a surprise discovery

On Monday of this week, Paula and I decided to cycle out west. On our previous visit to the Kam Tin River catchment area, we’d cycled around Nam Sang Wai, which is widely touted, on government websites and elsewhere, as a great location for cycling. It isn’t. It’s flat, and it’s boring, although we did catch a few glimpses of shore birds, particularly black-winged stilts, as we cycled along.

However, on the way back out of this area, I decided to detour onto Ho Chau Road, which runs upstream along the bank of an unnamed tributary of the Kam Tin River. As we approached the expressway, which is elevated here, I spotted a path leading off to the left. This path crosses the tributary via a footbridge, and we followed a complementary path on the opposite bank back to our starting position.

On our most recent visit to the area, my original plan had been simply to follow the new path, but as we approached the start of the path, I noticed cyclists emerging from a side road just before this point (the map suggests that the road continues smoothly, but that isn’t what it looks like on the ground). In fact, after a short distance, the road narrows and is no longer passable by cars, but it is wide enough for cyclists travelling in opposite directions to pass each other comfortably. So we continued.

Shortly after passing the small roundabout in the southwest corner of the map, I spotted a tunnel under the expressway and decided immediately that this was the way to go. We were then faced with a choice at a T-junction of paths: I opted to turn left, because that would take us back towards our starting point. I then ventured down a path that looked promising but turned out to be a dead end. Or so I thought! However, it wasn’t until I’d dismounted to turn my bike around that I saw that there was in fact a continuation: a right-angle turn onto a steep ramp that was obviously impossible from a standing start. Of course, I could have backtracked and tried the ramp then, but we were exploring, and it can wait until we come this way again, which we most certainly will be doing.

We eventually reached another footbridge over the river, which we crossed, after which navigation became more uncertain. We ventured down two or three dead ends before finding a continuation, and to my utter amazement, and delight, we then came across a most impressive row of traditional houses. I didn’t take any photos from this position, but we did cycle along the front of the row to take a closer look, and this is what it looks like from the far end:

The modern bridge in the background carries the MTR’s West Rail Line, which connects Kowloon to the far west of the New Territories. These houses would be, using British terminology, ‘semi-detached’. Some are in better condition than others, and some are still inhabited. It’s worth taking a look inside one:

Enclosed courtyards are a common feature of traditional Chinese houses, although I suspect that the glass windows that you can see in the next photo are a later addition enclosing what would once have been open balconies.

And this is a closer look at the frieze near the top of the last photo:

…while this is a closer look at the symbol above the central doorway:

The Chinese words for ‘bat’ and ‘blessing’ are homophones, which is why you often see representations of bats on graves. The significance of the coin should be obvious.

Each of these houses also features polychrome mouldings under the eaves. I hesitate to describe them as ‘polychrome’, although they would once have been brightly painted. Sadly, however, like the buildings they adorn, they aren’t being maintained. This is as close as I could get to take a photo:

The amazing detail of these mouldings is best shown in this photo:

The last photo is actually of the mouldings on a single-storey building at the left-hand end of the row of two-storey houses, which I’ve deliberately refrained from mentioning so far:

As you can see, the entrance is barred, although we were still able to take some photos of the interior:

Paula’s camera takes a wider angle than mine, because I couldn’t capture the entire circular opening, although I did take a couple of photos that show some of the fine details here. Note the unglazed ceramic window and the balustrade with ceramic balusters:

This photo shows some kind of engraved plaque that has been almost completely consumed by a creeper, which is probably slowly eating away at the stonework beneath:

And this is the frieze above the doorway:

There also appears to be some elaborate carving on the wooden beam above the frieze, which I noticed only when I examined the photo later.

The moulding on the left is slowly being covered by another species of creeper:

I suspect that someone important, a tai fu, once lived in this house, which reminds me of the Tai Fu Tai Mansion in San Tin, although the latter is a declared monument, while this house is derelict and is slowly crumbling away.

Incidentally, Paula noticed that the date 1925 has been carved into the lintel above the door of one of the two-storey houses, although I couldn’t see anything other than a blank block of stone!

I cannot be quite certain of the exact location of this site, which isn’t marked on the map above, although I’m fairly confident that the red oval on the following satellite photo is an accurate indication.

I believe that these buildings should be restored, if necessary with government money, and accorded some kind of heritage listing. They may not be quite up to ‘declared monument’ status, but it would certainly be a shame if they are simply allowed to decay slowly in obscurity.