Hong Kong 2009 Day 4

Visited the Hong Kong Wetland Park at Tin Shui Wai today, a town in the northwestern part of the New Territories. This new town was so far away from the vibrant central of Hong Kong that it took more than an hour to get there, even by MTR (and we had to transfer across 4 rail lines). This town has been unpleasantly dubbed the City of Sadness for its many social issues - suicides, domestic violence, homicides, illnesses etc. Among the many tragedies was one involving a mother suffering from mental illness tying up her children and throwing them out of the window from their 24th storey flat, before jumping to her death. Various causes had been suggested - remote location, high unemployment rate, inadequate security and social services, and even the influx of immigrants from mainland China. This town is so notoriously known that two local movies were made based on it.

We finally arrived at Tin Shui Wai after such a long journey.

View from the Tin Shui Wai MTR station

School buildings here six storeys high on average - do they have lifts?

We had a really cheap lunch at YLK in Tin Yan Shopping Centre. Seriously could not believe set lunches here (complete with soup, bread and drink) cost only SGD$5+, half the price of those found in the central areas on Hong Kong Island. And they weren't of an inferior quality.

At Tin Yan Shopping Centre

YLK (what a weird restaurant name)

Slug enjoying his pork curry rice

To get to the Wetland Park, we took the Light Rail, their means of commuting between the housing estates in the the town. As the LRT took us through the dense housing estates, we did not get really good vibes. The towering grey housing blocks and the hazy surroundings somehow gave a gloomy feel even in broad daylight.

At Tin Yiu LRT station

#705 to get to Wetland Park

Uniform-looking housing estates along the way

The Hong Kong Wetland Park is an educational facility that aims to conserve the marshes and prevent its destruction from further development of the town. Here, visitors can catch a glimpse of the native flora and fauna, learn more about its ecological biodiversity and understand the importance of conservation. It comprises an exhibition hall as well as many trails that allow visitors to explore the marsh and lake and appreciate the interactions between nature and wildlife.

Wetland Park LRT station

Crossing the overhead bridge to get to the park

View from the overhead bridge

At Hong Kong Wetland Park

Map of the boardwalk trails inside the Wetland Reserve

Slug the nature photographer

Exhibits and animal enclosures in the exhibition centre

Lifelike models of animals

We also came to the enclosure of a crocodile affectionately known as Pui Pui by the locals. It became well-known after appearing in the Shan Pui River and then evading capture for the next few months, but from there, it also raised awareness towards wildlife conservation. Previously housed at Kadoorie Farm, it had been moved to settle here so that the public can take a look at her.

Pui Pui the crocodile

Inside the park

More nature photography from Slug

Directions to the various boardwalks

At the Mangrove Boardwalk

Birds feeding at the exposed mudflats during low tide

Slug took this picture through a telescope

Peaceful lake with a beautiful reflection

Evening approaching and it was time to go

Tin Shui Wai in the evening

Air pollution from a nearby factory

We completed all the boardwalk trails just in time before they closed at 5pm. Then from there, we took a cab to 有叉用烧烤乐园, a barbeque buffet eatery in Yuen Long. Maybe we reached there a little too early, because when we got there, it was so quiet that we suspected it had closed down. We expected that at 6pm, they would be busy with the dinner crowd. A young chap whom we believed to be a helper there led us to our pit, gave us our tray of food and barbeque necessities and collected money from us. For about SGD13, we could have an endless supply of meats and vegetables to barbeque for 5 hours.

He (Slug and I felt that he looked as cute as a beaver) then proceeded to light up our BBQ pit using some superpower torch which got the charcoals flaming within 5 minutes. As we sat there and started barbequeing, we were getting increasingly spooked - dim lights, dark forest in the background, wild dogs barking and just the two of us. We could not help but ask Beaver if we would be their only customers for the night, and he said that the dinner crowd would be streaming in after 9pm after they had knocked off from work. We were really looking forward to some noise and human presence soon.

Beaver setting up the pit for us

Slug seemed a little disturbed by the silence

Oh, never mind, eating was more important

They use pitchforks for barbequeing

Halfway through, Slug went off to fish at the fishing ground nearby in the compound while I continued barbequeing. I had a newly-discovered passion towards grilling honeyed corncobs. Spreading on layers and layers of honey did the trick, which created a thin crunchy caramelized coating on the corncob infused with a burnt aftertaste. Happily savoured 5 corncobs.

Yummmmmmmmm

Meanwhile, Slug was chatting with Beaver and getting to know more about each other's hometown. Beaver was puzzled why two tourists would venture to such a farflung place like Tin Shui Wai, and lamented that the immigrants from China had caused much conflict and unhappiness in this town because of their mannerisms and the competition in the labourforce (we could empathize with him). We also found it amusing when Beaver said he had never considered visiting Singapore because he thought smoking was banned in the country. How on earth did he get such a mistaken perception of Singapore?

Slug at the fishing platform

Housing blocks in Yuen Long at night

A quiet frog hiding in the toilet cubicle and scaring me

Slug did not catch any fish throughout the night, although there was really a huge one that got hooked (but managed to escape because it was not even a proper fishing rod). Later in the night we then realised why he had not been able to catch any - Beaver feeds the fishes in the pond the leftover meats from the barbeque every night!

The barbeque place

We left at about 11pm, and it was so dark and quiet on the way out to the main road that we had to call for a cab. I could not stop thinking about the honeyed corncobs on the way home.