Yuen Long MTR station is on the West Rail Line, in the far west of the New Territories.
Exit A of Yeun Long MTR station takes you to stairs leading down to Long Yat Road.
Looking rightwards out of Exit A of Yuen Long MTR station…...
……. and looking leftwards. In the mid-distance you can see Yuen Long Old Town.
A closer look at some of the roof tops, adapted as living spaces in this crowded and cramped town.
As you can see, Exit A of Yuen Long MTR station did not provide many photo opportunities. But I'd always wanted to visit Yuen Long Old Town, and as it was only a 5 min walk from Exit A, I have included some photos here. I say 'some photos', but this is the largest collection of extra photos attached to an Exit A/A1 in this collection so far.
Walking down from the main road to Yuen Long Old Town, you see the town entrance framed by the railway lines. In the middle of the arches is a bamboo construction shown below in more detail.
Opposite the bamboo building is an area guarded by villagers and Chinese lions.
Looking like I knew where I was going, I walked through the 'guard' into the village hall …….
…… and out the other side. Just look how close these buildings are to each other.
Back inside the village hall, there was a table of offerings, a huge paper lantern with what I take to be fertility symbols, and a sedan chair used in the past to carry a bride from her home village to her husband's village.
Back outside, I passed by another altar in the 'square' …...
…… and the traditional banyan tree. This also had a paper lantern, etc, so I presume this was because the timing was around Chinese New Year.
Yuen Long Old Town has some very old and derelict buildings which must have been stunning in their hey day. There seems to have been little attempt to preserve these buildings, although the alternative newer buildings (see below) don't have the same appeal. I guess the value of the land they site on is all important here?
Of course Yuen Long Old Town has its own temple which had many visitors on this day.
Outside the temple was the tail end of a tour group. I wonder if they were also interested in the variety of gates and front doors?
Walking around Yuen Long Old Town shows the old and the new, and the variety of its inhabitants.
Leaving Yuen Long Old Town, help is at hand for those with trolleys or bicycles who need to negotiate all the steps.
Click here to return to West Rail Line.