Hong Kong NWFB Bus Route Number 4 & 42 香港巴士路線巡禮 – 新巴4號及42號

My little boy is enthusiastic about bus routes (unlike others, he only cares about the route and not the bus!) and he memorised nearly all the bus routes in Hong Kong. Whenever we have spare time, he will ask me or his mother to take him for a bus ride (of course, on route designated by him). Today we have boarded route number 4 and 42 that are operated by New World First Bus. Our destination is Wah Fu Estate located in the South Western side of the Hong Kong Island.

For the forward trip, we have taken route number 42 from North Point Ferry Pier to Wah Fu Estate via the Aberdeen Tunnel. Travelling time was around 34 minutes. Upon arriving at Wah Fu Estate, the bus would first go to Phase II of the estate serving passengers there before finally stopped at the Wah Fu Estate bus terminal.

家中小朋友自小很熱愛巴士路線 (有趣的是，他只著意路線，而不是巴士!)，對於本地巴士路線可説是滾瓜爛熟，閒時總要我們帶他乘搭不同的巴士路線。今天他選上的是新巴 4 號及 42 號，目的地是座落於港島西南面的華富邨。

去程的 42 號線行走港島北角碼頭至華富邨(南)，途經香港仔隧道，車程約34分鐘。巴士到達華富下邨(南)後會先繞到上邨，再折返華富邨南的巴士總站。

Wah Fu Commercial Complex Bus Stop, Wah Fu Estate Bus Terminal 華富商場站、華富邨巴士總站

By the time we arrived at Wah Fu Estate, we all felt terribly hungry as it was already one o’clock in the afternoon. Food, food, food is all we needed. Our past experience taught us not to be hurry in a new place like this – look around before settle for lunch.

今天到達時已過中午，大家都很肚餓。環顧華富商場四週，有酒䅹，大快活及一、兩間較新的餐廳。根據往常經驗，不要心急，先走一轉才決定吧。

Wah Fu Shopping Centre 華富商場

Shortly after walking past the podium of the Wah Fu Shopping Centre, we came across a typical “Cha chaan teng (茶餐廳)” that is my favourite. Both its name (Silver Cafe) and the decoration were old-fashioned and are inline with those aging public housing estate like Wah Fu Estate.

走過商場平台後，面前是一間屋邨茶餐廳 – 銀都冰室。無論店名或裝修都散發出老屋邨的滄桑感，也正合我的口味。

Silver Cafe 銀都冰室

Cafe Silver is not very spacious and half of it is used for the kitchen and bakery. Since it is lunch time, nearly all the booths and round tables are fully occupied.

My little boy has chosen “Beef macaroni in soup” with iced-chocolate. My wife would liked to have the “Sparerib rice stewed with potato” set lunch while I have ordered one of the most common set lunch dishes  – “Fried-egg rice with luncheon meat & ham“. Both followed by the tasty Hong Kong styled “Milk-tea“. For a total of $105, the pricing was so affordable that I believed it is hard to find in other places.

舗子不算很大，半個舖面用作廚房及做麵包糕點。倚牆而設的卡座，再加上中間數張圓枱，早已坐滿了街坊食客，好不熱鬧。

小朋友今天選了鮮牛肉通粉，凍朱古力；太太和我則點了是日午餐，薯仔排骨飯及餐肉、火腿煎蛋飯，再配港式熱奶茶，盛惠105元。

My favourite dish 我的至愛

Despite the food was quite “average” and would not give you any big surprise, we all felt satisfied after taking such a big and hot meal in a cold winter day.

While looking around and enjoying those old-fashioned decoration, I suddenly noticed that Silver Cafe has actually been in service for nearly 50 years, working hand in hand with the Wah Fu Estate. There was also a “No Spitting” warning sign posted by the disbanded “Urban Services Department“.

By the way, I also noticed that there are two English names for the cafe. One was “Silver Cafe” while the other shown in the menu was “Ngan Dao Cafe“. Didn’t know the reason behind and may be I should ask the cafe owner in my next visit.

食物味道雖然不會有很大的驚喜，但冬日裡能吃上一個份量足夠，而且熱烘烘的午餐，相信大家已無他求了。

飽餐之後，細看店內裝修擺設，才驚覺這老店原來和華富邨一樣，已差不多渡過了五十個寒暑了。店內掛上的一些殘舊政府告示牌，今天亦很難找得到。

另外銀都冰室這老店的英文名字竟然有兩個不同的叫法：舖面上的是”Silver Cafe”，而餐牌寫的則是”Ngan Dao Cafe“。不知內裡原因為何，有機會下次要問問店東。

Cafe with 50 Years of history 五十年老店

Vanishing Warning sign from Urban Services Department 絕跡的市政事務處告示牌

We have also visited the Pok Fu Lam Public Library next to the Wah Fu Shopping Centre. The library was in service since 1970 and is the second library opened in the Hong Kong Island. Despite its small size, a wide variety of books are available and is a peaceful reading place for the old residents of Wah Fu Estate.

飯後也和小朋友到了香港區第二間公共圖書館 (1970) – 薄扶林公共圖書館。空間雖小，但也提供了各式各樣的書本，老邨民不需長途跋涉也有一個零静閲讀的好地方。

Wah Fu Estate 華富邨

Wah Fu Estate was first completed in 1967 and is among those earliest government public housing estates built in the 60s. In its glorious day, the estate accommodated a total population of over 50,000. With younger generations grew up and moved out to have their own family, aging population becomes one of the major issues with Wah Fu Estate. Some public facilities are also quite old and not promptly replaced. The drop in population has also lead to reorganisation of several bus routes providing transportation services to Wah Fu Estate.

It’s time to go home with our last bus of the day – Route number 4.

華富邨是香港最早期的公共屋邨，早於 1967 年分階段落成，全盛時期有約 50,000 人居住，是香港政府早年頗重視的公共屋邨。隨著時代變遷，年輕一代成長搬離後，屋邨人口老化問題漸趨嚴重，邨內的設施也變得殘舊，對外巴士路線亦因需求下降而要重整。

不經不覺間，時間也不早了，要回家預備晚飯。慢慢走向巴士總站，乘搭今天最後一程巴士 – 新巴 4 號線到中環了。

Wah Fu Estate Bus Terminal – Route Number 4 華富邨巴士總站 – 4號巴士

Route number 4 is one of the oldest bus routes found in Hong Kong. The service was started in 1933 linking Central Ferry Pier to Queen Mary Hospital. To support the opening of the Wah Fu Estate, route number 4 was subsequently extended to Wah Fu Estate in 1968. Last but not least, it also brought a graceful ending to our bus trip today.

4 號巴士是香港其中一條歷史悠久的路線，早在 1933 已經存在。為配合華富邨的落成，1968正式伸延至華富邨，提供對外的交通，也正好為我們今天的行程送上一個完美的句號。