So, the idea was to give KOTH Lantau a go.

Timing:
Lap 1: Mui Wo to Sunset Peak (the right to Lin Fa Shan): 53 minutes 48 seconds
Lap 2: Sunset Peak to start of the trail to Ngong Ping: 1 hour 38 minutes

[solo run from here onwards]

- was unable to find the trail to Ngong Ping. Ended up at a Stream Trek and tried going upwards but of no avail. Returned, tried something else but still couldn’t find the trail

- so, traced the trail back and ended up doing Donkey Trail under the HOT sun

- saw passengers in the overhead cable car and made funny faces at the passengers (I can be childish)

- got hit by the sun big time. This called for heat management which kept me going

Timing:
Lap 3: Start of the trail to Ngong Ping to some stream teak and eventually back to Donkey Trail: 48 minutes 16 seconds
Lap 4: Donkey Trail to Ngong Ping: 1 hour 11 minutes
Lap 5: Ngong Ping to Lantau Peak: 36 minutes 31 seconds
Lap 6: Lantau Peak to Pak Kung Au: 22 minutes 34 seconds

[Ngong Ping to Pak Kung Au: 58 minutes]

Lap 7: Pak Kung Au to Nam Shan (around Sunset): 56 minutes 21 seconds

Total distance: 35.33Km
Total time: 6 hours 26 mins
Elevation gain: 2210M

Garmin Link.

Total: 36.423 km in 8h 36m 06s at an average of 4.23 km/h

GPX.

• Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping AND BACK! (0)
• Hiking, 2009-08-08, Mui Wo to Ngong Ping AND BACK (0)
• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Back to Lantau! Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau -> Tung Chung (0)
• Sunset Peak to somehow-get-to-the-airport hike (0)

Tags: KOTH, Lantau Peak, Mui Wo, Nam Shan, Ngong Ping, Pak Kung Au, Sunset Peak, Tung Chung

Idea was to start in Mui Wo, do Sunset Peak, Lantau Peak and reach Ngong Ping (after a slight detour across Stage 4). And after a brief snack at Ngong Ping, we had to go back to Mui Wo the same way!

Status: Mission Accomplished.

Details:
(1) Start time at Mui Wo: 0752 HKT
(2) Reached Pak Kung Au after going over Sunset Peak in 1 hour 24 minutes
(3) Reached Ngong Ping [Wisdom Sticks] after going over Lantau Peak in 56 minutes 22 seconds
(4) Reached “Disney Buddha” (as Dominic calls it) in 17 minutes 15 seconds [basically from Wisdom Sticks and some Stage 4]

On the way back!
(a) Start time in Ngong Ping (Wisdom sticks) at 1202 HKT
(b) Reached the summit of Lantau Peak in 30 minutes 46 seconds
(c) Reached Pak Kung Au in 21 minutes 31 seconds
(d) Reached Nam Shan after going over Sunset Peak from Pak Kung Au in 1 hour 3 minutes
(e) Reached Mui Wo in 11 minutes 18 seconds

Comparison to and fro:
(a) To hike: Mui Wo to Pak Kung Au: 1 hour 24 minutes
fro hike: Pak Kung Au to Mui Wo: 1 hour 14 minutes
[quicker on the fro hike]

(b) To hike: Pak Kung Au to Ngong Ping [Wisdom Sticks]: 56 minutes 22 seconds
fro hike: Wisdom Sticks to Pak Kung Au: ~= 52 minutes
[quicker on the fro hike]

Total excluding breaks in Ngong Ping + wait time for teammates = 4 hours 45 minutes

Notes:
(a) Big Buddha has to be renamed to Buddha Theme Park or “Disney Buddha” as teammate Dom puts it. The place is more touristy each day. 7-11 sales girls are extra courteous and helpful [money and Buddha make the world go around]

(b) Steve finished despite problems on the return leg [Pak Kung Au to Mui Wo]

(c) Dom took a 7Km shortcut as he also had some problems on the same return leg

Problems during the hike:
(a) All cool on this one. Could have used some grub on the way back but that didn’t kill speed

Fantastic workout.

Garmin:

Total: 28.871 km in 6h 51m 06s at an average of 4.21 km/h

Map:

• King of the Hills – Lantau recci (0)
• Hiking, 2009-08-08, Mui Wo to Ngong Ping AND BACK (0)
• Back to Lantau! Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau -> Tung Chung (0)
• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Sunset Peak to somehow-get-to-the-airport hike (0)

Tags: Lantau Peak, Mui Wo, Ngong Ping, Sunset Peak

To make the best out of a trip to the airport, one just *has* to do a hike prior to getting there. So, today, we set off to do Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau and then to the airport (had to be there at 1200 HKT). Planned a precision hike (as usual) and took the 0700 ferry to Mui Wo from Central.

Btw, I am beginning to enjoy these early morning hikes. The air is fresh and the trails have this soothing feeling at that time of the day. Hike started at 0753 and the 3 golden rules of trail running applied (a) no huffing and puffing (b) no wild horse type running (c) no heroics.

From Mui Wo to Sunset Peak to the saddle: 1 hour 44 minutes
From the saddle to the top of Lantau Peak: 46 minutes
From Lantau Peak summit to the Wisdom Path aka “the sticks”: 14 minutes
From the sticks to Tung Chung: 23 minutes

The flight that should have landed at 1145 landed at 1128 instead. Really! This much punctuality is an overkill! I propose that the world adopt 3 kinds of understanding of times and punctuality:

a) International military time punctuality: the time specified must be obeyed precisely. I.e. 0900 is 9AM sharp!
b) Japanese punctuality: you have to be BEFORE time, at least 15 minutes! I.e. 0900 is really 0845 or sooner!
c) Celebrity punctuality: you have to be late and may/may not show up! I.e. 0900 can mean anything!

So, in addition to “Time Timezone”, one has to say “Time Timezone Punctuality code”. I.e. 0900 HKT IMT

Anyway, going way off topic. Original plan was to run to the airport from Tung Chung but the Japanese type punctuality that the airline followed forced me to cab it as I was following my international military time punctuality!

Total: 17.352 km in 3h 30m 08s at an average of 4.95 km/h

GPX

• Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping AND BACK! (0)
• King of the Hills – Lantau recci (0)
• Hiking, 2009-08-08, Mui Wo to Ngong Ping AND BACK (0)
• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Sunset Peak to somehow-get-to-the-airport hike (0)

Tags: Lantau Peak, Mui Wo, Sunset Peak

And so, I had to heed a calling from the Big Buddha at least this time after a previously failed attempt where I prioritized the airport over Buddha!

So, the plan today was to take the 0950 HKT ferry from Central to Mui Wo and then do Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau -> Shek Pik -> Mui Wo in about 4 hours.

Also, I was quite excited to try out my latest gizmo today (Garmin 310XT). As I was setting off from my home, I was thinking about how man, in his infinite wisdom, likes to complicate things. A century back, going hiking would have cost nothing and would have required nothing more than time. But, today, a hi-tech hiker like me has so many gizmos to play with. A GPS monitor, heart rate monitor, smart phone, Mp3 player, etc, etc!

Set off as planned on the 0950 ferry. The in-ferry entertainment system came in the form of repeated apologies from the overhead sound system as the ferry “was going to be late because of foggy weather”. This apology just wouldn’t stop!

Reached Mui Wo at about 1020. The ferry was barely 5 minutes late (was apologizing so profusely really necessary?!) There are 2 paths to Nam Shan, one is the village path and the other access is through the usual roads. I opted for the village path. I started the timers and was jogging at about 8Km/hour. 10 minutes later, in spite of 1 GPS receiver, 1 smartphone with Google Maps and having done this hike several times before, I still couldn’t find the village path!! That’s the irony of technology! I was then forced to return to the starting point and had to take the road access to Nam Shan. Lost about 15 minutes and started the hike at 1045.

After about 15 minutes (3Km), I reached Nam Shan in foggy weather. Visibility was quite bad but hey, that’s Hong Kong most of the time.

Nam Shaan

The ascent to Sunset Peak (934m) began from there. I saw some people initially but looks like the corporate saying “it gets lonely at the top” also applies to mountains! I was the only guy after about 500m! Sunset Peak was great, I visited the trademark Sunset huts. It looked like a haunted house from a horror movie as parts of it emerged from the fog.

Haunted Hut on Sunset

Did some awesome trail running, went back down to about 400m (saddle) and then started climbing Lantau peak. I was running down some trail and was interrupted by a trembling guy who looked scared and puzzled. He started talking to me from a distance. Something didn’t seem right. I unplugged my earphones, took a deep breath before stopping. I was getting ready to run at top speed in case this guy turned out to be some robber!

The guy composed himself and said to me “there’s a cow”.
My mind was prepared for all kinds of things including a suicide bombing (I watch too much of that CNN news!) So I was still struggling to decipher his message. There’s a cow?
I asked again, “you mean a cow? Like Maaaaaaaaaaa??”
He nodded and pointed at a black beast, chilling on the trail, munching on grass and slouching on the ground as if he owned it
Then it struck me, this grown up hiker was actually SCARED OF A COW!! And so, I got into one of my witty, sarcastic moods and asked him in a concerned voice “so, is this a Special Forces cow that has received anti human training at a Taliban terrorist camp?”
Alas! The guy was too shaken up to process any sarcasm
I then consoled him, told him not to worry and lead the way! The guy followed me closely, with barely 5 cm of gap between us as we passed the resting and munching cow!! (I could imagine the cow farting as he crossed and laughing to himself going ‘he he’!)

Anyway, after saving yet another complete stranger from the jaws of death (I tend to do this sort of thing), I continued my steady pace to the Summit (934Km).

Lantau Peak

Temporary Refuge on Lantau Peak (rats live here!)

Then ran towards Ngong Ping. Could easily tell when I had reached the village as I could easily smell the strong perfume those tourists wear wearing from like a mile away! I don’t get it – wearing that much perfume, are they there to date Buddha or what?!

At that point, I saw a trail going down to Tung Chung and decided to change course. I gave Buddha a salute from a distance and took that trail to Tung Chung (about 8Km). Saw a beautiful farm on the way and was taking photos. Then this farming lady dressed in one of those Buddha costumes turned around and asked me to “stop taking photos, please”. I heeded! Brought back memories of being disciplined back in the day by the nuns who ran my convent school!

The farm on the way to Tung Chung from Ngong Ping

Eventually, found a bus stop in Tung Chung (close to the MTR) where I terminated the hike.

Now, for all the hi-tech stuff.
Map

Pics here here.
Detailed stats are here.

Brief Stats:
3 hours 45 minutes (Mui Wo -> Nam Shan -> Lantau Peak -> Sunset Peak -> Tung Chung)
Distance: 22.43Km
Max speed: 15.9Km/h
Avg HR: 156BPM
Max HR: 196BPM

• King of the Hills – Lantau recci (0)
• Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping AND BACK! (0)
• Hiking, 2009-08-08, Mui Wo to Ngong Ping AND BACK (0)
• Back to Lantau! Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau -> Tung Chung (0)
• Sunset Peak to somehow-get-to-the-airport hike (0)

Tags: Big Buddha, Lantau Peak, Sunset Peak, Tung Chung

Pictures here.

So, I thought Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping was tough. But, what we did today was a slight extension of that – Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping + Stage 4,5 Lantau Trail AND BACK!! (35 KM).

The sun decided to make a dramatic return today after days of cloudy weather! The hike up to Sunset and Lantau were done at a slow pace but we were quick on the downhills.

Started at 8.30AM from the ferry pier and we were in Ngong Ping (after stage 4) at about 12.30PM. Had a nice long lunch and finished stage 4 and 5 by 3PM. The old stage 5 was a pleasure to cross. Several landslides and enormous spiders loomed threateningly. The hike back up Lantau Peak and Sunset peak wasn’t enjoyable to say the least but I had a lot of fun downhill.

Made 1 wrong turn and lost about 15 mins. Eventually, reached Mui Wo at 7.15PM.

Great hike.

• Mui Wo to Sunset to Lantau to Ngong Ping AND BACK! (0)
• King of the Hills – Lantau recci (0)
• Back to Lantau! Mui Wo -> Sunset -> Lantau -> Tung Chung (0)
• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Sunset Peak to somehow-get-to-the-airport hike (0)

Tags: Lantau Peak, Mui Wo, Ngong Ping, Sunset Peak