Tai O, Lantau Island 大澳

Tai O is a small fishing village located at the western side of Lantau Island. We had originally wanted to take the Ngong Ping cable car to the Giant Buddha, have some Vegetarian Lunch at Po Lin Monastery, before heading to Tai O. But due to a reports of malfunction which left passengers stranded on air for 30 minutes, the fourth time which it broke down in six weeks, the cable car services was suspended for two months tor parts replacement and maintenance.

As such, we decided just to do a half day morning tour of Tai O on a bright Sunday morning. 

The easiest way to get to Tai O is by MTR to Tung Chung Station, then change for a direct bus No. 11 to Tai O. Bus fare costs HKD11.80 per way, but as we went on a Sunday, the bus fare was more expensive at HKD19.20 per way. The bus trip takes about 50 minutes to bring you to Tai O. 

The popular Citygate Outlets is also located at Tung Chung. 

After a winding 50 minute bus ride, we finally reached Tai O!

Tai O is a fishing village, hence you can find many of these small boats. 

There was a small stall selling freshly cut salted fish, which is very popular among the aunties. 

Most of the shops along the pedestrian streets of Tai O sell dried seafood produce.

Look at the size of the dried oyster! plump and juicy. Of course I had to buy some. 

All are dried seafood produce! From fish maw to salted fish to scallops and shrimps. 

Dried Fish Maw - almost every stall sells this. 

Finally some fresh seafood! This one sells grilled scallops. 

Clams and Hairy crabs.

This was the stall which I bought my dried oysters. Their items are not pre-packed, unlike some other stalls, so you can determine how much quantity you want to buy. 

A traditional bakery. Tai O is still a very simple village, where you can find shops selling the most simple, but delicious food. 

Some villagers are preparing bridal gifts - traditional wedding cakes and biscuits and the main item - the whole roasted pig! See how huge the pig is...  and it's hard to find these traditional wedding biscuits in Singapore anymore. 

The local kindergarten. Kudos to the people who painted this painting. 

There are also many stray cats in Tai O. here kitty kitty... 

This is the primary school in Tai O. Singapore students - aren't you lucky to have big schools with great facilities in Singapore. 

A bicycle rental shop on the left. 

This looks like the residential area of Singapore during the 70s. 

A restaurant on stilts, also selling salted fish. 

More houses built on top of stilts. 

Time to sit back and enjoy some nice scenery...

Old house, New house. What a huge difference!

Most of the villagers staying here are either old folks, or small children. 

The villagers really like their dried food. If it's not dried seafood, then it's dried fruit. 

After walking for so long, we decided to rest our feet and fill our stomach at this soya bean curd shop. 

Besides soya bean curd, they also sell black sesame paste, almond paste, walnut paste, or combination with soya bean curd as well. The bottle behind is actually brown sugar, which you can sprinkle some on your soya bean curd.The brown sugar actually goes very well with the bean curd!

We ordered a bowl of plain soya bean curd and one with black sesame paste. 

Prawn paste and seafood sauces are also famous here in Tai O. 

Charcoal grilled dried cuttlefish. 

Fresh sea snails clams for sale. 

These boats are for the river boat rides, which cost about HKD20 per person for a 30 minute boat ride. 

A lady picking out impurities from the dried shrimps. One must have good eyesight for this job! 

I wonder what fish this is... poor thing.. 

Anyone keen on starfish or seahorses? Tai O has it too!

Besides dried oysters, Hong Kong is also popular with dried duck gizzards. 

Spicy sea snail at HKD55 a plate. Looks delicious, but a tad too spicy..

The shop also offers grilled oysters/prawns with cheese, or abalone or scallops. All looks so tempting to me! 

I couldn't resist and ordered one grilled oyster with cheese. Fresh with lots of cheese. My favourite!

There is also another popular item here - dried salted duck egg yolk. After leaving the fresh duck egg yolk to dry, it will harden and it is packed into individual bags for sale. 

This granny is preparing the salted duck egg yolks. After removing the egg whites, the yolk is left on bamboo sieve, sprinkled with salt and left to dry. 

More of the dried tangerines. 

There is also a post office and fire station side by side here at Tai O. 

We came across this stall with a long queue. Many of the tourists were also talking about this stall along the way. 

It's actually selling glutinous rice cakes (or what they call 茶果/ 糯米糍 in Hong Kong). No fanciful set up, no nice packaging. Just a simple delicious rice cake will attract people to queue for it. That's the beauty of Tai O. 

Overall we had an enjoyable morning in Tai O. It was nostalgic walking along the streets of Tai O, and interesting to look at all the seafood for sale. As we went on a Sunday, most of the shops were open, and there was quite a lot of crowd along the streets. 
Although Tai O is becoming more of a tourist destination now, it is still a good experience to get out of the Hong Kong city life and experience a day of village life. 

These are my buys from Tai O. The cuttlefish is for boiling soup, the bigger oysters on top can be fried or steamed, and the smaller oysters below is best for cooking congee. 


Tai O 大澳
How to get there: take the MTR to Tung Chung station, and change for bus 11 to Tai O.