I first visited the ghost village of Yim Tin Tsai back in the Summer of 2012. It was before I was officially into urbexing. I had to do a revisit to see how the place looked three years down the line. It’s harder to get to than say Ma Wan as you have to get a boat out of Sai Kung (in the North East of Hong Kong) to the small island of YimTinTsai itself. Last time I stumbled across the place and had limited time there due to the returning boat times. This time I made sure I had plenty of time at this gem of a place. Some things had changed slightly (one of the larger houses has been renovated and turned into a heritage museum) but the majority of the village was as before but slightly further down the line.
The history is here (from my previous report):
“The island was originally settled by members of the Hakka Chan clan in the 19th century. They made a living through fishing, farming and salt making and the "ghost island" of Yim Tin Tsai once boasted over 1,000 inhabitants from the Hakka clan in the small islands one and only village. Perhaps unsurprisingly Yim Tin Tsai actually translates as "Little Salt farm".
The island underwent a gradual depopulation throughout the 80s and 90s and is now abandoned. The island is just a short 20 minute ferry ride from Sai Kung pier and is well worth the three or four hours a round trip takes. The really striking thing is the sheer number of abandoned houses, many full of the previous occupant's possessions which they appear to have just left there when they abandoned their homes. Most of the houses which are slowly being reclaimed by nature were built in the 1950s but some look older.”
Like my Ma Wan report, due to the sheer volume of pictures, I’m going to split the report in half. Here’s the first swathe of pictures:
The first row of houses you come to are unchanged:
img0315 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0316 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And the artefacts left behind also remain:
img0323 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0324 by HughieDW, on Flickr
These houses are as I remember:
img0325 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0326 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0328 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0329 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0330 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Well, the pots are still there:
img0314 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Although some graffiti has mysteriously appeared:
img0321 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Not too sure what this says…
img0322 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A vintage fridge rusts away:
img0319 by HughieDW, on Flickr
This time I also took in the cemetery:
img0331 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0332 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Back to the village and more abandoned houses:
img0336 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0337 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0338 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0339 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0340 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0342 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The history is here (from my previous report):
“The island was originally settled by members of the Hakka Chan clan in the 19th century. They made a living through fishing, farming and salt making and the "ghost island" of Yim Tin Tsai once boasted over 1,000 inhabitants from the Hakka clan in the small islands one and only village. Perhaps unsurprisingly Yim Tin Tsai actually translates as "Little Salt farm".
The island underwent a gradual depopulation throughout the 80s and 90s and is now abandoned. The island is just a short 20 minute ferry ride from Sai Kung pier and is well worth the three or four hours a round trip takes. The really striking thing is the sheer number of abandoned houses, many full of the previous occupant's possessions which they appear to have just left there when they abandoned their homes. Most of the houses which are slowly being reclaimed by nature were built in the 1950s but some look older.”
Like my Ma Wan report, due to the sheer volume of pictures, I’m going to split the report in half. Here’s the first swathe of pictures:
The first row of houses you come to are unchanged:
And the artefacts left behind also remain:
These houses are as I remember:
Well, the pots are still there:
Although some graffiti has mysteriously appeared:
Not too sure what this says…
A vintage fridge rusts away:
This time I also took in the cemetery:
Back to the village and more abandoned houses:
