Sunday, July 19, 2009

From Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O, Part II (Photo-essay)


No hiking this weekend... on account of a typhoon over Hong Kong (that got the signal raised all the way up to a pretty high 9 -- while I slept soundly last night!). So here's turning instead to my photo archives for doses of green and, in the process, putting up a second photo-essay of a further section of my Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O hike than in this earlier photo-essay:-

Close to where I left off previously...
some 6 1/2 kilometers from the starting point

The plan was to get to Fan Lau
(the peninsula in the photo) for lunch


...but first, there was some scenery to admire
along the way (as well as some ways yet to walk!)


Descending down to Fan Lau Tung Wan beach
(which, incidentally, I believe is one of the beaches
that features in Scud's
Permanent Residence)

As strange as it may sound, this really was
a hike that incorporated a walk on a beach!

Before too long, we had to climb up
away from
the sea and sea level once more

An interesting natural rock formation
on the Fan Lau Peninsula way down
on the south-western tip of Lantau Island


Not so natural: the remains of the Qing dynasty redoubt
in
south-western Lantau known as Fan Lau fort
-- on top of which my hiking party broke for lunch!


To be continued (to be sure!)...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh... along with the first stretch you posted earlier, this looks altogether like a particularly spectacular hike.

BTW, I took a look at that YouTube clip of the typhoon... OMG! I wouldn't want to be caught in that! Is it common to get a few typhoons of that magnitude every year?

YTSL said...

Hi duriandave --

It was a spectacular hike... and we're just half way through it in terms of photos! (But considering that it was a 20km hike, I'm thinking it may well be worth four photo-essays!)

Re typhoons: well, the first summer I was in Hong Kong, there were zero typhoons whose warning signals went all the way up to 9 (along with two typhoon 8s). Last year, there was just one. It's a bit scary that it's early days yet this summer and we've already got one signal 9... :S

sarah bailey knight said...

ytsl,

Signal 9 and you slept throught it!!!!

I like how the signs give the distance and the time needed to hike a certain distance. How accurate is the distance/time in 'the real world'?

YTSL said...

Hi sbk --

What can I say other than I guess I'm a sound sleeper! More seriously, I think being in the middle of the city, I don't feel the typhoon as much as those living out in places like Shek O or Sai Kung. A friend of mine who lives in Shek O said that the plastic chairs on her roof top were flying like in a Harry Potter movie! ;b

Re the signs: The distance is pretty accurate. The times are weird -- Normally, would say that they're pretty conservative but there have been one or two times that we've been caught out by it taking longer along a route than the signpost had suggested!