Tai Long Wan, Sai Kung

Tai Long Wan

I was told about Tai Long Wan in the same way one is told about a mythical fairytale. Since I arrived in Hong Kong 18 months ago I had overheard and caught snippets of friends, peers and colleagues talk of this magical beach accessible only by hike where friends can camp on the beach next to a fire getting blazed and singing Kum By Ya, I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The perfect excuse arose in the happy coincidence of a romantic anniversary trip with my boyf. I tried to ask various friends about what we should expect from this camping trip however mysteriously everyone seemed ellusive. I was a little worried that Tai Long Wan induced some kind of hex over its visitors as no one could seem to remember what MTR stop to go to,  how to get from the stop to the trail, whether your boyf would get raggey on taxi negotiations (he defo will fyi), what we would need or indeed any info at all! When I tried to research the internet was also incredibly misleading and provided lots of different beach names and no fixed way to get there.


However do not fear,having ventured to this amazing beach I am going to unearth all the rumor and set it down in stone so that if you want to go you will at least know how and what to expect, let’s just hope that by doing this some evil hex will not curse down upon me. Such is the risk I will take for you guys!

How to get there

This is not the way we did it as t’inernet led me the wrong way but it is the way I would recommend as it is simple, quick and easy. If you are coming from Hong Kong island get the MTR to Hang Hau then get in a taxi to the Sai Kung Country ParkPark (西貢東郊野公園), and then from the entrance to the park, ask for the Sai Wan Pavilion (西灣亭) . Don’t (if you a feeling lazy) let the taxi driver stop at the little mound with the map of the park that you first come to instead ask him to drive down the road to the left until you get to a little bandstand/Pavilion. There will probably be other hikers here, if it’s a hot day they will be particularly smelly and probably irritable so don’t be too cheery. The map of the country park (if you can read these things, I cant – what is wrong with directions I say!!) is below;

From here you walk for about an hour or so along a cemented path (its clear which one....its 'to the left to the left') which goes up and down a few steep hills but on the whole isn’t too bad, it is in the sun quite a lot however so if it is a sunny day take a hat and maybe try and set off early. Either way even if you are drenched in sweat by the end you will arrive to a lovely sight and a chance to strip off in the clear waters that lay before you.

The Place

We didn’t have a huge amount of time so we just stayed on Tai Long Sai Wan beach. This beach was beautiful however complete with white sand, clear waters and a peace and stillness rarely found (to my experience) in Hong Kong. The water was just the right temperature and stays at waist height for quite a way so you can happily wade through observing the fish and even starfish beneath you. Most campers are polite and very chilled and you can guarantee there will be dulcet sounds of bongo’s or a guitar being played right into the evening. We parked ourselves up, cracked open a bottle of prosseco, breathed a sigh of relief and took it all in just as the sun went down.

If you can be bothered then do set your alarm to wake up for the sunrise. I swam out and floated in the water while watching the sun emerge from the horizon and it was breathtakingly beautiful. The perfect stillness and serenity of the Sai Wan beach did indeed have that little bit of magic I was promised. Stunning.

Accommodation

We rented a tent from a woman with a very troublesome toddler as we entered the beach for about 400HK although 200 of this is a deposit. In all honesty the tent was a bit crap as it was very small and didn’t let in a lot of ventilation and if you could take your own I would recommend it. Also no instructions are provided with the tent so if you are a camping novice watch a youtube vid or two for educational purposes before you leave. If you are renting a tent there is also nothing provided apart from the actual tent so pillows and a yoga mat/inflatable mattress. My boy has also asked me to highlight the importance of also bringing earmuffs/earplugs as there are some very loud sand crabs scurrying about. If one of these happens to bury under your ear when you are trying to get your ZZ's then it may drive you slighty bonkers!

The Food

As you enter Sai Wan beach there are a couple of beach restaurants to choose from that serve good local Cantonese food if you haven’t brought your own  its basic fried rice or fried noodles but after a long hike some chou fan and tsing tao goes down a treat. We really liked the staff who own the restaurant on the right hand side as you enter the beach as they were really friendly and even gave us some free watermelon at the end of the evening. The restaurant was a great place to chill out which a great view, we took some cards too and I learnt how to play Chor Dai Dee (a Chinese card game that once learnt is highly addictive – beware!)

In the morning we were quite keen to set off early but not without a breakfast to set us on our way. I expected that the restaurant would have only congee or noodles on offer but lo and behold they provided a full English breakfast complete with sausages and back bacon that any gastro pub in Britain would be proud off – who would have thought it! Delicious!

Tips

·    Don’t even bother going on any day in HK that is hot, June – September is a big big no no. Your tent will be hotter than the sun, you will be covered in a thin film of sweat and sand (chaffing central) and you will not be able to get away from the mosquito’s that will crawl all over your tent waiting like blood thirsty zombies to sink their teeth into your flesh at the very first moment that they can. In essence – COMPLETE HELL!!!

·    If you are like me very very tasty to those horrible horrible parasites then take a bucket load of deet, not just normal repellent. TAKE DEET OR YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE – put out what you think then double it. Trust me you will need it.

·    Bit of an obvious one but if you want to have a fire, collect firewood whilst it is still light and take some firelighters with you, we didn’t do this and needless to say our fire was mainly just burning leaves. Not cool.

·    Take a torch, lord knows its annoying having to hold onto a button on your mobile for light while you are trying to pee.

In truth we were incredibly ill prepared for this trip however despite not having any sleep and emerging covered in bites I had a really great time and maybe the hardships we encountered added to the fun and the laughter - I was in stitches when my boy decided that he was too unbearably hot and sick of the noisy crab to stick in the tent so decided to roam around the beach starkers at 3.30 in the morning in a heat induced delirium like a nutty Robinson Crusoe. And why not, on this magical beach you can do anything you want.

Vxx