Hong Kong: Welcome to Sai Kung

Sai Kung town is just a five minute walk away from Sha Kok Mei Village and this is where I did some growing up too. Located right next to the ocean and surrounded by mountains, Sai Kung is a popular location for seafood and expats. It has a towny feeling but also the busyness of the city. Everyday that I want to go out to the city, I had to walk to town to catch the minivan.




This is the a harbor view of the ocean from Sai Kung. Notice the contrast between the motor boats and the small wooden boats. Those small boats are inhabited by the tankas or the boat dwellers. They make a living off fishing and spend most of their time in their boats.









Along the harbor lies these cramp aquariums with all types of seafood. There's literally everything imagined from giant eels to things that I can't even name. This is just one restaurant front out of many more.









That's me obviously. Picture was taken by another fellow visitor.











Typical aesthetic of the town. Notice all the clothes being hung off the balcony. People in Hong Kong almost never use a dryer to dry their clothes.








The gate to the old side of town. What's behind the gate? Why more seafood restaurant of course.











A glimpse of the old part of town. Don't let the photo fool you! This street is actually not empty (that is impossible to find to Hong Kong). The dingy appearance is a prevalent theme of Hong Kong.











Much to my surprise, this was actually my kindergarten. I never knew that I went to school in Sai Kung when I was young. All I remember about my kindergarten day was that every day at the same time, tens of pigeons would fly into the classroom and we would all scream hysterically.

Hong Kong: Sha Kok Mei Village

I acknowledge that my Hong Kong blog has been a big failure. I didn't update it frequently and I didn't put any pictures up due to the fact that I couldn't have regular access to a computer. But now that I'm back, I can do my Hong Kong adventure blog justice! To kick it off, let me introduce to you the village that I stayed in!

Introducing Sha Kok Mei Village:

The town entrance

The town pagoda

This village is where I was brought up until I was like 4 or 5. I don't quite remember much about it except that this town has really developed throughout the years. There's constant construction going on and most roads are not even paved yet. Many foreigners are actually moving to this village for its relatively peaceful location. It's right next to the ocean and the houses are relatively bigger than the ones in the city.

At night, the dogs rule the streets. My 14 year old cousin would carry a broom stick with her when she's walking around the village because the dogs are a different creature at night. During the day, all they'd do is sleep and eat but at night, their eyes turn red and chase anyone in their path! I almost got bit once coming home late one night.

In addition to dogs, this village occasionally gets visit from wild cows. After living here for 2 and a half weeks, I spotted one just hanging around and eating grass. That thing was HUGE! I walked passed it like it wasn't there but there was a point when it was staring at me. I was so afraid that it was going to charge at me.
A wild ox grazing next to the village's parking lot.



Me with my grandma

So I stayed at my grandma's place when I was in HK. Everyday she goes to "work" (meaning play mahjong with other gamblers) at 10 in the morning and comes back around six. I had the hardest time communicating with her since she speaks a hakka dialect of cantonese (which makes me half Hakka), so I faked it and nodded a lot. She seemed content with just that.

What is Hakka you ask? Well, that is one of the four main ethnic groups that migrated to Hong Kong. As the second group of people to migrate to Hong Kong, the Hakka settled on land that was not of the best quality. One other ethnicity of interest in Hong Kong is the Boat dwellers. They literally live on boats all their life and some still do that till this day. I've been approached by several old ladies asking me if I wanted to ride on their boat for a tour.

The living room My little room. I literally couldn't stand in my room because it was so small.

So there you go. That's the village that I stayed in. Tune in next time for my presentation of the Sai Kung Town and my kindergarten.

Seal Music Video on the Flip