2023/04/08

What we will introduce this time

Crowzhou Tianhou Temple

Little Awzhou Tianhou Temple

Hello LEI readers, I am Yanma, a Japanese man touring the Tin Hau Temple in Hong Kong.The Tianhou Temple that I introduced last timewas located on a remote island with limited ferry service. This time, I would like to introduce the Tin Hau Temple on a deserted island where there are no regular ferries, no people, and no houses! ... No, no, what am I saying? However, there is indeed a Tin Hau Temple on a deserted island. This time, I hope you will enjoy it with a little adventure.

The visit to the deserted island I will introduce below would not have been possible without the cooperation of those who have shown an interest in my unusual activities. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to them all.

If you look at Hong Kong on a map, you will notice that there are many small islands. Among them, one relatively large but uninhabited island is Tai A Chau, located south of Lantau Island. Together with nearby Little A Chau and other islands, it is also known as the Soko Islands. Until the 1970s, several hundred people lived there. This is where we will head this time.

By the way, there are two ways to go to a deserted island: ① join a tour, or ② charter a boat. If your goal is simply to visit the island, option ① is the best. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has calmed down, it seems that travel agencies have begun to actively plan tours. On the other hand, option ② is better if your purpose on the island is clear and you can gather a certain number of people. With a larger number of people, it will be cheaper than a tour and you will have more freedom. It is a high hurdle to negotiate with the shipping company and the boatman in Cantonese, but if it is a famous deserted island, you may be able to communicate in English. The Sok Kwu Islands are one such island, and you can apply for a tour from this website, for example.

https://booking.splitdyboat.com/en-us/product/tai-a-chau-soko-islands/

The designated departure point was a fishing village called Tai O, located west of Lantau Island. Here, the dwellings of seafaring people, such as taverns and salt fields, remain, and the entire village is a bustling tourist destination. Praying for a safe voyage to the uninhabited island, we bowed at the Tin Hau Temple, which stands in Tai O for 250 years, and then headed for the harbor. We arrived on a small boat that could carry 12 people. The sense of tension and elation we felt as we boarded the boat from the bow was something we rarely experience, and it may be the best part of visiting a deserted island.

As we were heading along the west side of Lantau Island, we encountered a group of Chinese white dolphins, also known as pink dolphins. The area around Tai O is known as a habitat for pink dolphins, and there are dolphin watching tours available, but in recent years, it is said that the population has been decreasing due to development in the surrounding area. All of the passengers were eager to take pictures of the pink dolphins as they unexpectedly encountered them. However, on the flip side, this means that they have been driven to a more remote place, and that you have to go through such a place to get to the Sok Kwu Islands.

The boat continues on, seen off by pink dolphins. After passing Hong Kong's westernmost island, Kwai Wak Kok, and the Diversion Lighthouse on the cliffs southwest of Lantau Island, the boat changes course to the east. About 30 minutes from Tai O, the Sok Kwu Islands finally come into view.

The wharf and roads on Gan Chau are well-maintained, and it's hard to believe it's a deserted island. It may be because people used to live there, but in the 1990s a Vietnamese refugee camp was set up there, and after they left, plans were made to build a natural gas storage facility, so there have been continued efforts to use the island in some way. As if to symbolize this, we met a group of people who had been sent to maintain the island. Needless to say, we were both very surprised.

Then, about a 10-minute walk from the pier, we arrived at the Tin Hau Temple in Dalian. The temple is characterized by its crimson walls that stand out against the large tree behind it.

According to the inscription inside, it has been rebuilt at least twice, in 2000 and 2018. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any clues as to when it was first built, but one theory is that it has been there since the early 1800s. The altar is beautifully decorated, and there are many offerings, so there must be people who, like the group above, regularly visit the island and pay their respects at the Tin Hau Temple. It seems that even though it is an uninhabited island, it has never been forgotten.

If you climb the hill, you can get a panoramic view of the south side of the island, that is, the South China Sea. The island floating in the exact center of the picture is Tau Lo Chau, which is the southernmost island of Hong Kong. A trip to the Sok Kwu Islands is also a journey to find the western and southern ends of Hong Kong.

By the way, there is also a simple Tin Hau Temple on the nearby island of Little Crow Chau. It is characterized by the fact that Tin Hau is enshrined on the upper level and the Earth God on the lower level, and the fact that there is an altar for the Earth God in particular means that the surrounding villages had a particularly strong faith in this island. It may be one of the many uninhabited islands in Hong Kong now, but it shows that there were once people who loved this island and lived with it.

The Tin Hau temple tour is full of unexpected encounters and learning, and I was able to experience that in the Sok Kwu Archipelago. I am grateful to all the readers of LEI, as well as those who support my Tin Hau temple tour, and I would like to visit more Tin Hau temples.

Yanma
He arrived in Hong Kong on a business trip in October 2020. He started visiting Tin Hau Temples on a whim while working, and became addicted to it, and started sharing its charms on social media. Yanma comes from his nickname in elementary school.