1910s Tai Po Bungalow for Europeans

China Mail 2 November 1911 (A reader's trip to the Tai Po Rest House - edited and condensed)

In respect of the trip to Tai Po by road, rail or water from Kowloon, the scenery is simply lovely.

The (Tai Po) road is a good one, the odour of the pine and camphor trees delicious and the twtching of an occasional branch across one's face only adds to the charm.

After an hour and a half of ever changing scenery and never tiring admiration we arrive by way of woodland groves, babbling water brooks, rugged mountains with a blue summer sky above flecked with tiny foam liked clouds, we reach our destination - the Rest House. The road is within 50 yards of the house which stands on a slight elevation overlooking Mirs Bay.

A perfect bungalow, well-named indeed. It is built with conveniences of store rooms. box rooms and pantries galore. The basement is a house in itself. Servants quarters apart. The furniture, good, plain, honest teakwood; four bedrooms, centre dining room, opening from the hall and a verandah large as a room; in this our feast is spread, the dining table having been put there in readiness.

Feast did I say? And truly no misnomer! Fresh eggs and milk from all sources Chinese, cold ham from York, pale of Bass and iced at that. Pate of Strasbourg liver, bread of the whitest (surely Cafe Wiesmann's German), California oranges, rosy cheeked English apples and parmesan with cream-white flaky crackers and of course jam tarts. The most surprising dish was fresh grouse from Scotland!

We watched and heard ducks by the hundreds waddling in the shallows, sluffing the water through their bills and grub catching. We also saw fisherman returning from their fishing laden with mackerel.

The charge for the use of the Rest House is ten cents per person per hour. 72 hours the limit unless by special arrangement. A visit to the Rest House may be either on very economical lines or the reverse. Meals can be had at a fixed rate or provisions taken.

The bedroom furniture is of teakwood, bedsteads brass and iron, mattresses and pillows good and clean. The charges of each bed per night is 25 cents without sheets and blankets or 50 cents with. The bathrooms have Soochow tubs and marble and porcelain washstands with water laid on. There is also a cooking range and kitchen utensils. Stalling for ponies with fodder is also provided.

Having had the pleasure of the Rest House, let me remind you that East is East and West is West and truly the twain may meet.

You are right about the mix-up. Tolo Harbour had already been mentioned in Lockhart's report in 1899 on the leased area of the New Territories.