Overview
Tai Po was a pearling village dating back to the Han dynasty. The area was then dominated by deep forests that were home to wild animals. Villagers would walk rapidly past the forested areas to avoid them, and that gave the area its name - 'big steps'. The area now features desirable luxury homes in a bustling 14,800-hectare new town. The population of about 320,000 reside in several public housing and Home Ownership Scheme estates, 133 indigenous villages and several luxury residential developments. Tai Po Old Market and Tai Wo Town are the oldest settlements in the area and are still the hubs of activity due to the presence of two KCR stations. Hong Kong's first dedicated industrial estate, set up in 1974, also helped the new town prosper.
Transport
The Tolo Highway running along Tolo Harbour is a section of Route 9, which forms a circuit in the northern and eastern New Territories linking Tai Po with Fanling, Sheung Shui, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and Sha Tin. The route branches off in San Tin to access Lok Ma Chau, the cross-border checkpoint to Huanggang in Shenzhen. The completion of Tolo Harbour in 1985 and Tate's Cairn Tunnel in 1991 brought Tai Po closer to the rest of the New Territories and Kowloon. The Kowloon-Canton Railway's East Rail serves Tai Po with two stations, Tai Po Market and Tai Wo. The rail journey to Shenzhen takes 14 minutes and to Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui East takes less than 30 minutes. Several bus and mini-bus routes link Tai Po housing clusters to the two KCR stations. There is also public transport to Kowloon and across the harbour to Hong Kong Island.
Accommodation
Tai Po offers housing to suit all - from village houses to super-deluxe villas at the Beverly Hills. Mid-range public and private flats cluster around the KCR Tai Po Market station and Tai Wo station. Luxury homes are around Tolo Harbour, from the Tai Po Kau section of Tai Po Road in the south to Ting Kok Road in the north. Developments along Tai Po Road include Grand Palisades, the Paragon, Riverain Bayside, Chateau Royale, Savanna Garden, Constellation Cove (right), Villa Costa, Deerhill Villa and Deerhill Bay. Off Ting Kok Road at the Shuen Wan end are Casa Marina, Forest Hill, Richwood Park and Tycoon Place. Jutting out in Sam Mun Tsai Road in a peninsula is the Beverly Hills, which offers views of Tolo Harbour and Plover Cove Reservoir. Louisa Li Suk-lin, the district manager of Ricacorp Properties' Richwood Park, said Tai Po's luxury homes were favoured by industrialists who often travelled to their mainland factories because of the district's relative proximity to the mainland. She said Tai Po had gems such as a 4,368 sqft house with a rare 8,000 sqft garden, at a sale price of HK$45 million. She said Casa Marina's developer, Henderson Land Development, was leasing units of 2,400 to 4,729 sqft for HK$13 to HK$15 per square foot per month. Smaller apartments such as a 1,370 sqft unit in Constellation Cove were renting for HK$22,000 per month.