From misty plateau to sunny beach! (Photo-essay)

This time of the year, the temperature can be at such a pleasant level that it can be hard to remember how hot Hong Kong can get in the high summer months.  But precisely because of the high temperatures one Sunday afternoon in July, I opted for a hike that began on a high plateau (i.e., Lantau's Ngong Ping) where it was cooler down at sea level and then took a friend and I all the way downhill to the beach at Tong Fuk where one could enjoy the sea breeze before heading off shortly afterwards for a post-hike dinner.

More than incidentally, I felt compelled to blog about this hike before -- after I returned home that very evening, to be precise, because I spotted some truly interesting sights (including cool critters) along the way.  But there remain many other arresting sights to share from this hike besides those, as I'm confident that the following photo-essay will show:-   

No kidding about Lantau Peak being 

on the misty side (at least that afternoon)!

The view looking down was far clearer though

(even though the sky remained full of clouds)

One cool blue damselfly! :)

 Before I began hiking in Hong Kong, I never knew that

grasshoppers could be colored like this one! :b

 Another damselfly that caught my eye on this hike :)

Don't you think that skinks look like they're 

half snake and half lizard?

A clear view of south Lantau, looking all the way over

to the Chi Ma Wan Peninsula

 A paraglider -- whose trajectory presumably 

would take him from high land into the water! :O