Saturdays are hikes with the gang and it’s always fun as we push ourselves to the ultimate. So much so we weren’t happy just doing the hike one way from Tung Chung Mtr to the Big Buddha but decided to go back the same way too.
Difficulty: 6/10 only climbing
Duration: 4 hours 20 minutes to and fro. If one way approximately 2 hours. We stopped for photos and a tea break.
How to get there: Nigel and I took the MTR to Tung Chung and exited at A. We met Murtuza, Mudita, Lamiya and Urvi. From there we passed the Citygate outlet mall , got on Tat Tung road, got on to Yu Tung road, walked along the cycling track passed Yat Tung estate and followed the Tung O Ancient trail directions. You will be able to see the cable cars up ahead in the distance.
Finally we reached the start of the Ngong Ping rescue trail which was to the left and started with our old enemy…. STEPS!! Nice solid concrete steps!
It was a hot 🥵 Saturday and so we all decided to get rid of the extra layers. Urvi was the sensible one who came with a vest. The men were dressed down too. Mudita, Lamiya and I were as usual, over covered for this sunny climb.
We continued climbing up those steps… it was arduous in the heat but we trudged away.
And we continued climbing huffing and puffing away.
We got to see the reaching tower ahead and knew we had finished hurdle number one.
We could see the deserted airport in the distance which was a sad and sorry sight.
We came to a set of wooden steps going downhill which was quite steep. We took our time. However it was much preferred to than climbing.
And just as we thought we had some solace, we came face to face with steps again. 😢
Here there was a set of very steep wooden steps uphill which felt more like we were climbing up a never ending ladder.
Luckily everyone climbed effortlessly and tirelessly. At this stage we were seasoned climbers 😅
And again another set of steps… phew
This was a wooden path and a comfortable walk.
We were getting close to the reaching tower and here we decided to have steaming tea with crackers and some oranges. ( tea clumsily dropped by Urvi – she left her mark 😅😉). That was a good, fun, short break.
We continued on our way down straight towards the Lantau trail.
We four ladies got a lovely photograph clicked by Nigel.
We kept on to the paved path and got on to a path of the latter part of Nei Lak Shan mountain.
We thought the end was in sight as we could see the big Buddha. However he was caged as they were refurbishing the statue.
Finally we reached the Ngong Ping village.
We were famished so we ended up at Matsuzaka express, a restaurant which we had dined in after our Lantau peak hike. The loveliest part was that the staff there recognised us and welcomed us. We ate to our hearts and stomachs content justified by the cashier remarking to Nigel to countercheck the bill as ‘ we had ordered a lot of dishes.’ 😄 There’s a lady named Lilian extremely friendly and helpful if you visit.
We were stuffed but we decided to go back the same way instead of taking the cable car and making our pocketd lighter as it was 190 hkd per head on a one way trip.
It was past 2 pm and extremely hot but we managed to reach the start of the trail in 2 hours. We got fantastic views again and also of the majestic Lantau peak. We ran down the steps as we wanted to complete the way back in 2 hours…. and we did!! 🥳 We were extremely proud of ourselves as we had covered nearly 16 kilometres in approximately 4.5 hours.
This was a good hike, very straightforward and didn’t involve any rope or rock climbing; just loads of steps. However, this is not necessarily a child friendly hike as I came across kids on this hike struggling. One must carry ample supply of water and sunscreen on this hike too. This trail is perfect for trail running as Nigel and I had participated in the Action Asia trail running race here. However the route was 15 kilometres and there was a detour. Blog here for details if you wish to try this one:
Ngong Ping Rescue trail ( 15 km. Action Asia Event Lantau twin peak trail run) – Difficult
Do try this hike and follow me for more fun hikes and adventures on https://www.facebook.com/honkiehiker/.
Thank you and take care. 🙂