Lai Chi Wo

Lai Chi Wo sits on the shore of Double Haven in the far north-east, a walled Hakka village of about two hundred houses laid out in a grid roughly four hundred years ago, abandoned as families left for the city in the twentieth century, and since the 2010s the subject of a revitalisation project that has brought some residents back, restored houses and put paddy fields and orchards back into cultivation. Behind the village stands a feng shui wood, protected for centuries and now one of the best preserved lowland forests in the territory, with strangler figs, an incense tree and a five-fingered camphor. Mangroves and mudflats front the shore, and a Geopark trail passes through.

What you actually see

• A grid of Hakka houses - about two hundred, walled and laid out on a plan.
• The feng shui wood - centuries-old protected forest behind the village.
• Restored fields and orchards - land brought back into cultivation.
• Mangroves on the shore - the tidal edge of Double Haven.

When to go

October to April for the walk in; the ferry runs on Sundays and public holidays only. A day. The walk from Wu Kau Tang takes two hours each way over hills.

Honest expectations

Access is genuinely difficult: one ferry a week or a long hilly walk with no escape route. Facilities are minimal and food is limited to a village stall on busy days. Many houses remain ruined. The last ferry back cannot be missed.

Nearby

Double Haven surrounds the bay; Plover Cove lies south.