Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree

Until a short time ago Tai Po was the springboard for this large banyan tree, laden with coloured streamers of paper tied to oranges, in the village of Fong Ma Po to the southwest. The idea was to write your wish on a piece of paper, tie it to the citrus fruit and then throw it as high as you could up into the tree. If your fruit lodged in the branches, you were in luck – and the higher it went, the more chance there was of your wish coming true. But things got, er, out of hand just once too often, and in 2005, a week after the end of Chinese New Year, a large branch of the tree came crashing to the ground, dashing most punters’ wishes once and for all. Focus switched to another tree nearby, which became the new arboreal oracle while the original was left to recover. However, this practice was soon stopped, too. In the name of conservation, wish makers can now only tie their wishing papers to Chinese-style wooden racks. You can still buy the wishing papers from vendors but you’re unlikely to find any oranges for sale. At least there’s a small Tin Hau temple nearby, replete with fortune-tellers, to compensate for your curtailed wish making. To reach the tree catch bus 64K from the Tai Po Market MTR East Rail station and alight at Fong Ma Po.