As typhoon season came to an end, we had quite a bit of rotten weather at the end of last week, but it cleared over the weekend in time for my next trip. After visiting Lion Rock, I’d been on top of Hong Kong in one sense, now it was time to be on top in another sense, by travelling to the New Territories to Ha Pak Nai, a rural area to the North of Hong Kong, just before it meets the Chinese city of Shenzhen. This wetland area is famed for its incredible sunsets and it didn’t disappoint.
Whilst I was in the area, I also decided to visit the Hong Kong Wetland Park (MTR West Rail Tin Shui Wai Station. Change to 705 or 706 Light Rail and alight at Tin Sau Station or Wetland Park Station). It’s supposedly home to many species of wildlife and lets you walk through the green wetland to see what you can find. At only $15 entry with a student card, I figured it was worth a look. Whilst it wasn’t overwhelmingly brilliant (and short of stopping and staring at every tree for half an hour, the wildlife wasn’t very forthcoming), it was worth the £1 entrance fee and killed some time whilst I was in the area.
Going on a Sunday wasn’t my best idea though as it was full of out-of-control kids. They obviously figured the best way to get the animals to show themselves was to run around screaming or stamping their feet. Going on a weekday would probably have been better, though it was still quite nice. And I saw the biggest fish I’ve ever seen. It was like something out of Pokemon.
A Sunset to Remember
But the real reason I was here was to see the perfect sunset I’d heard about. Seeing it involved a complicated journey but, as is always the case, it was completely worth it. Alighting the MTR at Yuen Long, I walked over to Tai Fung Street for my first ever minibus experience. In Hong Kong, the green minibuses don’t tend to have set stops (except at the beginning and end) so when on the bus you just have to shout stop when you’re near where you want to be. Which is fine – if you know where you want to be.
All I knew was that I wanted to see a sunset and that minibus 33 would take me near there (for around $10), though heading towards the sunset isn’t much good at 3 in the afternoon. Luckily, the Ha Pak Nai sunset is well known amongst locals and I wasn’t the only one heading there. After a while, I looked to my right and saw the Hong Kong-Shenzhen bridge, along with the wetland I recognised from the photos. Another group of people got off here (near to a restaurant or resort type place) so I followed them and hopped off. I later found out the area is called Ap Tsai Hang and this is the place to get off. It shows up on Google Maps too. A quick walk through a field brought me out onto the muddy wetland, with clear views over the water of the city of Shenzhen.
