Lantau Island

Having been shocked by city prices and wanting to get out of the big smoke we checked out a map of the area and decided to head for the small island of Lantau, just next to Hong Kong. It is here where the main airport is plus Disneyland, so there was I just getting excited, getting ready for some yank practise before hitting the states, starting to sing M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O…before Shona cut me down and said no we are not visiting Disneyland! But instead we could head to the other side of the island and do some camping and trekking! The island is divided by a small mountain range and on one side is the airport and Disneyland and on the other is nothing but small villages, deserted bays and plenty of walking – who needs rollercoasters and men dressed up as cartoon characters. From HK we jumped on a ferry heading to Mui Wo, a small town set around a lovely bay, from here it was a bus 15 minutes round the coast to the even smaller town of Pui’O. We headed down to the beach to find the campsite before setting our tent up alongside a beautiful beach with no-one else apart from a few dog walkers and one other camper who was busy digging up worms or something from the sand – unneighbourly of me I know but hope we don’t get invited round for tea! So since leaving town on the ferry we have seen less people than are normally queuing in 7-Eleven! After setting up the tent we headed straight out for a walk picking up the main Lantau trail that crosses the island for a few miles before it was time to head back and cook up noodles for dinner then having a good nights sleep with only the sound of the ocean to sooth us…ok, who put the tent up on a slope?!? In our haste to set up we managed to set the tent on a very small but none the less annoying slope, we spent most the night huddled in the corner with me being used as a door wedge stopping Shona rolling out the door. Woke up the next morning and instantly moved the tent off the slope before trekking off into the hills and to find a path that headed for a monestary and a giant Buddha. Most people get to it using the cable car from out by the airport, but ooh no, not us, we have to walk there – up and over the pass, through the forest, back up another hill and finally into the site 4 hours later. Was a nice walk though with some lovely views out over the island, plus we did cheat on the way back and caught a bus to Mui Wo before stocking up on some dinner bits again and returning to the campsite. Having slept much better we woke up to blue skies but you could see the rain coming in from the ocean. We beat the rain to the bus stop but by the time we arrived in the small fishing village of Tai’O is was lashing down! And it didn’t stop all day, by the time we got back to camp the fields and roads were flooded, it was a good job we were on the sand otherwise our tent would have been under water. The rain carried on into the night, we managed, well Shona did while I just laid in the tent, to cook dinner inside the porch area of the tent to save getting drenched and only popped outside when nature called – which it did literally all night but I’m not talking bodily fluids now! The frogs were in fine voice with all the excitement of rain, they croaked and made wierd noises all night long…I was scared to snore in case it sounded like some mating call of a strange frog! Although the rain finally let up in the night it was forecasted to rain some more the following evening so when we woke up to a blue sky we took the chance to dry the tent and head back to HK.