Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WORTH A DETOUR
THE SOUND & SCENT OF TAI HANG
To get to Tai Hang, take bus 26 from Central. The single- or double-decker lets you off
on a slope under a bak lantree, a white orchid that stands about eight storeys high.
Alight into scent, then descend the stairs, thousands of leaves overhanging, and more
scent: incense from a neighbourhood temple. Just ahead is Tai Hang, a quiet, low-rise
pocket of Hong Kong tucked in a valley.
Many of the residents have grown up in Tai Hang. Friendliness prevails. Children are
doted on. Whole families take walks. Many elders like to sit in plastic chairs along the
main road to watch the days continue, one after another, a thermos of tea at hand.
Mornings are calmest.
At mealtimes and especially in the evenings, Tai Hang bursts with many happy
people eating: homemade congee 19 hours a day, gourmet cheese, late-night sweets,
Vietnamese and Japanese and Thai, pasta and pizzerias, wine bars, beer bars, coffee
bars, an oyster bar and more.
The congee shop is a centre of the community open from 6am until 1.30am the fol-
lowing day. At least eight members of the family work here together. The youngest
have slept in a crib alongside the shop, then used stools as desks, and now help serve
a customer or two. The teenagers help after school. It's the grandparents and parents
and an uncle or two who run the shop.
But there is more to Tai Hang than food. Small-scale walk-ups, an art-deco building
from the 1930s, a clay-tile roofed home (one of the oldest remaining single-family
homes of its kind on Hong Kong Island), sidewalk furniture, three picturesque
temples, a public garden full of flowering trees, several rooftop gardens, and at least
one skyscraper in the making, probably green-skirted with scaffolding nets.
And birdsong in Tai Hang is plentiful. The first round starts at about 3.30am.
Raptors loop from time to time, cockatoos may perch on aerials, screeching, and the
family who runs the fruit shop keeps a huge turtle on the rooftop. Plus there are the
cats and dogs, many for the lap.
Lin Fa Temple
was named for the lotus, for the purity and shape of the blossom.
Step inside to find a huge and holy stone, a goddess who used to be male, and 60 di-
vinities of time. A corner window stays open during the day for passersby to have dir-
ect access to the goddess of mercy, and many people bow, hands in prayer, from 50m
away.
Flowers. Bak lan. Lin fa.One of the best places for flowers is a tiny alley off Tung Lo
Wan Rd near the Metropark Hotel. A family has been selling flowers there for about 55
years, and a generous bunch goes for far less than HK$55. If you arrive or leave Tai
