The rebirth of Lung Tsai Ng Yuen, Lantau’s hidden gem

After decades of neglect, one of Lantau’s forgotten gems has been returned to its former quiet glory.

Lung Tsai Ng Yuen – the name means Garden of Enlightenment at Lung Tsai – has been restored as a retreat in the hills of southwest Lantau.

Founded in 1962 by textiles baron Wu Kunsheng as a secluded garden and religious haven, it fell into disrepair after his death.

It is well-remembered locally. Older Lantau residents recall visiting as children, where they played in the gardens and witnessed its exotic wildlife collection.

Upper cottage and garden

In the last five years Wu’s grandchildren have raised and spent a hefty sum on restoring Ng Yuen’s buildings and gardens.

A writer from Economic Times described a visit 18 months ago:

“Once upon a time, Ng Yuen was hailed as a ‘Hidden Paradise’ on Lantau Island. The valley was full of green bamboo plants and the zigzag bridge crossed the lotus ponds. In the glory days of the 1960s, the garden also raised peacock and deer. Recently, the desolate garden retreat has returned to life.”

The refurbished main building, with its green curved roof, now hosts occasional visitors.

Lotus pond and bridge

The top floor offers a view of the revitalised garden. Once badly overgrown, it has been trimmed back to reveal its rich natural treasures. It is now carefully maintained.

Local botanic artist Sally Bunker, who helped restore the garden, says it is home to a number of rare and protected native plants such as rhodoleia and champaka.

The water pine that stands at the edge of the pond is one of only a few hundred in the world.

Founder Wu Kunsheng, born in Shanghai, was a devout Buddhist who used to go to the nearby Mancheung Po Temple to perform merits.

He was inspired by the quiet hills of western Lantau, which have long been a base for religious activity, and decided to build his own retreat.

Zigzag bridge and pavilion 

According to EJ Insight:

Construction work started in 1962, and Wu’s garden took four years and HK$2 million [about HK$200 million in today’s money] to complete. He called it Ng Yuen and opened it to the public.

Lung Tsai Ng Yuen follows the classical architectural style of Jiangnan gardens. The two-storey main building lies in the south of the garden and houses various Buddhist articles.

As well as its beauty and serenity, the lovingly restored site is a link to Hong Kong history.

One of many Shanghai exiles to flee to Hong Kong after the communist takeover, Wu co-founded Wyler Textiles in the late 1940s.

 

More zigzag

Starting with a single spinning plant at To Kwa Wan, it became one of Hong Kong’s biggest textile firms in the ‘50s and ‘60s when textiles was the city’s largest industry.

One thing that has not changed about Lung Tsai Ng Yuen is its inaccessibility.

There is no road, though it can be be reached on foot by a number of ways (see below).

If you do travel there, remember it remains not only a quiet retreat but also a private property. Please respect the wishes of the occupants not to be disturbed.

Pond pavilion

GETTING TO LUNG TSAI NG YUEN

Up Lantau Trail Section 6 from Tai O (about 45 minutes-one hour);

Via Lantau Trail Section 5 from Keung Shan Road (Sham Wat turnoff) (one and a half to two hours)

Via Keung Shan Path (about 40 minutes)

This week’s bridge problem: tunnel flooding threat

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is facing more questions over its safety and engineering quality – this time over the protection of its tunnel entrances against the sea.

The concrete tetrapods installed at the edge of the tunnel entrance structures appear to have become dislodged, local media have reported.

Photos circulating online suggest the blocks have shifted from their intended positions, making the 6.7km tunnel under the Pearl River mouth vulnerable to waves and erosion.

The eastern tunnel exit lies just west of the Hong Kong-mainland border, about 4km from Lantau’s north-west coast.

Unlike earlier bridge scandals, which have all been in the Hong Kong segment, this latest engineering flaw falls on the mainland side.

A former senior civil engineer, Ngai Hokyan, says the tetrapods are intended as a buffer against the impact of waves and erosion, but he suspects they have been displaced due to design errors, HK01 reports.

The paper says photos of the breakwater since 2013 show the blocks have been shifting since September 2016.

Ngai says the blocks are meant to be interlocked to diffuse the impact of waves and protect the structure. From the photos, he says some “are obviously scattered.”

He questioned why they remain unrepaired after more than a year. It is “not difficult” to repair, he said.

Another civil engineer, So Yiu-kwan says he believes the concrete defences may have shifted because the reclamation lacks a solid foundation, Apple Daily reported.

The HZMB Authority said in a statement that the tunnels and sea defences had been built in strict accordance with the design, and had been thoroughly inspected and approved, scmp.com reported.

The bridge is officially slated to open in May, some 18 months after the original anticipated opening, a result of a series of setbacks and scandals.

However, that timetable is almost certainly likely to slide to July or later. A report two weeks ago suggested the shifting foundations of the reclaimed land next to the airport is holding up the opening.

Police probe after car strikes three cattle, killing one

Police are investigating an accident at Shui Hau in which a car killed one cow and injured two others yesterday afternoon.

The car, a white Volkswagen Golf,  struck the three cattle on a bend at 5pm.

The driver was a 35-year-old foreign national. Her husband, who asked not to be identified, said his wife was slowing down to park the car when it collided with the cattle.

Post-accident (Source: Reader supplied)

She had come around the bend in Shui Hau village, about 100-150 metres ahead of her turnoff, when she collided with them. As her airbag activated, she was only aware of striking one.

Her husband said in an email:

The facts are that the cow was on the road, and ran in front of my wife. She had no time to avoid it. It fell onto the car, causing heavy damage, but the bumper was not even pushed in or severely damaged – indicating that her forward speed was not that high!

One of the cattle was heavily injured and was put to sleep by AFCD vets at the scene. A second, also seriously injured, was taken away for treatment.

The AFCD and volunteers are continuing their search this morning for the third animal, which sustained a head injury and wandered from the scene. Lantau News has sought a response from the AFCD.

It is the second fatality near Shui Hau within a year. A female cow died when struck by a taxi in a hit-and-run last June.

LBA president Ho Loy said the association had repeatedly asked the Transport Department to install speed cameras on South Lantau Road and Keung Shan Road to enforce the 50kmh speed limit.

Photo (top): Lantau Buffalo Association

(This story has been updated to include comments from the husband of the driver and deleting remarks reported in the SCMP.com attributed to an unnamed eyewitness.)

Another porpoise washed ashore at Tong Fuk

A finless porpoise has washed up on the Tong Fuk beach yesterday, the latest in a spate of strandings.

It was the third found on Lantau and the eighth in Hong Kong this year, Apple Daily reports.

The porpoise, about 1.1 metres long, was severely decomposed, with its abdomen and tail cut open.

The Ocean Park Conservation Foundation said it was not possible to determine the cause of the wounds.

The foundation says members of the public who find a beached porpoise or dolphin should call the 1823 hotline.

Photo: Apple Daily

Ching Ming fires break out across Lantau

The onset of the annual Ching Ming Festival has brought a brace of hillfires across Hong Kong, including three so far in Lantau.

With the fire danger level at its highest – red – yesterday, 25 fires broke out across the city, according to Sing Tao.

A blaze destroyed the side of a hill near Pak Mong in North Lantau at 2pm, while another fire broke out near Tai O’s Fu Shan, estimated at more than 100 square metres.

Fire services officets extinguished both fires. There were no injuries.

Wang Tong hillside Sunday afternoon (Credit: Karen Brown)

Another blaze broke out at Wang Tong, Mui Wo, early this afternoon. The fire department is attending the scene.

Today’s fire danger is set at yellow, indicating high risk.

The fires are a hazard of Ching Ming, when Chinese families visit their ancestors’ graves and light incense to remember them. The holiday falls on April 5 this year.

Photo (top): Pak Mong fire yesterday (Credit: Steve Knipp)

HZM Bridge bus rides for $80, once it opens

The bus ride across the HZM Bridge will cost just as little as HK$80 – but the bridge may not open until the second half of the year.

Shun Tak, the main HK-Macau ferry operator, is part of a consortium that has won the exclusive rights to run the bridge shuttle service, SCMP.com reports.

Managing director Pansy Ho, daughter of the gambling king Stanley Ho, told a results announcement this week the consortium include Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Land Transportation (Macau), Zhuhai Yuegong Xinhai Transportation Co., and Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge Shuttle Bus Services.

According to the Post:

Between 90 and 140 buses will run daily between the border checkpoints of the three cities. They will depart every five minutes at peak hours and every 10 to 15 minutes in non-peak hours. A night service will see buses leaving every 15 to 30 minutes.

The HK$80 fare to Zhuhai is much lower than the HK$220 ferry and HK$130 coaches using other routes.

But the shuttle will be just one of many buses crossing the bridge.

Hong Kong bus operators, including Kwoon Chung, the owner of the New Lantao Bus Co., are tipping HK$170 million into cross-border services. They are planning to run luxury coaches with free Wi-Fi and smartphone charging.

Freeman Cheung Kim-ping, the secretary-general of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Boundary Crossing Bus Association, told the Post that many passengers will prefer services that go direct to the city centre.

Coaches take passengers from downtown areas such as Mong Kok directly to Zhuhai and even farther up north, while those who take the shuttle buses will need to travel on their own to the border control points.

But the services may not start for some time.

The Asia Times reports that the preferred opening date is now July 1, the anniversary of founding of the SAR – but even that may be too ambitious.

An un-named official said the Hong Kong side needed to speed up road-surfacing work as well as complete construction of boundary crossing facilities, in order to meet the July 1 deadline.

Another report last week said the opening would be delayed past the current target date of May because of “serious” problems in the foundations of the artificial island in Tung Chung Bay.

Dog caught in trap at Pak Mong without food, water

A dog was found in a cage near Pak Mong, North Lantau, without food or water yesterday.

It was learnt that the dog had been trapped by a local group, HK Paws Guardian, as part of its campaign to sterilise stray dogs.

Under Hong Kong law it is illegal to place animal traps without AFCD authorisation.

The dog was discovered on the Tung Chung Hill track yesterday morning by a local villager, who called police.

The cage carried a notice from HK Paws Guardian asking to be notified.

An SPCA spokesperson said more than 100 illegal traps had been discovered by the SPCA and other organisations in the past two years, hket.com reported.

These traps had captured cats, dogs, wild boars and others. The spokesperson urged members of the public not to use animal traps.

After being notified, the AFCD returned the trap and the dog to HK Paws Guardian.

Photo: HKET

Di Jerk Shed goes under after just nine months

Caribbean bar and restaurant Di Jerk Shed has shut its doors, the latest hospitality business to go under at Lower Cheung Sha Beach.

The company announced in a Facebook post on March 14 that it was closing immediately, attributing the closure to “high operating cost[s], natural disasters and [the] inability to adequately staff to provide our Caribbean experience.”

The bar, owned by local-based pilots Larry la Guerre and Phil St Hill, offered Lantau’s – and Hong Kong’s – only Caribbean-style restaurant, with Jamaican jerk, doubles, rum julep punch and reggae.

But like a number of bars that set up before them at the scenic beachside, it was unable to survive in a difficult-to-reach location that is only able to attract customers for half the year.

As the owners hinted in their final message, the rent is also prohibitive – tenants pay HK$35,000 and more for spots along the beach.

Di Jerk Shed’s exit leaves one less option for residents and visitors this summer.

The final message in full:

It is with great regret and a heavy heart that I announce that we have ceased operations with immediate effect. I want to thank all of you who have visited us during our operations and do apologise if we have caused any inconvenience. We were unable to overcome our high operating cost, natural disasters and inability to adequately staff to provide our caribbean experience.
Have a wonderful summer.

Larry la Guerre (l) and Phil St Hill

 

Bus safety probe gets underway, seeks public submissions

A panel investigating the safety of Hong Kong bus services was formally established today.

The three-member committee, chaired by Justice Michael Lunn, will examine “from the point of view of safety” the operation and regulation of franchised buses.

The inquiry has been set up in the wake of the Tai Po accident in February that killed 19 people – the city’s worst accident in 15 years.

Justice Lunn said in a statement the committee was seeking submissions from the public as well as those involved in the industry.

The focus will likely be on the two big bus operators, KMB, whose vehicle was involved in the Tai Po crash, and Citybus.

KMB has a fleet of 3,920 and carries 2.7 million passengers daily. while Citybus runs 946 buses and carries 620,000 people each day.

New Lantao Bus, the smallest of the franchised operators, has 121 vehicles and carries 72,000 daily.

However, NLB buses have been involved in a series of minor accidents in recent years on the island’s steep hills and sharp bends.

Its management are usually among the strongest opponents of proposals to increase or enforce local speed limits.

The company is reportedly being sued by the family of a man who died after being struck by a no 34 mini-bus operated by NLB two years ago.

The inquiry invites those involved in the Tai Po and “other recent serious incidents involving franchised bus services, along with members of the public generally,” to make written submissions by April 30.

Details are on the committee website.

Century Link and La Mer apartment sales break local records

A three-bedroom apartment at Century Link has just sold at a price of HK$19,159 per square foot – a new record high for the Tung Chung secondary home market.

The original owner, who paid HK$8.922 million for the 642 sq foot unit in 2015, sold it for $12.3 million – a 38% gain, according to Benny Fong, assistant regional manager at Midland Realty Tung Chung,.

The apartment was in Block 3A, with about 500 sq feet of balcony and sea views, Economic Times reported.

In another transaction, a two-bedroom apartment in La Mer, the low-rise section of Caribbean Coast, sold earlier this month for HK$6.65 million.

Situated in block 15, its price of HK$11,812 per sq foot of usable area was a record for a low-rise in Tung Chung, according to another Economic Times report.

The original owner had purchased it for HK$4.365 million in November 2013, thus booking a profit of 52% or HK$2.285 million.

Centaline Tung Chung manager Ivan Chan said that the buyers, who have bought the flat for their own use, believe there is a shortage of stock on the local market and that with the opening of the HK-Macau bridge later this year they are confident Tung Chung home prices will go even higher.