Lantau Trail: Tai O to Ngong Ping

For my last Sunday of freedom, I planned to hike Lantau Trail sections 4-6 in reverse order fro Tai O to Ngong Ping.   Together with Wednesdays hike,  this would complete the east-west crossing of Lantau Island.

Tuen Mun from Fortune Ferry

I started early and took a taxi to Tuen Mun and then the Fortune Ferry to Tai O.    The day before had been the hottest ever recorded in Hong Kong.  The temperature soared to 37 degrees in town and so had the pollution.

It was cool enough on the boat, but the view of Lantau Island and the airport was very hazy.   We did get an impressive close-up view of the construction of the new Lantau - Macau bridge, scheduled to open next year (link).

Lantau-Macau bridge under construction

The engineer in me is impressed by the scale of this huge 50km structure.  But the economist in me wonders if the benefits will be worth the cost (USD 10bn+).   Clearly the construction companies and Macau casino owners will benefit....

Artificial island of Lantau-Macau bridge under construction

Then around the headland to the village of Tai O.

Tai O 

Tai O is called the 'Venice of the East' as many of the houses are built on wooden stilts on the tidal estuary.  

Tai O stilt houses

I stopped briefly for a drink and an ice cream, made a note to come back, and headed out around 9am.   It was already hot, and hard going up the hill at first.

Tai O from Lantau Trail

The path climbed a steep escarpment behind the town and then followed the valley round to the SE with nice views of Lantau Peak.

The path headed gently up to the unexpected sight of the Lung Tsai Ng Yuen.   This is a large Chinese garden built in the 1960s but now abandoned and decaying.

Lung Tsai Ng Yuen

I continued up past the tree-line and past the Tze Hing monastery, reaching the summit of Ling Wu Shan at 11am where I had refreshing lunch of chilled fruit-salad.   Although it was Sunday I had not yet seen another hiker.

Looking SW from Ling Wu Shan (490m)

The sun was beating down but the peak seemed quite cool in the breeze.   The ferry-route to Macau south of Lantau was very busy, and at one point I could see 7 ferries zooming along.

Macau ferries from Ling Wu Shan

Then along the exposed ridge for 3km.   It began to seem hotter and hotter.   I had packed 7 liters of water including 2 frozen, and in the heat I was getting through about 1 litre per hour.

Looking NE from Ling Wu Shan

But it was a very nice hike along in the breeze.   It is a shame it was so hazy.

Lantau Peak from Keung Shan (459m)

The Lantau trail carried along, up and down over several peaks.  Down 100m altitude and then back up Keung Shan (459m), down 150m and back up to Kwun Yam Shan (434m), then down 150m again to the end (start) of section 5 at the Keung Shan road.

Section 4 was fairly short and followed the baking road up to Ngong Ping.    It was about 30 degrees but felt hotter in the sun.   Then it diverted along underneath the cable-car, then up and around behind the Po Lin monastery, to the end of section 3 at the 'Wisdom Path'.    

I finished around 4pm and took the cable-car down to Tung Chung.