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

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

Hiking pictures are here.

The brave ones:
Despite Francis’ deadly threat of stripping down to his underpants for a swim, an unbelievably large number of psychologically strong Trampers (close to 40!) joined today, putting utmost faith in the powers of the Shui Lo Chu waters to cleanse their minds of any lasting impression of that sight.

In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the large turnout that I even forgot the customary check of Lutz’s backpack for explosives (he is known to carry Yau Ma Tei batteries that explode randomly). Winnie who rarely shows up was present, Peter was there carrying a handmade Chinese fan to cope with the heat, Chris who joins about 2 hikes in a year showed up, Wendy joined us sporting a stylish new backpack, heeding Francis’ advice of showing up for hiking with a backpack and not with shopping bags.

How we got there:
Given our large number, we had to take two buses to Tai O; 23 including me in one bus with Ringo, our Senior Vice President for navigation leading us in this bus and about 17 in the other bus with navigation-in-chief Alex in charge of them. Destination was Sham Wat road.

After a nice long 1-hour bus ride to Sham Wat road, we started to climb our first and highest hill for the day – Keung Shaan in Man Cheung Po (550m). Given the scorching heat, the pace of the walk was expectedly slow – in fact, so slow that its pace could be compared to the progress of the ongoing Nina Wang court case.

The waterfalls:
Fast-forward to 2PM and we were ready for our descent to Shui Lo Chu waterfalls. Excitement was building up and cameras started clicking. The path down was so steep that it mandated intermittent rock climbing and boulder hopping.

I could hear Amanda shouting to me from somewhere behind – “[this time] I am behind you Vince!” Of course, she was playing safe after remembering an occasion back in history where I “allegedly” set off a boulder that gathered momentum, sped downhill and hit her legs causing her to collapse to the ground instantly (she hasn’t been able to produce proof of this incident since).

The weather surprisingly turned cloudy in the afternoon providing much needed relief from the stinging rays of the sun. We were all captivated by the sheer beauty of the waterfalls. The climb was well worth the effort and the scenery was an absolute treat to our senses. Several of us couldn’t resist taking a dip in the water and enjoy the natural massaging feeling of mineralized water hitting against our backs from an altitude.

The “aha” moment:
Regular readers should know by now that Francis is pretty popular for his hiking wear. In fact, I have suggested to him several times that he should start his own brand called ‘Nature Wear’ and I am sure his products would sell so fast that shopkeepers in Mong Kok and Wanchai would beg him to manufacture more. Take for example, his ‘khaki’ shirt, the 100% natural cloth for which was bought in India and carefully designed and stitched in the middle of a jungle in Burma by a gifted lady known to live up to 200 years. His hat is nothing short of a true masterpiece. Something I like to call ‘Flap Cap’ (trademark) because of its eerie resemblance to a kangaroo’s long ear tied to a made-in-Bhutan strap and worn along his forehead.

Today, when everyone was wearing the usual boring cotton shorts and conventional swimmers, Francis put on his Indian/Chinese collaboration Green shorts AND a red headscarf (made in India). In fact, Lisa who is already familiar with his idiosyncrasies was more surprised than usual which prompted her to ask a question..

“Why do you have to wear that???!!!” she asked puzzled and chuckling, referring to the headscarf.

All eyes were on Francis as he jumped into the water, enjoyed a swim and climbed out of the water. There was a slight problem though – his trademark Green colored made-by-some-old-lady-in-some-remote-location shorts evidently didn’t do the best job of retaining its opaqueness once it started to absorb water. In fact, it became translucent and even bordered on being transparent. And thus came the headscarf to his rescue. It doubled as a made-in-Malaysia sarong that he spontaneously wore around his shorts to guard his privacy.

The finish:
After soaking up the beauty of the waterfalls, we were off to a nice downhill trek to Tai O where we boarded a speed boat to Tung Chung. Catherine, who lives life to the fullest, grabbed a front row seat on this thrilling high-speed ride back to civilization.

We departed our own ways upon reaching the MTR station, marking the end to another great Tramping weekend adventure to sink into the beginning of yet another long workweek.

Thanks go to Alex, Ringo, Nerissa, Francis, Lisa for all help with navigation.

Also, I can finally tell where we have been, thanks to my state-of-the-art GPS receiver. You can see a map of the route taken today on http://techotek.com.

• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• 2009-06-07, Shui Lo Chu Pools (0)
• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)

Tags: Tung Chung, Waterfalls

2009-06-07, Shui Lo Chu Pools

Written by Vince,

*excludes traveling time
Shui Lo Chu

Hong Kong is probably best known for its high end (and freezing) shopping malls but few would know that it is also home to some spectacular waterfalls.

We will meet at 10.30 am at Tung Chung MTR outside the turnstile near the exit with the big map.

We’re going to relish the refreshing feeling of taking a “natural” dip in one such captivating waterfall on Sunday (7th June 2009). Rich in minerals and carefully carved out by nature over several decades, it beats spa treatments at swanky hotels by far – and it’s free!

If you are a reasonably fit individual who has prior hiking and/or stream trekking experience, come join us at 10.30AM HKT in Tung Chung MTR station. Although getting to Shui Lo Chu isn’t easy, we’ll spend quite some time relaxing in the pools. The hike won’t be too hard.

Bring lunch, swimmers, a sense of adventure and a torch (just in case).

All usual disclaimers apply to all human beings joining – even if you are President Barack Obama or Feng Shui master Tony Chan. In fact, the disclaimers apply to cats and dogs too.

FAQs

Q: Vince, you are leading??? No way! You sure you know the !@#$% way??
A: Yes, I am leading. No, I don’t know the way. But, don’t worry – The Trampers’ navigation-in-chief will be there to guide us!

Q: So Mr. Leader, how do we get to Shu Lo Chu from Tung Chung?
A: You (like me) will find out on Sunday

Q: I don’t believe all this junk about waterfalls in Hong Kong. Show me proof.
A: Sure Sherlock. Here: http://www.techotek.com/Travel/Hiking/Hiking,%202008-05-25,%20Shui%20Lo%20Chu/index3.php

Q: I am a busy guy. I have a series of appointments lined up in the evening and want to take an early exit. Can I skip the pool and take an early exit?
A: That’s like touring Paris and skipping the Eifel tower. But sure, Mr. Busybody, there’s an early exit to somewhere (you’ll find out on Sunday

Q: If I join the hike but decide not to swim (I am shy), would people think less of me?
A: Grow up. You can do as you please. This is a democracy (I mean the Trampers, not China)

Q: I can’t swim! Is it safe for me to still join?
A: That makes two of us. Sure, there’ll be some heroes to rescue you even if you drown. Just be nice to everyone on the hike (especially good swimmers)

Q: I am not really interested in the hike. I just want to join to meet some girls. Good idea to join?
A: Why not. You may try your luck on Sunday

Q: I really, really, really want to ask you a question but it’s not listed here. What do I do?!
A: Calm down. You can call the hotline 8209 0517.

Disclaimer:- People join this walk and any other walks organised by me at their own risks. I shall not be held responsible in any way for any injury or death incurred or any loss or damage to personal property caused due to whatever causes including, but not limited to, negligence, neglect, errors of judgement and inadequate orientation skills on my part. The fact that you show up at the time and place on the day to join the walk is an implication that you have agreed to and accepted unconditionally this disclaimer.

• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, 2009-06-07, Shui Lo Chu waterfalls (0)
• Hiking, 2008-08-10, Waterfalls (1)
• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)

Tags: Stream, Tung Chung, Waterfalls

Pics here.

Did a DB to Tiger’s head to Tung Chung hike. Started at 11.10AM (Central) and finished at 4.05PM at Tung Chung MTR.

This guy lost nothing on the stock market. He has it lucky

• The Calling from the Big Buddha (Lantau, Sunset, Tung Chung) (9)
• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• King of the Hills – Lantau recci (0)
• Hiking, Tung Chung to Mui Wo (0)

Tags: Tung Chung

Pics here.

New Year’s Walk Report – Jan 4th 2009

Who are you and where is Francis?
12 Trampers were waiting at 10.30AM just outside the Tung Chung MTR station to join legendary leader Francis on a Lantau exploration hike.

A gentleman munching on a fruit, wearing an immaculate jumper, sporting a clean haircut and carrying a map in one hand showed up a few minutes later. After staring at this gentleman for a couple of seconds in much disbelief and denial, we realized it was leader Francis!

“Give him a shirt and tie and he’ll look like an Investment Banker!!” Lutz exclaimed.

(for those of you who aren’t too familiar with Francis, us regulars liken him to Clark Kent of Superman –minus Lois Lane, of course- since he is rarely seen eating/drinking/carrying maps on a hike and yet has enormous endurance and strength)

We took the usual bus #11 to Mr. Buddha’s residence at Ngong Ping and began walking from there in the direction of Lantau Peak. We were not really looking forward to taking the series of steep steps up to Lantau Peak which is when Alex came up with a pleasant New Year surprise for all of us – a beautiful boulder trail that would elevate us right to the majestically standing 918M peak.

Mission briefing
Fortunately, the Francis we knew emerged from the back of the group for his usual mission briefing, having changed into his usual outfit – tee-shirtless and wearing his trademark Flap Cap (see previous walk report) and a Little-Red-Riding-Hood style red scarf draped around his head. He gave us a How-To-Use-Ropes 101 lesson, which I doubt anyone really paid attention to. He warned us that he was not to be charged any money or blamed, if we hurt ourselves using the ropes wrongly because of ignorance.

“We have insurance”, I said to Francis to appease him. “And I have a DISCLAIMER”, retorted Francis, quickly remembering that his walk proposal came with some generous disclaimers.

He finally issued his ‘go’ command, setting all of us climbing the 918M hill on 4 limbs along the boulder trail.

The trail was certainly among one of the most beautiful ones I have been on. We were admiring the beauty of the surroundings from time to time while focusing on climbing using all our 4 limbs slowly, but steadily. The giant Mr. Buddha appeared smaller and smaller as we were gaining elevation.

The scenery was, to say the least, spectacular. Pictures do speak a thousand words and you should check them out. The challenging and sometimes dangerous boulder climbing exercise also highlighted the way some smart people think.

For example, there is this one tremendously strong, almost Terminator like Tramper that everyone has to be wary of. I can’t name him for privacy reasons but I’ll give you a hint – his name begins with a ‘L’, ends with a ‘Z’ and there’s a ‘U’ and a ‘T’ in between). I’ll call him ‘Tramper T’ (T for Terminator) for purposes of this report. Tramper T doesn’t like to be in pictures and there was even an incident where he was once spotted carrying hardcore explosives in his back pack! Yes, there was an occasion where the contents of his backpack suddenly exploded during a hike leaving a cloud of stinky smoke behind and completely traumatizing the Tramper who was innocently walking behind him. Rumor has it that this innocent Tramper still hasn’t recovered from the shock! When confronted, Tramper T, who nobody usually dares to question, attributed the explosion to faulty Yau Ma Tei batteries. (You decide whether you are going to believe him or not!) Now, on this occasion, Tramper T wanted to climb ahead in front of everyone else because then there would be no way for a boulder that has been set rolling down accidentally to hit him. (Based on this thinking and his modus operandi, I suspect he must have received military training somewhere).

Anyway, so we continued on the boulder trail and eventually walked along another captivating path.

“I never knew there was a trail here”, I said surprised.

“Actually, I think we are making one!” said Hiroko, correcting me, as we trudged past the overgrown trees.

The trail was fantastic. We saw some beautiful rocks and there was even one with a pair of real, black hiking shoes strategically stuck in the middle of it. I really don’t know what a pair of hiking shoes was doing there. I think it was probably some “cool” act of vandalism. Alex told us that the shoes had been there for 2+ years and were brown in color the last time he saw them!

We eventually reached a steep section that was impossible to climb without the help of ropes. Francis harbored no grudge against us for booing his previous Rope 101 lesson and even offered to re-demonstrate the correct usage of ropes.

“Hold the rope like this. Put your foot over here and climb up.

When you reach the tree (the tree was on top of this steep section), hug her like your mother or throw your arms around her and kiss her like she’s your girlfriend”, he explained as he demonstrated with passion.

Lutz and Alex’s helping hands, as well as the tree’s love made the climbing matter rather easy. We left the pampered tree behind and carried on traversing along the trail to reach the Lantau Trail intersection.

The many challenges of the day left the group zapped of energy and we voted unanimously to take the proper Lantau trail back to Pak Kung Au/Tung Chung.

Nerissa correctly read my mind and announced “On your marks, get set” and I ran off back to civilization to Tung Chung. The rest of the group had plans to walk up to Tung Chung at a slower pace on the Lantau Country Trail.

Thanks to Francis and Alex for organizing this beautiful hike. My pictures are at the usual link.

• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)
• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, Tung Chung to Mui Wo (0)

Tags: Lantau, Rain, Tung Chung

Pictures here.

Appointed by Donald Tsang himself (really!), we went to inspect the landslides in Lantau. Pretty messy! The waterfalls were stronger than ever and many trees had been uprooted by the June 7th record rainfall. Having reached Ngong Ping after a 20KM walk, we discovered that the road connection between that part of Lantau and the rest of Hong Kong had been cut because of the storm. So, we had to walk back from Ngong Ping to Tung Chung..

Landslide

Weird looking nest. Is this a honeycomb?

Taken near Lantau peak. Excellent visibility at times and looming clouds a little later

• Hiking, 2009-01-04, Kau Nga Ling and Lantau (0)
• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)
• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, Tung Chung to Mui Wo (0)

Tags: Lantau, Rain, Tung Chung, Waterfalls

Pictures from this hike are here and all hikes are here.

I have to say, this hike was one of the best hikes I’ve been on. I would give it a straight A for scenery.

We lost one hour just queuing to get on the Tung Chung to Ngong Ping cable car. I was expecting a very easy and relaxed hike because of the time loss but I was very surprised to see what the trail had to offer! Leader Justin took us along a special waterfall route which was GORGEOUS. The weather was perfect and the visibility was astounding. We actually had great visibility in Hong Kong! That by itself was a big surprise. Check out the photos, many could make great wallpapers!

• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, Tung Chung to Mui Wo (0)
• Hiking, 2009-01-04, Kau Nga Ling and Lantau (0)
• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)

Tags: Lantau, Tung Chung

Pictures from this hike are here and all hikes are here.

Armed with Justin’s map and a compass that I never used, I attempted to lead the Trampers from Tung Chung to Mui Wo, as originally proposed by Justin.

Fourteen Trampers showed up in the morning at Tung Chung. The new member for this hike was Shay from South Africa. With the purpose of reinforcing my navigational skills, I appointed three ‘Navigation Consultants’ (birthday boy Fai, Vivian and Caroline) to diligently assist with my map-reading and / or navigational abilities. After much contemplation, we boarded bus number 3M to get to Pak Kung Au via Tung Chung road. The plan for the day was to tramp up to Sunset peak from Pak Kung Au and then to Mui Wo from there. We reached Pak Kung Au at around 12PM where another Tramper and local Mui Wo resident Chris Bailey was waiting for us. Due to an unforeseen navigational malfunction, we were about to tramp off on the wrong foot towards Lantau peak instead of Sunset peak! Luckily, this early error was averted by Chris who immediately earned her position as Chief Navigation Consultant for the day.

The hard climb began at noontime when we started to gain altitude by climbing a fleet of seemingly endless stairs towards Sunset peak. Quarter way into the hike, Gail started to experience difficulties in climbing due to an old leg injury. Neil’s kind words of encouragement and my constant lies to her questions about the proximity of Sunset peak helped boost her willpower enough to make her climb the rest of the way slowly. Paul, a semi-new Tramper who had hiked with the Trampers around “five times before in the last three years” found the hike a little hard. He explained that he had stopped hiking with the Trampers largely because of “a masochistic leader” who left him feeling “half-dead” at the end of the hikes! No prizes for guessing that he was referring to legendary leader Karl Wisse whose knockout hikes were indeed a great source of physical exercise!

As always, the Trampers were split into two groups – the roadrunner group and the slow-and-steady-does-it group. Today, the roadrunner group consisted of Caroline, Fai, Balaram, Camilla, Tim, Hiroko and Steven who raced through the trail at warp speed reaching very close to Sunset peak at around 1PM. The slower group caught up with them at 1.30PM. Thirteen Trampers extended their climb by another ten minutes by ascending towards the 869M Sunset peak. Gail and Neil decided to take it easy and stayed behind, missing out on the group picture taken at the windy Sunset peak. The strong winds were actually a pleasant blessing and the temperature was perfect for a great hike.

After a ten-minute lunch break, we began our descend to Mui Wo. Caroline, Fai and Balaram were spotted practicing amateur rock climbing techniques on some big boulders nearby. Many beautiful hut-like structures on either side of the trail gave the area a majestic setting. As we continued tramping, we crossed paths with Amanda who was energetically walking the trail in the opposite direction!

The longish way down to Mui Wo via Nam Shaan took around two hours and we finally reached the paved path at around 4PM. Caroline had plans for the evening and decided to leave us there. The rest of us continued along the village trail for around twenty minutes reaching Mui Wo at around 4.20PM. As we hit a fork on the road, Chris showed us a slightly longer route that was supposed to take us to the pier via a temple. Eight of the remaining fourteen Trampers decided to give the temple a pass. Chris, Paul, Shay, Fai, Balaram and I did not want to make the Gods angry and chose to walk alongside the temple.

We reached the ferry pier at around 4.30PM where Camilla and Tim decided that they would scoot off to D-Bay (dubbed Disco Bay!) and quickly disappeared. Strangely enough, the eight temple-avoiders showed up at the ferry pier after we got there! Disappointing the Gods has its consequences! Aside from Shay, Fai and Balaram who decided to shop at Mui Wo, the remaining five of us took the 4.40PM fast ferry to Central.

Keeping the spirit of shopping alive, Hiroko, Vivian and Paul decided to go shopping in Central, leaving Steven and I to enjoy a sumptuous dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.

PS: Rumors that I had paid Chris to show up for the hike in order to help out with the routes are baseless and unfounded.

• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, 2009-01-04, Kau Nga Ling and Lantau (0)
• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)

Tags: Lantau, Tung Chung

This is the walk report for the Lantau peak walk written by Justin Holland. The original source is here.

Eleven Trampers materialised at the last moment at Tung Chung MTR. After a quick sweep through the station by Roger – checking for possible Trampers who in fact were not Trampers but rather people wondering what he was talking about asking if they were Trampers – it was off to the edge of Lantau Peak.
(more…)

• 2006-08-06, Lantau peak (0)
• Off the Lantau Trail to Tai O (0)
• Hiking, Tung Chung to Mui Wo (0)
• Hiking, 2009-05-16, Wing Lung Stream (Lantau) (0)
• Hiking, 2009-01-04, Kau Nga Ling and Lantau (0)

Tags: Lantau, Stream, Tung Chung

Pictures from this hike are here and earlier hikes are here.

Yup, I did do this earlier. That was in winter and this time we did this in a scorching 30 degree centrigrade weather (the weather report predicted rain!)

(more…)

• Lantau peak — Walk report (0)
• Hiking, 2009-01-04, Kau Nga Ling and Lantau (0)
• Hiking, 2008-06-09, Landslide inspection (0)
• Vacation, 2008-08-22 to 30, Motorcycle trip to Leh, Ladakh (2)
• The silk road Dharma! (0)

Tags: Lantau, Rain, Stream, Tung Chung