Step off the MTR at Fan Ling Station in the New Territories, Hong Kong, and take the green minibus 56k in the direction of the mountains and hills, right to the last stop in rural Hong Kong – far removed from the bustling city on Hong Kong Island. Watch dense public housing fall away to trees, classic village houses, and a view of the inlets, and remind yourself that you’re still in Hong Kong.

Luk Keng (Deer Neck) Chan Uk is a rural, traditional Hakka farming village, and is located in the Luk Keng area in the North-eastern New Territories famous for its stunning natural setting of rolling hills and rivers – a perfect escape from the rush of the city. I took this picture standing on a patch of land that connected both banks of a fishpond, with a man fishing behind me, and the village ruins in the distance. While there is still some human life in Luk Keng – most of the houses have been overgrown with weeds, their gates and doors shut for years as their former inhabitants move on to the suburbs, the city, and even to other parts of the world.

Luk Keng is highly convenient from wherever you may be in Hong Kong, and positions itself as a perfect way to just get out of the city, if even just for a couple of hours. There’s so much more to Hong Kong than the shopping malls from Pacific Place to the IFC – take a trip out to the New Territories. It’s bubbling with tradition and culture that are sadly fast fading in the face of modernization. Be sure to take good shoes and a camera. Luk Keng has so much beauty to offer every visitor who’s willing to step out of the usual sights of Hong Kong into what’s truly gold there – from nature at its very finest, to the tau fu fa (Beancurd Jelly) that’s next to the Luk Keng terminus at the mouth of the village.

Jiawen Pek is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

Photo courtesy and copyright Jiawen Pek