Fanling walled villages walk

We set out in the warmth of the Boxing Day morning for a walking tour of Fanling's walled villages.  Equipped with scanty and inaccurate information from a guidebook, we attempted to walk to 6 wai's, but alas only could locate a few.  No matter, it was fun to set out in yet another rural part of Hong Kong to investigate how life is lived.  It never ceases to amaze me that Hong Kong is full of small villages built in different periods - with large gardens and quiet rural lifestyles - all in the shadow of the huge urban apartments and shopping towers that seem so familiar.  Today's walk was full of ripening bananas hung on the patio, Filipino maids chatting in the courtyard, dogs sleeping in the noonday sun and small walled villages from the 16th and 19th centuries.