Tai O Transportation

There's a couple of methods of getting to Tai O. Though it's a little off the beaten track, it's fairly accessible.

If this is your first trip to the Far East* , you can take a fast (30min) or slow (1hr) ferry from the pier next to the Star Ferry in Central Hong Kong to Mui Wo on Lantau. From Mui Wo, take the bus #1 to Tai O Village.

Alternatively, if you're a jaded traveller like me who like nothing better than a speedy transportation, take the MTR from HK Island to Tung Chung. From there, hop on a bus #11 to Tai O .

*An archaic term that only serves to tell everyone that you have a Eurocentric mindset and probably don't travel too much. It's more p.c. these days to say Southeast Asia or East Asia.

After crossing the bridge to Tai O, you'll notice yellow tourist boats that offer a quickie ride around Tai O (20min, HK$40 ) or a longer ride that promises pink dolphin sightings about 200m offshore ( 45min? HK$100).

Note: After I wrote this tip, I got an ominous feeling that some anally-fixated traveller will write to me after reading this and ask the inevitable question if a boat trip around Tai O should be booked in advance. So just for the record, let me just say simply that this is an impromptu thing that you can do as a tourist when you're in Tai O. And no, I don't know opening hours of this little boat company. And for next record, let me just say that those sightings of pink dolphins cannot be gauranteed. Nature cannot be pre-determined, if you're more keen on a timed animal show, go to Oceanpark on the main island to watch their penguin parade.

There are a number of ways to Tai O.

1. Take the ferry at Pier No.7 at Central to Mui Wo. Then you can take bus No.1 in Mui Wo which terminates in Tai O.

2. Take bus No.11 in Tung Chung MTR station.

3. Take the ferry at Tuen Mun pier during weekdays, which also stops at Tung Chung and Sha Lo Wan. During weekends, there are express ferry directly connecting Tuen Mun and Tai O