Cheung Po Tsai's lost treasure

The dark cave enclosed all around me. Not a suffocating darkness -- a living darkness.

History lived in this cave. I could feel it.

On Cheung Chau Island (literally meaning "Long Island"), the pirate Cheung Po Tsai allegedly used this cave to hide his treasure from the Qing Dynasty navy in the 1800s -- the same navy he eventually surrendered to and became a captain in.

At the height of his piracy, Cheung Po Tsai commanded as many as 1,200 junks and 50,000 men.

The island of Cheung Chau, south west of Hong Kong Island, is only accessible by ferry or boat. My friends Sunny, Adelaide, Rebecca and Cian took the ferry from Central.

We rode on the ferry in the choppy waters on the same route Cheung Po Tsai took while pirating the canton shipping lanes around Hong Kong nearly two hundred years earlier.

My friends and I were one of the few foreigners brave (or naive) enough to face the cold weather in Hong Kong from the winter monsoons that have caused a land lock in northern China. The weather has been so severe, many of my Chinese friends have canceled plans to head home for the Chinese New Year.

Typically, Chinese New Year is a time when families come together from all over China (Read more about Chinese New Year soon). Heavy snow storms in the north closed down rail stations, leaving many families who were trying to reunite stranded.

I found relief from the cold wind inside the cave. I could hear the waves pounding against the rocks outside, breaking the silence. The floor of the cave ran parallel with the coast in a long line. I could tell water had washed through fairly recently from the amount of trash piled in the corners.

Interestingly, I am not the only one who became enchanted with the legend of Cheung Po Tsai. In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the villain Sao Feng is based on Cheung Po Tsai, except for the fact that the movie is based way before Cheung's time.

My friends passed through the cave, eager to embrace the sunlight. On a hunch, I went back in.

I suspected there was more to this cave than what met the eye. This time following my ears, I listened closely to the sound of the crashing waves.

My ears led me to a small opening near the bottom of the cave floor. I stuck my green colored flash light into the crack. A large slab of rock became illuminated. I glimpsed what I guessed to be another room of the cave.

I quickly exited the cave, begging one of the my friends to accompany me. Only Cian agreed to come. Everyone else did not seem too thrilled about crawling around in the dark.

Once inside the crack, Cian refused to go further. The crawl was difficult without a light source so I went on alone. I lit part of my way and then shimmied sideways into the darkness. My fingers felt out every crack, every bump in the rock.

My feet eventually found sandy ground. I propped myself up sideways, resting my body on the slab of moist rock.

Ahead I saw a sliver of light. Enough to light my way, but the crack was not wide enough to let me out.

A dead end. No forgotten treasure.

I had not found Cheung Po Tsai's lost treasure, but I felt strangely connected with the pirate. Perhaps he had hidden his bounty in this secret passage way.

I began crawling out away from the sliver of sun light realizing just how far I had come. Cheung Po Tsai's treasure would have to wait for another adventurer.