What to Do in the New Territories: Tin Shui Wai
The “Town of Sadness” is shaking off its gloomy reputation to become a dynamic and vibrant NT hub.
See Your seafood
Lau Fau Shan is a village famous for the oyster farming which has taken place along its shoreline for hundreds of years. While this continues on a smaller scale, its main street now boasts stalls offering a huge range of live seafood and shellfish which you can buy and take to one of several restaurants, who will cook it up to order.
Shan Tung St. or Main St., Lau Fau Shan.
History Walking
The Ping Shan Heritage Trail takes you on a historical journey through three villages, temples, ancestral halls and a walled village. Well-preserved heritage sites and centuries-old ancestral halls offer a tingly look into the lives of early clan settlers from the late Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), and include Hong Kong’s oldest pagoda, Tsui Shing Lau, built around 1486, a 200-year-old walled village and the famous Tang and Yu Kiu ancestral halls.
From Tin Shui Wai MTR station Exit C, turn left on Tin Fuk Rd. and again onto Ping Ha Rd.
Walk on the wild side
Believe it or not, the SAR has much more wildlife than rats and roaches. Hong Kong Wetland Park offers unique plant life and more than 200 bird species in its 60 acres of land, highlighting the diversity of our flora and fauna and importance of conservation. It’s also the home of celebrity crocodile Pui Pui, caught in the Shan Pui River in the northwestern NT in 2003.
Hong Kong Wetland Park, Wetland Park Road, Tin Shui Wai, 3152-2666.
Rustic rummaging
Run by members of the Tang clan, Ping Shan Traditional Poon Choi is one of the city’s oldest and most traditional poon choi restaurants, where fish, shrimp, chicken, mushrooms and more delicacies are served layered in a metal “basin” dish. What’s not to like?
G/F, 36 Tong Fong Village, Tong Fong Village, 2617-8000.
