a world away: hello kitty go green organic farm

Last Updated on April 14, 2016

Update: So, we recently revisited the Hello Kitty Farm, with some friends and their Hello Kitty obsessed daughter, and I am sad to say we left feeling a little underwhelmed. The games and the Hello Kitty wheel of fortune are no longer there (much to my son’s dismay) and, other than the greedy little goats, all the other animals have gone too (I didn’t like to ask where to…). This just left posing with Hello Kitty cut-outs, and the stamp hunt, as the main activities – probably not really worth the entrance fee. In the end, a trip to the nearby flea market was the real draw – with our kids delighting in cheap bubble wands and retro pinball machines, and I was thrilled to find a stall that sold both rip-off LEGO and bras – result. However, unless, you are in the area, a trip especially to the farm is probably not really worth it. If you are looking for something fun to do in the area though, you might want to check out Kam Tin Country Club, which as the photos on the Kam Tin Country Club shows, has both strawberry picking (during the winter months) and some insane rides. We loved our trip there – and I will try to write it up soon. 

If I ever want to get my heart racing a little faster, I have a game I like to play. And perhaps, if you ever find yourself in a foreign land, far away from home, you might choose to play it too? You simply open up Google maps, let it pinpoint your current location, and then start zooming out… Suddenly your little blue dot is engulfed by the names of unfamiliar towns and provinces – and with a dizzying sense of vertigo – you realise that you are in the middle of a strange continent, where your knowledge of the geography is embarrassingly hazy, and you are thousands of miles away from many of the people who love you most, and would have your back, in case of a natural disaster, war or some kind of zombie attack…

Then you take a deep breath, close your app, and get on with your familiar day-to-day existence.

And the truth is, going about my routine on Hong Kong Island, I very often forget that I’m a foreigner here. I guess that’s largely because English is so ubiquitous: I can understand menus and road signs, and I have no trouble striking up conversations or asking for what I need in supermarkets. And I suppose it is in part a reflection of how quickly you acclimatise to the prevalent culture: for example, I no longer give dogs wearing shoes a second glance. But then sometimes, just sometimes, I explore a different part of Hong Kong and get a refreshing reminder that I do in fact live in a region of China, and I am very much the tourist. And so it was when my little lad and I ventured out towards Yuen Long in search of the world’s first Hello Kitty Organic Farm.

“World’s first?” I hear you exclaim. “Why has this obvious pairing of a kitsch Japanese icon and an environmentally-friendly agricultural practice not been seized on before?” Well indeed.

Before we set off, I had checked the website and the Facebook page to try and see if it was worth the trip, but not being able to read any Chinese, I just found it all a little confusing (Google Translate tried to help me, but with limited success). The pictures looked fun though, it seemed relatively simple to get there (just 2 mins walk from an MTR station) and at just HK$30 a person, with 3-year olds and under being free, I thought it was worth a punt. And rather happily, it was. Not that I want to excite your anticipation too greatly, or give you the impression that it became any less baffling when you actually got there in person, but I think it is fair to say, we did have a fun morning out.

The farm itself is small, probably the size of a couple of football fields, although with the backdrop of the handsome hills of Tai Lam Country Park, you certainly feel like you’ve escaped from the haze of the city into the country. And maybe it was all slightly incongruous, but I couldn’t help feel all the Hello Kitty cut-outs and bunting added to the strange charm of the place.

Not being able to read or speak Chinese certainly didn’t help in the pursuit of understanding exactly what activities were on offer that day, although I did get the distinct impression my shameful lack of Cantonese wasn’t the only thing holding me back here. For example, to play the four eco-themed games that were scattered around the farm, you had to buy a game-card for HK$20, which no-one was entirely sure where to find. Then once the elusive card had been acquired (back at the entrance booth), you discovered that there was no-one around to explain the games or stamp your treasured card. After this puzzle had been solved, and the games played and environmental lessons learnt, you were then ushered back to the entrance, where your stamps were carefully counted, and you were allowed a spin of the Hello Kitty Wheel-of-Fortune (whoop!). This appeared to result in you winning a flag and a badge no matter where the wheel stopped. Or maybe I missed something. But in any case, I’m not complaining. I quite liked the break from the in-a-rush Hong Kong I often encounter, and that sense of being a foreigner lost in a set of rules I didn’t quite understand. My son delighted in the adventure involved in this elaborate game-play and couldn’t have been happier with his prizes. And although we had a fair few lost in translation moments, the staff were all helpful, smiley and eager to please.

The games weren’t the only thing my son liked about the farm. There were friendly cats to stroke, a pig called McNuggets to admire and little goats to feed (HK$10 at the entrance booth for a large banana leaf that you can rip down and split amongst the greedy, little guzzlers).

He also enjoyed playing in the small, slightly make-shift, playground and hunting down all the cute, little Hello Kitty stamps for the back of his map.

We even discovered that at the back of the farm, for the cost of HK$50, there was a craft workshop running sporadically throughout the day, which would be great for older children.

Having explored as far as we could, we began to make our way back through the vegetable plots, and I couldn’t help but notice that a few families had arrived and were busy weeding and watering. I wondered if this was again something I had missed paying for at the entrance booth, but it turns out not. The farm actually rents out the plots to families and mentors them in growing organic produce. In a city where almost no-one has a garden, and children rarely experience where their food comes from, this seemed like a fantastic idea, and as you can imagine, all the plots were taken. If we lived locally, mind, I think I would have put our name down on the waiting list.

And so, we ended our farm visit with a browse in the cute gift shop, followed by a trip to the immaculately clean portable toilets (no changing facilities here). Then, as a final treat, we spent HK$45 on a small punnit of heavenly-sweet, organic strawberries the owners had just harvested. Yum!

But our exploration of this little piece of Hong Kong wasn’t quite finished yet, as I was still keen to get a slightly better look at Kam Sheung Road Flea Market, that we had caught sight of on arrival over the other side of the MTR station.

If the Hello Kitty Organic Farm had been all been all about cute, pretty and green, then the flea market was the antithesis to this; but as much as we had enjoyed the farm, we couldn’t help but love this too. Stalls selling bubble machines that played Korean pop-music, unfamiliar, pickled things in jars, rows of old-skool pinball machines. Not to mention all the cheap fashion, toys, flowers and snack stalls. And even though we arrived at 12 noon, I believe that things were only just kicking off.

Again I felt like a tourist, gawping at the goods and having to point and nod in order to communicate. It was so nice to be away from glossy, sky-scrapper filled Hong Kong for a while, with its big brand names and designer labels, and for a moment there, I thought I was on holiday. Until I remembered, I had better get home and put the laundry on…

Hunger Pangs?

If the strawberries at the farm haven’t sated your appetite, there is an organic café and some barbeque pits on-site too. The café didn’t have an obvious menu, or indeed any food on display, so I can’t tell you for sure what it serves, and by that point I think I had exhausted myself and everyone else by my constant questioning, so I let it go. But I am pretty sure you’d be able to get something to eat there. If you fancy a bbq, you are best to call or email ahead (details below) before you turn up with your cool bag.

Another lunch option would be to jump back on the MTR for one stop to Yuen Long and walk for 5 minutes to one of the world’s cheapest Michelin starred restaurants – Ho To Tai Noodle Shop – although we settled for the even more modest option of siu mai dumplings and noodles at one of the flea market stalls.

Getting There

If you are travelling to the farm by public transport you need to catch the West Rail Line and alight at Kam Sheung Road Station. From Hong Hom, it is 6 stops and takes 25 mins and from Admirality it is 11 stops (changing at Mei Foo) and will take you roughly 40 minutes. Once at the station, take Exit A, and then walk straight across the car-park, cross the road, and then follow the signs through the underpass and take the first left.

The Flea Market can be accessed at through either Exit B or C of the MTR.

If you are driving, there is a big Imperial car-park at the MTR station, at a weekend rate of HK$8 an hour.

Hello Kitty Go Green Organic Farm
Kam Tin Shi, Yuen Long
Tel: +852 5579 2178
Email: info@gogreenlife.com.hk
Opening hours: Mon, Thu-Sun & public holidays, 9:30am-6pm
Price: weekdays HK$20 and weekend HK$30, with children aged 3 and under free. 

At a rushed city-pace you could probably see all of the farm in under an hour, although our more leisurely visit took us 1 hour and 45 mins.

Kam Sheung Road Flea Market
Kam Sheung Road Station
Opening Hours: weekends and public holidays, officially 10am – 8pm, although when we arrived at 12 noon many things were just opening up.