Hiking on Lantau Island

Yesterday we awoke early, filled a small backpack and headed to Pier 6 for the 8:30 am ferry to Lantau Island. We wanted to arrive before the other day trippers and have a chance to do some real hiking. Rusty has been wanting to do some of the more strenuous trails and Lantau is a great place to start.

The ordinary ferry from Central Pier to Lantau Island takes about one hour. I sat back and watched the morning unfold out my window. I’m still amazed at the boat traffic in Victoria Harbour. It’s a superhighway for ships, boats and other seaworthy vessels which seem to be going in every direction and at every speed. How they all navigate around each other is beyond me, but it definitely feels safer than the traffic in rush hour Hong Kong.

Before our voyage ended I went downstairs to use the restroom. I saw quite a few passengers sprawled out across several seats sleeping soundly. Then I also noticed something else stretched out. Two pigs on pallets, gutted from end to end, were laying amongst the retiring passengers. I actually laughed out loud and couldn’t wait to get upstairs to share my latest “Wait til you see this!” with Rusty. Already I knew this would prove to be an interesting day.

We landed at Mui Wo on Lantau Island and took off for parts unknown. I say this literally because we had forgotten to bring a map or at least some written directions of trails on the island. After an hour of exploring the village of Mui Wo we found a trail and decided this was it. Basically this was “it” because it was what we found. It was not necessarily what we were looking for. 

At this point neither of us really cared. We figured we would hike until we had had enough and could still make it back. At the very beginning we passed dozens of bright pink, yellow, orange and red flags lining the road. I’m not sure why they were there, but they looked very festive. Then we passed several benches made out of very thick rock with stone roofs. I swear they looked like they were straight out of the Flintstones. I was waiting for Fred to come strolling along, but instead saw a gentleman lugging a wagon full of groceries and many bottles of wine. Maybe we should follow him.

We passed Man Mo Temple (yes another one), the Silvermine cave and waterfall and just kept heading up. Here we go again I thought. We climbed and climbed and climbed. Thank goodness for the wild orange and pink lantana, white daisies and purple azaleas. The beautiful foliage kept my mind off of our ascent. The temperature was about 75F and in the shade it was perfect, but in the sun we were sweating. 

When we finally reached the top of one hill, we stopped for water and to admire the view. Yes, we really had hiked a long way. The ocean and Mui Wo were far in the distance. This was the hike Rusty had longed for. So onward and upward we went. 

Black butterflies with spots of blue, white or yellow flitted by. At one point we passed a bush humming very loudly with bees. I didn’t stop to see the bush or the bees since I tend to react rather severely to bee stings. Just the noise level alone told us to keep moving.

We finally reached a point that we thought was far enough. We both had the strength to keep going, but we still had to go back down. As we stood there eating our granola bars I saw love appear right before my very eyes. No, I did not have heat stroke! Coming up the hill was an elderly Chinese couple. She was bent over and walking with a cane. He was carrying an umbrella to shade her. I wanted to take a photo, but also didn’t want to spoil the moment. I am content with the memory.

With that we headed back to Mui Wo. After what seemed like such an easy descent we walked along the road and headed to a seaside outdoor restaurant. We passed several women riding their bicycles while holding umbrellas over their heads. How very comical, yet cute.

After a delicious Chinese lunch and a couple of Blue Girl beers we walked back to the pier. (Rusty couldn’t believe I would actually order pork after seeing Porky and his brother on the ferry.) We were just in time to catch the fast ferry to Hong Kong. The rocking of the boat, the hiking, the sun, the food and the beer I was asleep before we hit open water. I woke up 30 minutes later as the ferry slowed to enter Pier 6. Another island, another wonderful day!