Captain Amerika & Donny @ We Love HK: 20121020-TaiO

大澳探秘遊 (尋找陰森恐怖的方便所)
Long Time No See, Tai O
(Adventure @ abandoned "Convenient House" ~ a village hospice in Tai O, run by the people living there in the 1930s, near the Tai O cemetery)

(東涌巴士總站 11 號巴士→大澳市集總站→新基→大澳象山附近尋找方便所→漫遊石仔埗→回東涌)
(Bus no.11 @ Tung Chung Bus Terminus→Tai O Market Terminus→Sun Ki→looking for the Tai O former mortuary [also a hospice] near Elephant Hill [Tai O Cemetery]→Go to Shek Tsai Po→Back to Tung Chung Town)

Tai O abandoned mortuary (village hospice):

http://www.fotop.net/medalene/20oct12TaiOMortuary?page=1

http://www.fotop.net/medalene/20oct12TaiOMortuary?page=2

Maps showing the location of the abandoned mortuary (village hospice):

http://www.fotop.net/medalene/TaiOHospiceMaps

一早到了大澳市集, 在地圖上找到"方便所" 的位置了!! "方便所"是30年代由一位葉女士捐款興建, 是幫助單身長者及垂死病人安渡晚年的院舍, 亦是停屍間, 分別有男女方便院兩間石屋.
We arrived Tai O early in the monring and found the location of the abandoned "Chi Sin Mortuary" (Tai O Mortuary) from the big map! "Chi Sin Mortuary" used to be a hospice for the dying people (both old or seriously ill) in Tai O, providing care services for them until they passed away. It also used to be a mortuary and funeral home in the past. It is built in the 1930s by a lady (with the family name Yip), so this is why it is called "Chi Sin" which means "charity" in Cantonese. There are two houses, one for male and another for female, near the Tai O public cemetery.

從大澳街市出發, 經新基橋到新基街. 途經很多水上棚屋.
We started from Tai O seafood market and reached Sun Ki Street via Sun Ki Bridge. There are many stilt houses on the water.

沿新基街前進, 濕地非常美麗!!! 到了象山的山腳, 先轉入路邊的叢林小徑.
We walked along Sun Ki Street and we could see the beautiful wetland and ponds!! When we had reached the "bottom" of Elephant Hill (Cheung Shan, or North Hill), we switched to the footpath at the back of the wetland.

叢林小徑內有另一天地!!! 原來這裡是農地!!! 太陽下的菜乾, 菜田, 加了蓋的井, 柴枝, 肥美的木瓜樹, 超大魚塘.... 難以想像香港仍有如此古樸的農村風味!!
What did we see at the back of the wetland??? Woow!!! There is an old village here!! Lots of fields, farmers put vegetables (pak choi) to dry under the sun, a well with a lid, firewood, papaya trees,... and a big fish pond!!!! This is HK?? Really so beautiful!!

我們的午餐~ IKEA 的乾麥餅, 在農地旁坐下吃麥餅, 簡單的粗食, 配上古樸的農村, 這一頓午飯真有風味!!!
Our lunch~ Wholemeal crisp rolls from IKEA! We just sat near the lettuce field and shared these rolls @ the pondside!! Simple and healthy food with beautiful surroundings!! A wonderful lunch!

終於找到方便所!!!!! 這裡就在大澳公眾墳場旁, 環境有點陰森. 這裡常有靈異傳聞, 不過我們就完全沒有發現有任何詭異的地方.
Finally we had found the "Tai O Mortuary"!! It is just near the Tai O Public Cememtery. There are lots of paranormal / psychic stories from this place~ yes, it is quite dark here even at noon. But we didn't see anything strange this afternoon.

重回新基街, 沿樓梯上山. 對岸是寶珠潭及楊候古廟.
Back to Sun Ki Street and go upstairs for the hillside path. The opposite side is Po Chu Dam (Green "gemstone" floating on the sea) and Yeung Hau Temple.

山上有石碑~ 嶼北界石, 是香港大嶼山上的界碑之一，於1902年樹立，以表明大嶼山已租予英國。超過100年歷史!!
Tombstone??? There is an obelisk @ the hillside~ North Lantau Obelisk, a boundary stone erected since 1902, which is to mark the water boundary between Hong Kong and Mainland China.

象山上禧戲.
Playing @ Elephant Hill.

回到新基看棚屋, 現代化的棚屋已裝上冷氣機, 地板及打掃乾淨了. 漁村內有鹽工之家, 附近有不少紀念品店.
Back to Sun Ki to have a look @ the modernised stilt houses~ mostly are air-conditioned, with tiled floors, very clean and tidy. (There was a fire in 2000 destroying most of the houses, so these stilt houses are re-built after that fire.) There is a little house which used to be a "Salt Workers' Quarter", and there are quite a number of souvernir shops in the village.

離開新基, 到大澳的另一端~ 石仔埗一遊!
Leaving Sun Ki and we moved to another side of Tai O~ Shek Tsai Po!

石仔埗的棚屋.
Stilt houses @ Shek Tsai Po.

亦有磚屋.
Besides stilt houses, there are also brick houses.

石仔埗的海邊:~ 有很多大型藍膠桶, 到底是什麼?? 原來這裡是生產大澳特產"蝦膏" 及 "蝦醬" 的工廠! 藍膠桶內是發酵中的蝦, 將來便會給製成一瓶瓶的蝦醬出售. 生產"蝦膏" 及 "蝦醬"已經不大流行, 我們在海邊找到一間已倒閉了的蝦廠, 進入一看生產用的工具.
Seaside of Shek Tsai Po~ there are lots of large blue plastic containers (big buckets?) here!! What are they use for? Oh.... There is a shrimp paste factory near these containers!! Shrimp paste (or shrimp sauce) is an ingredient used for cooking, it is made from fermented shrimp mixed with salt. These "jumbo buckets" are used during the fermentation process. We also found a closed shrimp paste factory nearby, so we went into the building to have a look!!

石仔埗的盡頭~ 石仔埗碼頭, 以及由前大澳警署改建而成的文物酒店
Now we reached the end of Shek Tsai Po Street~ Shek Tsai Po Ferry pier and Tai O Heritage Hotel (Renovated from former Tai O Police Station)