Tai O Fishing Village | Hong Kong

There are places that draw you in, nudging you to keep walking through its narrow streets and on cobbled pathways, fascinating you with the magic of variety and you keep wondering – what’s more. That’s what I felt in Tai O Fishing village in Hong Kong.

When I reached Tung Chung, Hong Kong, I had a plan. But as soon as I stood in the long snaking queue for Cable-Car Ride, I realized a backup plan was necessary. We were told that it would take 2 hours just to reach the ticketing counter and then another hour for a chance to board the cable car. After standing there for half an hour we decided to take the bus to Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. But since the queue for Tai O village, located near Ngong Ping was shorter, we opted to go there.

Tai O is a quaint fishing village in the south west part of Lantau Island. As soon as I alighted from the bus, a gust of fresh air greeted me. So quiet, so serene – you could sit for hours here, watching the waterfront.

Instead of taking the boat ride, I thought of spending time inside the village. A glimpse of stilt houses, rows of dried fish for sale, puffer fish souvenirs – I was amazed by what the village had to offer. I haven’t been to a place like this before, so I wanted to spend time looking at stalls, the structure of houses and listen to conversations I did not understand. I have seen stilt houses before in my village in Assam.

View from Tung Chung Footbridge

Wanna try some Fish Balls

The streets of Tai O Village

Fascinated by the dried Star Fish and bird like Puffer Fish!!

As a souvenir I bought a box of beautiful ceramic chopsticks from a small street stall. The shopkeeper was a very aged man who initially priced it at $120 HKD. But then brought it down to $100 HKD. It was later on did we find that the same set was being sold at higher rates ($350 to $400) in bigger popular stores.

Beautiful wooden and ceramic chopsticks

On the way we stopped by Kwan Tai Temple, just few minutes from the foot bridge.

Guess who I met while strolling through the streets – Charcoal Grill Egg Puff Uncle. Tai O fishing village is also know his famous egg puffs, that be makes in traditional charcoal stove.

He is quite a celebrity I read. With his sunglasses on, he cooly flips the batter filled pan over charcoal fueled oven. Totally loved his style!! The egg puffs were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Just for $15 HKD, I got to taste some awesome egg puffs.

Fancy some live fish and crabs!! I have never tried eating them before so I was mostly fascinated by the sights of various sealife kept in different containers.

We spent a couple of hours in the village and then took the bus to Ngong Ping 360 to see the magnificent Big Buddha and stunning Po Lin Monastery. You can read about them here:

Po Lin Monastery Hong Kong
Big Buddha Hong Kong

Here’s some more views of Tai O.