it’s a pleasure

An under-appreciated aspect of Hong Kong, at least by short-term visitors, who will want to see the conventional ‘sights’, is the territory’s formal parks and gardens. There is just one large park in Fanling/Sheung Shui (North District Park), but there are a lot of small gardens, and this post is about one such oasis in Fanling.

A few days ago, I was walking up the lane that connects the ‘village’ of Fan Leng Lau and Jockey Club Road, the main north–south artery through Fanling/Sheung Shui, on my way to Fanling Clinic when I suddenly decided that I would detour through a small park that the lane runs past on my way home after completing my business in the clinic. And take a few photos:

I’ve placed ‘village’ in inverted commas because Fan Leng Lau was once a village—all its residential accommodation has been built under the auspices of the so-called ‘small house policy’, which was implemented by the colonial government in 1972; it allowed any male over the age of 18 who could trace their ancestry through the male line to a male resident of the village in 1898, when the lease on the New Territories came into effect, to build a house in their village. Now, however, Fan Leng Lau is merely part of the much larger conurbation of Fanling.

The green sign on the left of the entrance to the park in the photo above reads ‘Fan Leng Lau Pleasure Ground’, which strikes me as rather old-fashioned. ‘Pleasure grounds’ were in vogue during the Victorian era, but there are no attractions here that would qualify it as such. There aren’t even any sport or fitness facilities, which is surprising given that the park is administered by the Recreation and Sports Service, a subsidiary of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

I took the next photo looking to the right just after I entered the park:

The next three photos were taken at intervals as I walked slowly along the main path through the park:

You will have noticed a large number of benches alongside the path, and I took this photo of a cluster of four benches looking back as I passed:

At the top of the hill, there is a kind of boardwalk instead of a concrete path:

And this half a hollow tree appears to be still growing strongly:

The building directly behind the orange village houses is a school, which you can tell from the architectural style.

The last time I walked through this park, the tree leaning sharply to the left in the next photo had just been radically pruned:

…although it nevertheless appears to be thriving:

Three more photos taken at intervals as I walked along the path:

Finally, this is the exit gate:, which leads directly into Fan Leng Lau (behind the camera):

This gate is clearly never closed, because the identifying sign is on the inside of the gate.

Given the sheer number of benches, you would expect some at least to be occupied, but although I’ve walked through this park several times over the years, I’ve never seen anyone else here. You would think that at least a few locals would avail themselves of the peace and tranquility of this quiet, verdant oasis in the middle of an urban jungle. I find it a real pleasure to walk through.

see also
Above Water Gardens describes three gardens in Sheung Shui, which used to be separate from Fanling, but the two are now contiguous.