Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Off the beaten track on Lamma Island (Photo-essay)

At 13.3 kilometers in length and passing through hilly terrain, the Lamma Island Family Walk can be a bit much for many adults, never mind younger folks.  Indeed, most people I know who go walking in Lamma tend to focus only on the section of the family walk that takes one from the village of Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan (or vice versa).  

While I, too, tended to favor this section of trail early on in my Lamma exploration, I've developed a preference in recent years for the quieter southeastern section of the island.  (This despite having come across a whole bunch of pretty large spiders the first time I ventured into that area some time back!)  So when two friends visiting from South Korea expressed some interest in checking out more peaceful and less built up sections of Hong Kong, I figured (correctly) that a hike in that part of the Big Lychee would be just the ticket as far as they were concerned... ;b

Perhaps on account of its ascent involving a number of 
flights of steps, Ling Kok Shan is one of those hills where 
one seldom comes across other people ;)
 
Sections of Hong Kong Island are visible from 
near the top of this southern Lamma Island hill
 
There also are ample views to be had from 
Ling Kok Shan of green (and rocky) Lamma
 
There are indeed quite a few of them but the steps are 
laid out well, in good condition and sometimes even have 
railings running along one side of them to hold on to
 
 Along Shek Pai Wan was a stretch of land 
wherebutterflies galore looked to be at home :)
 
 Ruins of early 19th century houses lived in by members of the 
Chow clan (whose most famous representative is Chow Yun Fat) 
remain at the old, now abandoned village of Yung Shue Ha
 
Not too far away is the new village of Yung Shue Ha
that's located closer to the sea
 
Another building that looks to have been abandoned
some time back -- but artistically repainted fairly recently!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

There is a whole row of abandoned building on a path leading to Sham Wan on the southern side. Sham Wan had been earmarked for green sea turtle reserve for quite a while but strange enouigh, the Government seemed only have marked the beach as a closed district. The bay is still opened for boats. Maybe because of this (and the engine noise) most green sea turtles had not come back in recent years. Pity.

Some boat goers even managed to sneak ashore as mentioned in the news a few years ago. But Marine Police or the Agricultural & Fishery Depart did not press charges. Never found out why.

I had been to Sham Wam on foot in the mid-late 1970s when it was still opened to the public. Nearly stepped on a big brown snake on the way down the S bend not too far away from Mo Tat Wan.

Sham Wan was a very clean beach back then, but I didn't see any green sea turtles then.

T

YTSL said...

Hi T --

On my Countryside Series, I see an orange dotted trail leading to Sham Wan and no signs that the area there is closed to the public. I must admit to being wary of going along orange dotted (i.e., indistinct and/or difficult) trails in the area as I've read about someone having died while hiking up (or maybe down?) Mount Stenhouse.

Oh, and the day I took the photos in this blog post, I spotted a snake but wasn't quick enough to get a photo of it!

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

That path running along the abandoned houses at Tung O is sort of short. According to available maps it is less than 1 km before reaching Sham Wam beach. I think it is much overgrown now.

The snake I encountered decades ago was a Coelognathus radiatus which didn't seem to be poisonous. It was a bit more than a metre long and as thick as a child's arm.

However there are poisonous snakes on Lamma. Some time ago an expat lady stepped on a Cobra in the dark, got bitten and was hospitalized for a while.

T

YTSL said...

Hi again T --

Yikes re the thought of accidentally stepping on a cobra! Years ago when I was doing archaeology in Colorado, I crossed paths with a rattle snake. Fortunately for me, the snake slid over my foot rather than my stepping on it. Otherwise, I fear that I would have got bitten and hospitalized like that expat lady, or worse! :O