Looking down on Solar Villas, Ma Wan.
A few years ago I decided to visit the Island of Ma Wan, which is located between the islands of Lantau and Tsing Yi. I went to see 'The Ghost Village'. This turned out to be a very strange place with rather a creepy atmosphere and a disturbing history.
'The Ghost Village' began life as a sleepy fishing village called Ma Wan Village with a Tin Hau temple and many houses on stilts. Then, in the mid-nineties, the government decided to build a new international airport at Chek Lap Kok and, of course, this involved building lots of extra infrastructure to connect the airport to all parts of Hong Kong, so they built the Lantau Link, a network of roads and bridges that passes through Ma Wan. With its improved infrastructure, Ma Wan became attractive to developers and a residential area known as Park Island was built here along with a religious theme park known as Noah's Ark.
The developers of Park Island wanted the villagers who lived in the two hundred and fifty year old Ma Wan fishing village to move out and offered them compensation. Some villagers accepted this and others fought against it. This dispute led to most of the village being abandoned. When I visited, most of the buildings in the village were falling down.
A few days after my visit, the village was sealed off completely and noone was allowed to go there. To be honest, I forgot all about it, but recently I heard it had opened up again and was now very very different from the way it looked when I was last there.
Below are some of the photos I took in Ma Wan Village on my first visit.
Abandoned houses.
Abandoned Home.
Looking inside.
Ma Wan Rural Committee.
Abandoned Homes.
Looking inside.
Yesterday I went for my second visit. To get to Ma Wan I went to Tsing Yi and took bus number 330 from Tsing Yi MTR exit C. It's a short but scenic journey.
Leaving Tsing Yi.
Leaving Tsing Yi.
Leaving Tsing Yi.
Leaving Tsing Yi.
I got off at the last stop, which is the bus station, as I wanted to walk along the beach, but I think the first stop would have been closer to where I wanted to go. The last stop is near Park Island Ferry Terminal.
Looking down on Park Island Ferry Terminal.
View towards the Ting Kau Bridge from next to the ferry terminal.
When I came here before, I think the beach was closed off because of COVID, so this was the first time I walked along it. At the end of it is Noah's Ark, a hotel and theme park. From the beach there are beautiful views of the Tsing Ma Bridge.
Ma Wan Beach and Tsing Ma Bridge.
Tsing Ma Bridge.
Looking back towards the ferry terminal.
Looking back towards the ferry terminal.
Me on the beach.
Noah's Ark.
Noah's Ark.
Close up of Noah's Ark
It's impossible to get too near to Noah's Ark without paying to go in. It's quite expensive and I have never been.
Instead of going there, I crossed the road and went in to Ma Wan Park. I explored this park quite thoroughly last time. This time the flat area at the bottom had all been done up with new art installations. There were llamas, snails and toadstools. There was a walkway with artworks that changed depending on which side they were viewed from. There was an arched walkway surrounded by Bougainvilea and several sculptures.
Entrance to Ma Wan Park.
The bottom of the park.
Snail.
Llamas.
Llamas.
Blue birds tree.
Blue face.
Faces.
Blue people.
Roots.
Pyramid of people.
Orange face.
Orange people.
Gift.
Green hill.
Yellow face.
Sculpture.
Sculpture.
Bougainvilea archway.
Bougainvilea archway.
Selfie in Bougainvilea archway.
The paths leading up the hill hadn't changed and are still a bit run down. This time I found many more animals hiding in the park's forests. To be honest there's something rather creepy about these. At the top of the hill there was a large monument and, despite the fact it was called hilltop lookout, a fairly limited view.
Beware the big bad wolf.
Wolf.
Lion.
Lioness.
Kangaroos.
Sheep.
South America.
Hilltop monument.
View.
At the far side of the park I found a sign for Solar Tower and Solar Villas. There were fabulous flowers everywhere in lots of different colours.
Bauhinias.
Purple flowers.
Red flowers.
Pink flowers.
Golden Trumpet tree.
I followed a path through the woods and came to a more open path overlooking an old house and some farmland. There were lots of flowers here, too. I came to a church and a view towards the Solar Tower.
Solar tower entranceway.
Foliage.
Old house.
Farmland.
Farmland.
Flowers.
Flowers.
Flowers.
Looking down on Solar Villas.
Solar tower through the trees.
Solar Tower.
Solar tower.
Church.
Church.
I could scarcely believe it, but I was in the same place where all those ghost filled falling down buildings had been, but my goodness it had changed. I think most of the buildings had been repaired rather than demolished, but I'm not sure. They were all painted in a rainbow of bright colours. They looked more like something you would find in the Mediterranean rather than in Hong Kong.
Colourful houses.
Colourful houses.
Colourful houses.
Colourful houses.
Colourful street.
Colourful houses.
Colourful houses.
Colourful houses with blossom.
Tree.
There were wonderful paintings on several of the buildings, mainly depicting fishing scenes or activities associated with the sea. It was nice to see there was a link with the origins of the village.
House with beautiful fishing mural.
Close up.
Fishing cats.
House with lovely mural.
Close up.
House with fancy mural.
Solar Villas isn't quite finished yet, there's still plenty of work going on, but some cafes and art galleries are open and apparently some of the buildings are or will be used as guest houses. I don't know if anyone will live here full time.
Some buildings were instantly recognisable such as the Tin Hau temple. This had been open and well tended when I visited before. Now it had been repainted but was closed.
Tin Hau Temple.
The Ma Wan Rural Committee Building had been restored. When I visited before it had been intact but filled with rubbish and debris. Next to it was The Cultural and Recreational Centre.
Ma Wan Cultural and Recreational Centre.
The Ma Wan Cultural and Recreational Centre and The Ma Wan Rural Committee.
The piers at the front had been repaired. Many people were there fishing. The Chinese archway and leaping dolphin statue were still there, as was the little pavilion where people could sit and gaze out to sea.
Archway and cotton tree.
Archway.
Cafe.
Cafe.
Pavilion.
Near the pier there was a beautiful cotton tree. Someone had collected an assortment of its fallen flowers and placed them on the sea wall.
Cotton tree flowers.
Cotton tree flowers.
There were stunning views from all of the piers and jetties towards the gorgeous multicoloured Ma Wan Village.
View from the pier.
I found an ancient marker which I had also seen on my first visit.
Ancient Marker.
The beach needed a good clean, but I guess that will be done later nearer completion time. The beach looked out towards the Kap Shui Mun Bridge.
I couldn't explore absolutely everywhere, as some places were closed off due to ongoing building works.
Kap Shui Mun Bridge.
Bridge.
Bridge.
Bridge.
Dolphin and bridge.
Fishermen and bridge.
Selfie.
All the way along waterfront and its many jetties the views were stunning. I felt so happy and relaxed to be here.
Heart.
Solar tower.
Waterfront.
View from a jetty.
Waterfront.
I did find a heritage centre with two ancient kilns behind it. I'm not sure if it was open. I didn't try to go inside.
Ancient Kiln.
Inside the Ancient Kiln.
Ancient Kiln.
I was really struggling to believe this was the same place I had visited before. I don't know if it would have been better left as a sleepy little fishing village and never sealed off in the first place, but it was definitely hugely better than the crumbling ghost filled village I had visited originally. On the bus back to Tsing Yi, I had one last look at Ma Wan Village, aka Solar Villas, and wondered if its ghosts were finally at peace.
Looking down on Solar Villas.
This featured blog entry was written by irenevt from the blog Coming to a close..
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