundry |
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A
shrine inside one of the
homes of Kat Hing Wai |
The
Hakka Women of Kat Hing Wai |
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of the highlights of visiting the walled villages is the opportunity
to photograph the Hakka women wearing their broad brim hats. They
will gladly oblige your photo requests for a small fee which you can
bargain for before taking the photo. They are a bit adamant about
the fee at times. For example, I bargained with the four women at
the right and took several pictures. While I was taking my pictures
Darla walked up and took a picture totally unaware of the bargaining.
When I paid them I figured it covered the both of us, but they immediately
pursued Darla to extract their fee from her also. It was really unimportant
as the fee is small and the pictures are certainly worth the small
price. |
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Anne,
Ken and Darla at Lok Ma Chau. Mainland China can be readily
seen in the background |
Leaving
Kat Hing Wai we proceeded to Lau Fau Shan, a small fishing
village. There wasn't much there so I didn't bother to take any
photographs. Our next stop, Lok Ma Chau, would be much more
interesting. Lok Ma Chau is situated just south of the Sham Chun
River that separates the New Territories from mainland China. It
offers an excellent view of mainland China from its high vantage
point.
At
the time of our visit Hong Kong was still under British control,
however, that was scheduled to end in 1997, just three years away.
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Cremated
remains at Lok Ma Chau |
A
Hakka woman at Lok Ma Chau |
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Standing
at the overlook on Lok Ma Chau we noticed several clay pots in the
soil down below (picture above left). When we asked our driver what
they were we were told they contained the cremated remains of those
who wanted to but couldn't be returned to mainland China. During the
preceding decades many had tried to escape from Mainland China to
Hong Kong. Some were successful, but it seems they still wanted and
loved their homeland.
A Hakka woman at Lok Ma Chau (photo above right) was very persistent
and wanted us to take her picture. She followed us for quite sometime
before I paid her the HK$1 she demanded. I think the picture was worth
the few pennies it cost. |
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Ken,
Anne and Darla enjoying refreshments |
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With
our day long tour of the New Territories now over it was time to return
to Kowloon and do some shopping. No, we weren't necessarily looking
to buy anything in particular. We just wanted to enjoy the sights
and sounds of Kowloon's busy shopping district ... |
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