Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
I hope this can be fun for all the family in a very rare heritage place for HK. So please take the challenge to see this traditional village.
There is a starting cache near the starting coordinates, at The Dairy Co-Workers' Club, Wai Chi Main Street, please don't sign it. There are then five further caches. Inside each cache you will find a clue that will lead you to the next cache inside the village. Only the fifth cache can be logged as a find and only the fifth cache should be signed. To claim the find though you must first email me (do not give it away in the log please) the phrase that you will find in the log sheet in the fifth cache.
Obviously with six caches the muggleization risk is six times as high as a normal cache with lots of little windows with people peeking at you, so please do be very stealthy.
Fortunately it is very common to see people walking around the alleyways looking lost. But please, please, please, please move away from each GZ to open it and read the next clue, then very super quick and stealthy in returning. I suggest you bring a notebook and pen to record each clue as you go. Obviously replace the clue in the cache to where you found it.
As one muggled cache in the chain will spoil the whole game I have also set up a 'Cheat Sheet' cache. This lists the clues to every cache, all in one cache. If you are sure one cache is muggled then I suggest you go to the cheat sheet cache to discover the clue to the next cache in the line. Please don't go straight to the 'Cheat Sheet' cache, I mean, what's the point? Also the clues in there are less helpful than those in the actual caches. The 'Cheat Sheet' cache can be found at Sitting Out Area 2, Lower section, roof, near the path. I give no cordinates for this; it is near the entrance to the village, up the hill.
"What no co-ordinates for the caches?" No, only for the starting one. This is the tradition in Letterboxing, which started at Dartmoor National Park in England in 1854. Letterboxing is the ancestor of geocaching.
Please bring a self-inking stamp that represents you, to stamp the final cache sheet. You will find a self-inking stamp in the final cache, for you to stamp into your own notebook, in the tradition of letter boxing.
Everyone I met in the village was very friendly and there were other visitors looking around too. This is another side of Hong Kong that is rarely seen. This squatter village was originally farmland and now must be on some of the most expensive squatter land in the world.
Our dear Chief Executive has his greedy eyes on the village and wants to destroy it to build high-rise flats. The villagers are fighting him and are trying to gain World Heritage status for the village as a form of protection. If you feel this village is worth saving please put a message on the village Facebook page 'PokfulamVillage.org' to support them.
I hope that tourists from all over the world will come here and experience this simple place. Take a bus to Chi Fu, near Aberdeen. Kids can do an art workshop in the starting location if you wish. There are shops at the entrance, please buy from them to support the local economy. Notice how some of the shopkeepers keep their money in a bucket in the ceiling which they access by pulling on a rope pulley. A tour can also be arranged if this geocaching exercise is not enough for you, ask around at the entrance, or check facebook. There are a number of plaques on the walls all around, explaining the history of the village and the significant places. Look out for the unusual art around the village too.
This letterbox cache could be a good combination activity with the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir caches, and even the Peak - what a great day!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgnegre. Bhgfvqr gur 'Qnvel Pb-Jbexref Pyho', uvtu naq evtug, arne qbjacvcr, zntargvp, ovt, fvyire, cyhzovat-fglyr.
1. Ubyr, ybj.
2. Ynqqre
3. Ba senzr va cngu-fvqr, va gur pbeare, qba'g yrnir gur cngu. Abfl arvtuobhef urer, pnershy.
4. Ab arrq gb yrnir gur cngu, ol lbhe srrg
5. Gerr.