Hiking in Hong Kong: beautiful Hoi Ha and Pak Sha O, a historic Hakka village
Hoi Ha is best known for its marine park, tranquil beaches, and natural coral, but combine your trip with a visit to nearby Pak Sha O, and you’ll arrive in one of Hong Kong’s remaining traditional Hakka villages
Early on a fine summer morning, Hoi Ha Wan (“Bay Beneath the Sea”) seems serene, the calm waters reflecting Hoi Ha village’s cluster of pale, three-storey buildings, set low on otherwise verdant hillsides, beside a lagoon at the mouth of a stream.
Yet, as with too many places in the rural New Territories, there are conflicts behind the scenes between conservation and development. Plans are always ongoing to build houses here to rent or sell to city folk or mainland Chinese, to reap substantial profits – plans opposed by people who love the countryside.
It still makes for a wonderful outing, however. One of the best places to head lies along a path west of the village. The start of the route is not obvious. Where the road to the village ends just before the housing, look east, to find a concrete path down a slope towards a public toilet.
Follow it down, and turn right before the toilet, then walk towards the coast along the path, that soon becomes a rough trail through woodland and scrubland. Next look for a left turn where there’s a splash of red paint on a rock.
The faint path soon passes a fine banyan tree by a pleasant glade, before leading through an open area that is often marshy. There is a stream crossing, where you jump between boulders (don’t attempt if the stream is flooded, as it becomes dangerous), before a little scrambling, and you arrive at a beach.