Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Where we live

At some point I wanted to explain where we live exactly, so no time like the present!  This is partly prompted by my recent problem of how to convince a helper that they do want to work all the way out in Tai Po.  Also by the fact that we have decided to stay in this neck of the woods and have just had all our UK goods delivered to a rented flat around the corner!  Yes, we are finally moving to our own pad this weekend.

You can see where we are situated on this map - just outside Tai Po in the New Territories.


We actually live in Lam Tsuen, which is a valley along which the Lam Tsuen River runs, with some 23 villages dotted along it.  These villages can be very small - some being made up of only a handful of houses, others with a few dozen.  We now live with family in Ma Po Mei Village, but we are moving to Tai Yeung Che Village, which is 5 minutes walk from here.

Where we live now - top floor only, don't get excited....and no that's not our car!


Ma Po Mei's ancestral temple (every village and/or family will have one)



The road into our new village - Tai Yeung Che...


Lam Tsuen is within the District of Tai Po within the New Territories, and Tai Po the town is only 10 minutes on the bus from here...where you can buy nearly everything you can think of!.
As you can see Tai Po it is quite built up in places with a population of around 320 000 (apparently)!

Anyway, at least you now understand that we live a full 30 mins drive from Hong Kong Island (not really that far!), and we are a world away from the regular expat stomping ground.  Quite frankly, I am glad we are out here.  You can glean a little of the space and beauty around us from the photos I have shown you...rather than the chaos, pollution and close confines of Central.  I also like the fact that we live amongst the local population and are learning more adout their culture, tradition and language on a daily basis.