A Lantau hike with plenty of critter encounters! (Photo-essay)

One beautiful summer's day, I hiked from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo with two friends along a route that I had gone on before with a different friend and enjoyed so much I figured it'd be nice to introduce to a couple of others.  

Having chronicled that route in quite a bit of depth previously (in photo-essays that can be found here, here and here), I'll be briefer -- and focus more on interesting critters than scenery! -- here.  Speaking of bugs though: probably the most memorable part of this particular hike was my discovering upon returning home that I had more than 18 insect bites on my legs... so yeah, the bugs really were out in force that day! :O

Just minutes after leaving "Disco Bay", one finds oneself

not only amidst greenery but walking past an organic farm!

 

Yes, there are scenic views to be had on this hike where 

you'll spend the majority of the time on higher ground :)

A Red Ring Skirt -- cool name, eh? -- poses for a picture :)

A small and delicate looking damselfly perches atop a leaf

I have to honestly say that I don't know what kind

of bug this one is! :O

My two hiking buddies wait for me to

get to as high a ground as them

At first glance, I thought it was a butterfly but 

the body's too proportionally large to be so!

 

 Finally, while walking down the many steps to Mui Wo from 

the top of the hill, we caught sight of -- and thus did not 

accidentally crush! -- this pretty colorful beetle :)