Amah Rock

Amah Rock stands on the ridge above Sha Tin, a granite core about fifteen metres high left upright as the softer rock around it weathered away, and from the right angle it reads unmistakably as a standing woman with a child bound to her back. The story attached to it is old and consistent: a fisherman's wife who climbed the hill every day to watch for a husband who never returned, and who was turned to stone. It became a place where women came to pray, particularly around the seventh lunar month. The walk up from Hung Mui Kuk takes about forty-five minutes on steps, and the ridge gives a wide view over Sha Tin and the Shing Mun river.

What you actually see

• The standing figure - a granite core weathered into a woman and child.
• The waiting wife legend - the story attached to the rock.
• Views over Sha Tin - the new town and river valley below.
• The stepped ridge trail - the climb from Hung Mui Kuk.

When to go

October to April; the climb is hot and exposed in summer. Two hours. The resemblance is clearest from the marked viewpoint rather than from directly below.

Honest expectations

The walk is a continuous staircase and steeper than the short distance suggests. From close up the rock is just a rock; the shape only works from the viewpoint. There is no shade or water on the climb.

Nearby

Sha Tin is below; Lion Rock lies west along the ridge.