So Lo Pun

Tucked away in the remote northeastern New Territories near Lai Chi Wo, So Lo Pun was once one of the seven Hakka villages that formed the Hing Chun Alliance, alongside Lai Chi Wo, Sam A Village, and Mui Tsz Lam. For generations, it was home to the Wong family, but transportation difficulties and limited economic opportunities prompted most residents to move to urban Hong Kong or emigrate abroad during the 1960s and 1970s. By the early 1980s, the village was largely abandoned. Today So Lo Pun stands in ruins.

Haunting legends have come about a result of the village becoming so empty. Some say that the villagers left overnight. The most enduring tale is that hikers’ compasses malfunction within the village, a mystery that inspired its name 鎖羅盆 (sor lor poon), meaning “locked compass.” Some report modern devices behaving strangely. Another story claims a boat accident killed villagers en route to a wedding, sparking the sudden decline, while others recount ghostly encounters and unexplained heart attacks. Whether haunted or not, So Lo Pun remains one of Hong Kong’s eeriest abandoned villages.

So Lo Pun is now an atmospheric stop best visited on an 18km hiking route that takes about five hours at a steady pace, passing through several traditional Hakka villages as part of "Plover Cove's ghost villages". The trail is mostly flat with a few climbs, making it manageable for most walkers, though the distance can be tiring. Visitors are able to still see the crumbling remains of Hakka homes, old stone walls, narrow alleyways, ancestral halls, and overgrown farmland. In some villages, banyan trees have grown through and around abandoned houses, creating striking scenes where nature has reclaimed the ruins. A few restored sites, like ancestral halls in Lai Chi Wo, offer a glimpse of traditional village life, but in So Lo Pun itself, most structures stand as roofless shells covered in vegetation, giving it an eerie, time-frozen atmosphere.