Another Lantau Island hike (photo-essay)

A couple of weeks after hiking from Ngong Ping down to Tung Chung Road, I returned to Lantau Island for another afternoon of hiking with a friend. This time around, the trail I selected took us from the village of Shui Hau (trans. "water mouth") to Shek Pik Reservoir (which, along with Shek Pik Prison, this Hong Kong movie geek will always associate with Herman Yau's affecting From the Queen to the Chief Executive).

Towards the end of our hike, I remarked to my companion that we had gotten a lot of bang for our (hiking) buck. She enthusiastically agreed that this was the case because this really was a very nice trail that, in a relatively short distance, offered up lots of varied and beautiful scenery as it led us to down a beach, back up to higher ground along parts of the coast and such as it wound along; something that I hope will be apparent when you take a look at the following photo-essay:-

Shui Hau village, a British army-built bridge
and some of Lantau's many mountains

Mountains, sea, greenery and mudflats
-- not what usually comes to mind
when people think of Hong Kong, right? ;b

A beach of sand rather than mud this time around

I know because the trail took my hike companion
(who also likes to take photos!) and me down there!

Just as I was thinking that my mother'd like this hike,
we came upon a series of steps up a hill... ;S

But, honestly, when they take you up
to places where you can take in
views like this one, it really can feel worth it! :)

Still, I didn't neglect to notice the flora --
but have to admit that I'm not sure if those
are fruits or flowerbuds of some sort!

As for fauna: lemme tell you from experience
how difficult it is to photograph butterflies,
especially a small one like this!

To be continued... but of course! ;b