Live cameras in Ting Kau, Hong Kong

Ting Kau is a small coastal area in the western part of Tsuen Wan District, in Hong Kong's New Territories. It is not a town in its own right but a stretch of shoreline along the Rambler Channel, with an old village near the water, a handful of private housing estates on the slopes above, and several small beaches such as Ting Kau Beach, Lido and Casam. Castle Peak Road winds along the coast, and Tuen Mun Road runs higher up the hillside. The beaches were once popular for swimming, though water quality has been a concern in recent decades.

The name is best known for the Ting Kau Bridge, which opened in May 1998. It is a cable-stayed bridge about 1,177 meters long, held up by three slender towers, and it carries Route 3 from the Ting Kau side across the channel to the northwest corner of Tsing Yi Island. The Tsing Ma Bridge, part of the road to the airport on Lantau, stands only a short distance away, so the two make a striking pair of spans from the hills.

Watching the Route 3 junctions

Ting Kau's snapshots are supplied by Hong Kong's Transport Department, whose roadside cameras upload a new frame on a cycle of roughly two minutes. At Ting Kau they watch the junctions where Route 3, the Ting Kau Bridge approach and Tuen Mun Road meet, one of the most important points on the road network between the northwest New Territories, the airport and the city. Holiday mornings, typhoon days and accidents on Tuen Mun Road all show up quickly here.

Local clocks never change here: the territory stays on UTC plus eight in every season. Summer sunsets come around seven in the evening, winter ones a little before six. Summers are hot and wet, and typhoon season runs roughly from May to November, when the bridges may be closed in strong winds. The clearest, driest views usually come between October and December.

Tsuen Wan's town center lies a few kilometers east, and Sham Tseng, known for roast goose restaurants, is just to the west along Castle Peak Road.

Sources: Ting Kau - Wikipedia · Ting Kau Bridge - Wikipedia · Transport Department, Hong Kong.