The Unexpected Picnic in Pat Sin Leng Country Park

  Pat Sin Leng Country Park

Plover Cove Reservoir, not much water there then... about 2 years ago.

The Return of the Jackhammer ...

We like it when unexpected things happen.  We seem to thrive on spontaneity.  (Like leaving it until the very last minute to plan our Christmas holidays?) 

So anyway, we were sitting, peacefully eating our breakfast, when all of a sudden, a noise that will forever remind me of Hong Kong began to reverberate throughout the whole building.  The Jackhammer Returns!  You never get used to it.  It was right next door most of the summer, but, mercifully, it's moved down a few floors.   And even more mercifully... it's gone now.   


What to do?  It's impossible to think in such a racket.  And who wants to listen to it anyway?  

IDEA! (Light bulb moment)

Smoked Salmon Sandwiches...with chips...total gourmet!

Let's take a picnic to the park!    Picnics in Pat Sin Leng Country Park are the best. (For your information, Pat Sin Leng is Cantonese for the Eight Immortals.  The mountain range is named after these Chinese mythological characters.)  It's normally, (notice, I said, normally,) very quiet there on week days.  This being a Friday, we thought it would be just as we expected,...quiet. So off we went, with our sandwiches, chips, cucumber and tea in hand.  AND cameras. 

So we pointed our car in the direction of Pat Sin Leng Country Park and the small seaside village of Tai Mei Tuk with great anticipation for a quiet, peaceful day at the shores of Plover Cove. Only to find....   

...half a zillion big buses parked in the Tai Mei Tuk parking lot.  Peaceful?  Calm?  Quiet?  NOT!!!

People everywhere!  Well, we couldn't blame them.  It was a splendid day and one of the first in a long time.  But, we didn't come to the park to be surrounded by people, anti-social hermits that we are, so we decided to drive on into the park and try our luck there.

This is it!  Our secret's out!  Hard to believe it's the same place as in the top photo, isn't it?

Now I'm going to let you in on a secret.  There is a place we know where there are very few people.  The only kind you will see there are the fisher-people and the extreme photographers, (and people like us, trying to escape from civilization!  We don't mind people, really, just spare us the mobs!)  So, to our great joy and delight, the only picnic table in the region was free and waiting for us eager picnickers to settle down to our small feast.  I can't tell you exactly where it is, because I don't know where it is, exactly.  And anyway, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore.  The only part I can tell you is that it exists.  And it's in Pat Sin Leng Park.  Go do your own secret place finding!! 

Our secret place is beside a fishing hole that is quite popular with the locals.  Conveniently, there is a portable toilet each for men and women located at the edge of the parking lot.  And they are clean, complete with tissue and water.  No smell.  Woo hoo!

This is what we found up the river. 

This is part of the climb.  There's only one place where you have to do a balancing act.  I wouldn't recommend wearing flip flops.  End of story.

We made a new discovery that day.  The reservoir was full of water and it has it's source from within the mountains.  So, farther along the trail, there is a part where there are stepping stones built to help you get across the stream.  This time there was more water than I'd ever seen or heard so I had to check it out.   It's really easy, with some luck and some good balancing skills, (helps if you're a ballerina, which I'm not,) to pick one's way up the large rocks towards the falls.  To my surprise, what I thought would be a nice natural setting, turned out to be a man-made deal.  The falls were created by a tunnel of water, that opened up on the other side.  (If this is under the road through the park, I don't know what part it's under.)  It's just another part of the system that diverts water into the Plover Cove Reservoir.

 After lunch, we went back to Tai Mei Tuk, to see if anyone had left yet.  Hmmm, a few buses missing.  Great.  Shall we stop?  Lets!

We stopped for an iced lolly here. 

Here is the Barbecue site.  Popular winter activity.

The canteens on the shore offer rowboat rentals for as long as you like.  The boats are as pretty as a picture from the shore.  They also cater to the barbecue site.  You can buy supplies for the barbecue here and amusements for the children, iced lolllies and ice cream.  I saw some sweet potatoes for roasting, but I didn't notice if there was meat for sale as well... I don't think so. 

 Nearby is a place to rent bikes which you can ride up to and across the causeway separating Plover Cove from the reservoir. 

This is the proposed site of a new eco beach to be completed in the next couple of years.  Oh, Tai Mei Tuk, you'll never be the same again. 

Now, wouldn't you like to come and see the wild side of Hong Kong with us?  I'll be telling you about some more exciting finds in the Pat Sin Leng Country Park later...