Amah Rock in Hong Kong

Do you know that there is a weird-looking rock called Amah Rock on the hilltop of Tai Wai?

Well, weird enough for me to write hundreds of words about it, at least.

This 15 meter-tall rock looks like a standing human figure, carrying a child on its back and staring down the hill.

What’s weirder is that the rock is called 望夫石 in Chinese, which means “stone that gazes at the husband”. Sounds really creepy based on the description here, huh?

But it’s not creepy at all. Instead, there is a touching story behind.

Legend has it that there was a poor family in the past. Some said that the husband was a fisherman; some said that he had to go overseas to make money for the family. Whatever the reason was, he headed for the sea and didn’t come back. While common sense tells us the husband was probably dead, the wife believed otherwise. Believing that her husband was still alive, the wife carried their child and head for the hilltop watching for the return of her husband. She simply stood there, days after days and years after years, hoping that the day of their reunion would come. Her faithfulness and dedication towards her husband deeply moved the Goddess of the Sea. Thus the Goddess turned her into a rock so that her spirit could reunite with her husband (or “granted her a stone-body that could never get old, so that she could live long enough to see her husband return”, depending on how you interpret the story).

Aww…wipe your tears. It’s just some made-up story. The peculiar shape of the rock actually results from million years of weathering, nothing magical or touching here. And the tourists have probably heard of this story thousand times before since the rock is a famous attraction, not to mention it locates right next to a popular hiking trail.

Still, what if the story WAS real…?

Imagine that the husband really returned at the end, seeing his wife.

Both of them wept out of happiness and hugged each other.

“You…have been waiting for me? After all this time?”

“Always.”

Bride’s Pool in Hong Kong

Do you know there is a tragic story behind the beautiful Bride’s Pool (新娘潭)?

…Actually not so tragic. The story’s not long enough for you to get emotionally attached anyway…

The pool located in Tai Po, northeast New Territories, with several other waterfalls around. While the scene there looks pristine and calming, a well-known folklore surely adds melancholy and even eeriness to the place.

Legend has it that centuries ago, a bride passed throw here on the day of her wedding. While she sat on her comfy sedan chair carried by four men, happily waiting for the sedan to reach her lover and start her new page of life, an unfortunate accident happened. The chair-porters got slipped by the slippery rocks and the whole group, including the bride, fell into the pool. The bride, wearing heavy wedding dress (cheongsam, to be accurate), could not escape and…

Yeah, you can guess the rest. As a result, the pool is named “Bride’s Pool” in the memory of the drowned bride.

What’s creepy is that people seemed to have found some mysterious cremated remains and abandoned spirit tablets around there a few years ago; the road right above the pool is an infamous sport for fatal traffic accidents; lots of people have claimed seeing a womanly figure there at night and locals always warned others against visiting this place after dark.

Maybe that bride was lonely and tried to look for companion? Or maybe she was still waiting there, believing that her lover would come for her?

…Nah, people probably made these up for fun.

This place holds a popular hiking trail, and there are a few barbecue sites around as well.

You think ghosts dare show up at a crowded tourist attraction like this?

But, in case you are alone by the pool, and you saw a suspicious female wearing cheongsam, looking sad and, more importantly, soaked…

It may be a good idea to run away as fast as you can.

Just saying.