Sai Kung (西貢) is definitely a must visit in Hong Kong, if you are a big fan of nature and seafood. When I first came to Sai Kung, I thought this place has something to do with Saigon (西貢) in Vietnam because it sounds so similar. In Mandarin, the translation is even using the same words. In the end, it turned out that one has nothing to do with the other. If there is anything in common, it is probably the fish village view. For instance, I have never seen fishermen directly trade seafood from their boat using the net to get money and deliver products. I find the scene to be very south-east Asian like. Whereas in the cities, people just trade seafood in the market and not as casual and interesting.
Despite Sai Kung having its own port, the best way to reach Sai Kung is actually by bus. We took the bus from Diamond Hill (鑽石山) because it is easier to get a seat on the bus from the start station. The port at Sai Kung (photo 1) actually has many boats that take you to nearby islands. We bought a boat trip to Kiu Tsui Country Park (橋咀郊野公園) (photo 2) where we were able to walk on the island to have a small tour, while the other islands included in the ticket were just islands where we can observe the very unique geography that got the place listed as the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark (香港聯合國教科文組織世界地質公園) from afar.
I am not sure if it was just us being unlucky or it was simply like that with the small boats. Our whole boat trip was so shaky that it really hurt our butt and at some point we really had to hold onto the handles on the boat very tightly to avoid falling into the sea due to big waves. Nevertheless, witnessing the different rocks and the geographic landscape from sea erosion on the islands is really worth the boat trip. This time the rocks at Sai Kung (photo 1–4) I am 100% sure are the ones on the 500 Hong Kong dollar (HKD photo source from the Internet).
