At the tip of Lantau Island is Tai O. A stilted fishing village often postcarded as Hong Kong's Venice, Tai O is at the end of the Bus Route 11. If you're lucky, one of Lantau's water buffalo will be shambling along waiting to welcome you through the hanging stench of the fish paste and dried fish that this community is famous for. (It's also famous for its pink dolphin tours.  The 40 minute boat ride is great fun but in all the years I've been doing the tour I have never ever not once seen any dolphins let alone a pink dolphin)

You arrive to narrowing lane ways with drying fish set out to bake in the sun. Tin roofs. Tin walls. Rooms open to the street full of women clacking majong tiles. Rice steaming in wide bamboo curves. 

Fish carcasses streaming down from the ceiling majestically. On a hot day, the stench is overwhelming. The shops, the homes, the displays clatter on top of each other, the sounds, the smells, the colours ricochet and reverberate. It's overpowering. Cats are everywhere, in control and well fed. Normally i succumb to the boat ride to "see" the famous white dolphins but in twenty years of 40 minute tours I have never seen one. Not to say that it's not a pleasant diversion but do it for the peace and quite not for the prospect of positive sighting.

Push through the stalls of drying fish and sesame sweets and salty plums, past the public toilets and to the left and follow the signs to the Tai O Heritage Hotel.

there's nothing like the waft of drying fish on a hot day to enliven the senses..

It's a longish walk on a hot day but it's worth it.  You pass tin shack after tin shack impossibly fashioned and supplemented with second stories and air conditioning and satellite tv. 

It was a stinking hot day and, after 20 mins of walking, it was well and truly time to be there. The Tai O Heritage Hotel is on the point, away from the fluster of the fishing village. Set on the hill, overlooking the harbour, the former police station provided a crucial vantage point for authorities trying (vainly) to police wide-spread pirating.

It's a majestic, pillared building, speaking of the grandeur of extinguished days. Restored in 2009, the 9 room boutique hotel had so much potential in the conversion.  Alas,not realised but it is air conditioned and enthusiastic and the best culinary choice in Tai O (but don't get too excited.  this is extremely basic food. but the wine and beer are cold,and the views are a welcome chance to sit back and survey).  

In short. Tai O is a must. Visit the Buddha and then escape the tourist trap to Tai O.  Unless you've bought your own food, Tai O Heritage Hotel is the best choice. Other options - catch a cab or bus to Mui Wo and eat there before catching a ferry back to Central or just hold your hunger and head back to Tung Chung as quickly as possibly before heading back into the cacophony of central HK for the smorgasbord of food options that exist.


PS one of the most beautiful temples in Hong Kong is a cab ride away from Tai O. The Kwun Yam Temple, hidden in amongst the trees on the side of the steep hillsides of Lantau, is majestically, joyously exuberant. There are rarely more than 5 other visitors there and the opportunity to sit quietly and centre is always welcome.