We nab the last Big Buddha Bus and have a short ride to Tai O. On the way McBurger shows me some pics from his latest reconnaissance mission in Brisbane, Australia. Looks like a killer spot, he says he’s been enjoying it there. Told me about a bar that has ‘Flappy Hour’ with wings and beer specials. It was one of those things you hear and you instantly can’t believe that you’ve never heard it before now. Flappy Hour, wow. Of course, flappy hour.

The bus stops down by the water right beside the town sign and when we get off I’m strangely reminded of Peggy’s Cove from home. Similar quaint little fishing village vibe I guess. I dub thee Peggy’s Kong.

Just past the sign we come to a series of fishy type houses standing on stilts above the water line. There is a boat docked beneath the bridge that is going out for a boat tour. Last one since it’s getting late in the day. Do we want to..? We do.

This captain dude, we’ll call him Capn, slow cruises us down through the main ‘street’ between the stilted houses. Some are quite nice while others are dilapidated shanties. Left overs that never recovered from a fire back in 2000 I guess. It’s peaceful here, with just the flip flap of the waves. Inside the houses are people going about their normal days.

Capn spins around at the end and we come back through the village. Once past the bridge again he tilts her up a notch and we start skipping slightly along the water out away from the village. The way they sell you on these tours is by saying that you’ll see pink dolphins. Supposedly there are a species of dolphins in these waters whose adolescent pigmentation makes them pink, making this the second most romantic thing to do within several hundred square miles. Capn takes us out and slows things down near the usual pink dolphin spots but alas, we never spotted any.

A number of sea birds come into formation behind us though, and they are diving into the water, catching fish that are jumping in our wake.

We spin around and come back to town..

Off the boat, we stroll around the village for a bit, aimlessly taking things in. There are a lot of street side vendors and little shops. We take a moment to sample some delicious pork jerky..

Getz and The Queebs also get some squid cakes. “Normal or with ink?”, “Both?”

The village is mainly a fishing community so a lot of what’s offered in these narrow walkways is seafood related.

Wait are those…

..(Agent Getz stares longingly at these Starfys for an awkward moment)..

We also spot a lovely, adorable paisley sheep. While enormously impractical to travel with, the debate over whether or not to buy this was surprisingly long.

We emerge from the alleys at a school. Bring-bring, a few kids go by on bikes. A cow also goes by.

  

We walk through the little village and along the water. There’s a sign that’s pointing to a ferry and we figure it would be a sweet way to get back to Hong Kong proper. We get out to the pier and there just seems to be a couple dudes fishing. No actual ferry boarding or anything like that. Hmmmmm…

Well… there is a fort here. We go up to the fort. Is this a fort? Or a hotel? Or a Fortel? It was a Fortel. With a really cute herb garden.

Ok, well at this point we’re not only going to miss the last bus out of here since we walked all this way, but also Bao has a new mission for us and is waiting at the other end already. Whoopsie! Time to hightail it back through the village. The wheels start wheelin. We go flying past some kids on bikes. gnirb-gnirB! Working up a sweat. Damnit McBurger this is no time to be petting every fucking cat in town! “Awwwww, but look at em..”

Everything always turns into a race, but we make it back just in time. The last bus is sitting there and we tear up to it huff puffing. When we get on it gets gone.
We’re coming, Bao!

Thanks Tai O! That was a relaxing change of pace and very very pretty. Really glad we took the time to get out here.