Tai Wo, across the Lam Tsuen River, consists of housing estates built in the last few decades and is a part of the Tai Po satellite town. Another satellite town of the New Territories, Tai Po was first settled by Tanka boat people more than 1,000 years ago because of its strategic location on a river that flows into Tolo Harbour. Today, many Hakka farmers and residents -- more than 300,000 of them -- call it home. Yet it retains its rural atmosphere, especially the vicinity around its market. Just a short taxi ride or a 15-minute walk from the Tai Wo KCR station (ask for the Tai Wo Station Street Map and Information pamphlet at the station) is the small Hong Kong Railway Museum, 13 Shung Tak St. (tel. 852/2653 3455; http://hk.heritage.museum). It occupies what was formerly the very tiny Tai Po Market railway station, built in 1913 in traditional Chinese style with ceramic figurines cresting its gabled roof. Besides the station's original waiting hall and ticket office, the museum displays a few model trains, historical photographs of Tai Po, a narrow-gauge steam locomotive, and some vintage railway coaches dating from the early 1900s; its main appeal is to railway buffs, who will probably want to spend about 15 minutes here. It is open (and free) Wednesday through Monday from 9am to 5pm.
From the museum's main entrance, walk downhill 1 block and turn left onto Fu Shin Street, a pedestrian lane that has been serving as Tai Po's market since 1892. It bustles with activity from 7am to 6pm as housewives shop here twice daily to secure the freshest produce, fish, dried herbs, and other ingredients for the day's meals. Booths also sell traditional cakes, bamboo steamers, and Hakka-style clothing, including the distinctive broad-brimmed hats with black fringe.
Near the end of Fu Shin Street is a small Man Mo Temple, built in 1892 to commemorate the founding of Tai Po's market. Dedicated to the Taoist gods of war and literature, it could accommodate overnight guests to the market in its ladder-accessible upper floor, while side halls were used by market administrators to settle disputes between merchants and to store records. Today it's a popular spot for older residents to gather and play mah-jongg or simply pass the time. As at the Man Mo Temple on Hong Kong Island, huge incense coils suspended from the temple's ceiling are purchased by worshippers and burn for more than 2 weeks. Behind the temple is the Town Earthgod Shrine, where townspeople burn offerings for dead relatives. A nearby shop sells paper offerings in the shapes of cars, gold bars, clothing, and other luxury goods that might prove useful for the dead in their afterlife.
