A borderland hike to, and out of, the remote abandoned village of Yung Shue Au (Photo-essay)

The physical health benefits of hiking are pretty clear to people.  It also is easy to see how this activity can help one to expand one's geographical knowledge of an area.  In Hong Kong, hiking has had the additional benefit of helping to increase my vocabulary as my brain gets to noticing and recognizing certain words that re-occur in local place names.

For example, early on, I got to realizing that the word au (found in such place names as Pak Kung Au and Tai Fung Au) means "gap" or "pass" in Cantonese.  And then there's the yung shue that's part of the name for places as diverse as Lamma Island's Yung Shue Wan, the Yung Shue O abutting Three Fathoms Cove, and the abandoned village of Yung Shue Au over in the northeastern New Territories which I may be one of the few people in Hong Kong to have been to not just once but twice -- and that I've come to learn is the Cantonese word for "banyan"!

Ironically, banyan trees aren't what I particularly associate with any of those places with yung shue in their names.  Instead, it's that they are all villages located in scenic parts of Hong Kong that are near the water -- and are a far cry from being part of the concrete jungle that many people think the Big Lychee predominantly is; this particularly so with Yung Shu Au, given the views and other sights one encounters there as well as on a hike to (and out of) it... ;b    

 

The tide was on the low side that afternoon as we walked

along the southern banks of Starling Inlet (AKA Sha Tau Kok Hoi)

Pretty much every time I pass by (or through) Kuk Po, I think 

how only its remoteness prevents it from being a nice place to live!

This check point in Starling Inlet that's manned by the Hong Kong 

marine police acts as reminder of this area's

proximity to Mainland China, and the Frontier Closed Area

 Behold! The verdant green of Hong Kong in the foreground, 

and the port area and grey hills of Shenzhen in the background

Feng shui-wise, Yung Shue Au looked to have been in a

great location -- with water in front and hills at the back of it

 

But in the modern world, it didn't pay to be some distance

-- and unconnected by road -- from "civilization"

On the way out of Yung Shue Au, we opted for a route that took 

us closer to Kuk Po, whose buildings are in better shape than 

Yung Shue Au's but still show signs of nature taking over them!

 And while on the subject of nature: isn't this butterfly pretty? ;b