Lei Yue Mun: Traditional Fishing Village, Or Tourist Trap?

Earlier this week Andy and I spent an incredible day in Lei Yue Mun, which is described as a traditional fishing village, famous for its seafood restaurants. It's quite close to our house, just a 15-minute walk to the ferry pier, then a short ride across the harbor to the village.

Upon approaching the shore, I saw that the architecture is very different from the standard-issue high rises of Hong Kong. The houses are low and small, built almost haphazardly over the water.

The ferry docks in a small bay filled with boats of every kind: houseboats, fishing boats, rowboats and canoes, many of them tied together and brimming over with junk.

The high rises of a nearby property development loom behind, in an abrupt contrast:

Walking around this bay, you come across the first of the many markets. I found some nice cherries, of all things, at this fruit stand:

But seafood, of course, is the order of the day here.

The shops are crowded together with restaurants and liquor stores in a damp, chaotic, warren-like maze. Off-duty kitchen staff huddle around small tables playing cards and mah-jong, or watch horse races on TV. Fishmongers with their trousers tucked into knee-high rubber boots try to get you to admire their catch.

Just about anything that lives in the sea is for sale. It's all kept alive in tanks and styrofoam boxes, like these crabs. They look almost decorative when tied up with red cord:

You can have your pick brought to one of the restaurants, where it will be cooked how you like it. Many of these restaurants have views over the harbor, so you can enjoy gazing at the source of your dinner.

It's questionable, however, if the harbor really is the source of your dinner. I've heard that because the water is so polluted, all the seafood sold here is actually imported from Australia and New Zealand.

Some guidebooks say that the seafood business here is simply a big tourist rip-off, where if you're not careful during the bargaining process, you'll find yourself paying for the most expensive fish in the tank. The way to avoid a rip-off is to firmly agree on the fish and its price before it's taken away to be cooked, or go in with a tour that includes dinner.

Whether it's the real deal or a rip-off, I loved it there. If it is a tourist trap, it's a very picturesque one. I feel it retains a lot of flavor of what I imagine to be "old" Hong Kong, as I'll show in my next post on the subject.