1010101

The trail itself is an hour max. To get there from central will take 30-45mins in a taxi, or ~2 hours on MTR and bus.

Chaosmax

sorry for more OT, but the trail seems to be 8 km http://www.discoverhongkong.com/uk/s...iking-tour.jsp. I wonder how you do that in one hour.

:D!

The "Dragon's back" itself isn't very long, so it depends how much of the entire route you do. I prefer walking along the less trodden paths. If you don't go all the way to BWB then I would give it 2 hours - unless your aim is to walk as fast as you can and not look at anything around you

HLT1904

Great TR, thanks for sharing

aeroman380

Lucky you getting upgraded! It seems that the lounges in LHR aren't so busy that time of day eh? Would you say once the NA bound flights are gone they aren't as busy?

1010101

Most of the time you will start by the prison at Mount Collinson and go South, the ridgeline is the actual 'Dragon's Back', and it's an hour with reasonable fitness although the views are well worth stopping and taking longer. There's little worth seeing between Mount Collinson and Big Wave Bay and many people miss it out unless they particularly want to get to BWB.

Genius1

Another really excellent trip report so far matthandy - you have that rare gift of being able to tell a good story as well as being a good photographer!

Whilst BA's A380 First product is good, I do think they could've done something slightly different with the cabin. The size of the actual seats in relation to the size of the suite (if that makes sense) is quite small, and the washrooms could definitely be improved. A couple of your tasting menu courses weren't presented very well (the fish in particular), although like you I think it's generally a good idea to offer the option of a tasting menu.

Next time in Hong Kong, I'm definitely going to explore beyond the city centre - I only really did the Giant Buddha when I visited last, and enjoyed walking on a bit further there away from the tourists into the countryside.

I'm pretty sure the picture you captioned '1881 shopping centre' is in fact the Star Ferry!

Looking forward to the next part

LH4116

Is there really a point to post trip reports when you're not going to finish them. It's been two months since the thread was started, and I'm still waiting for the next parts!

matthandy

Work has been ridiculous recently. The last thing that I want to do when I get home is sit in front of my PC for hours writing a report. Ironically though, I'm on holiday for 3 weeks in a couple of days so will have time to finish this one off and the Australia one.

gypsyjaney

Thanks, Matthandy, I'm looking forward to the next instalment. As a former Hong Kong expat you made me feel very nostalgic! It's a great place.

LH4116

Still waiting for the next parts

TOMFORD

Want to see the part about W Bangkok! Trying to decide if to stay there or the Conrad during my next visit. Price is the same through company travel agent.

matthandy

Lantau Island and Tai-O Fishing Village

I woke to a strange sight, the sun was reflecting off the ICC building across the harbour and was casting a brilliant light, almost like a white shadow. Amazing.

Quite randomly, it turns out that my fellow Flyertalker KARFA was going to be in Hong Kong at the same time as me. He had a full plan for the day so I went with it. We’d agreed to meet at Tung Chung and then would take the cable car across to Lantau Island and up to the Big Buddha. The plan was then to look at walking back down, but we soon changed our minds!

The queue for the cable car was quite long and it took about 20 minutes or so to actually get on board. There is an offer of a glass bottomed cable car but we didn't bother with that. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of cable cars. I have a fear that they might actually come off the cable and I really don't like it when people start moving around!

The views of course were great, as they always are. For anyone that is interested in aviation, this is the cable car for you as there is a full view of the airport available.

Light shining off the ICC


Off we go – on the cable car


The view of HKG airport

When we arrived it was clear that we'd chosen a very busy day to meet up. The steps to the Big Buddha were packed with people, still it was possible to get some photographs and to see the view, which was the main objective. The weather was great too, not too hot but with plenty of sunshine.

After visiting the Big Buddha we took a little wander to the Wisdom Path, away from the crowds and then back to visit the monastery which was a more peaceful place. I love the architecture here and also the smell of incense. Luckily, there was a service in progress which we were lucky enough to be able to observe.

Archway and the Big Buddha


Climbing the stairs


Reaching the top


The view from the top


Wisdom Path


Wisdom Path


Huge incense sticks


More incense sticks


The entrance to the monastery


Colourful banners


Beautiful architecture

We were lucky enough to get to see a ceremony taking place which was very interesting to see. After a bit more of a wander around we headed back to main square to get some lunch before taking a short bus ride down to Tai-O. We eat at the Chinese restaurant and to be honest it really wasn't very good. I had some BBQ pork with noodles and it was a bit like it had been cooked a few days ago and re-heated. Not the best.

The bus ride to Tai-O only took about 15 minutes or so. There was quite a big queue to get on the bus and we were worried that we may not get on.

Neither KARFA had visited Tai-O before and we really didn't know what to expect. Well, firstly, it smelt of fish! Apparently it is a local place to visit to get great sea food. Personally, it didn't look particularly appesting, but I have different tastes.

The first part of the village was a market area, selling various food stuffs. The rest of the village was basic living accommodation. It was truly fascinating. The deeper we got into the village the thinner the crowds became. I think we could have spent hours there. It was a photographers dream. I can thoroughly recommend a visit and if you do, keep going and exploring further, as much as time allows.

Ceremony


Not so great BBQ pork


The bridge across the sea front at Tai-O


Fishing boats


Seafood for sale


Seafood for sale


Fresh seafood for sale


The bridge across the entrance to the village


The entrance to the village


The entrance to the village

I couldn't stop taking photos. I was pretty much absorbed by what I was seeing. The locals didn't seem to be too bothered about the tourists. I did notice a cat though which seemed rather friendly, and well looked after.

Everywhere we went it all looked like a very basic existence. What a contrast from the main island or the streets of Central. No doubting that this is a hard life.

Cramped streets


Looking out onto the water


The friendly cat


Shut up shop


Fishing gear


Stilt houses


Stilt houses


Egg yolks drying in the sun

Now as we were wondering around a scene happened to catch my eye. I snapped it, with just a single shot and it was only when I got home did I realise how interesting it was. It now sits on my wall at home.
Below are two of my most favourite photographs that I've ever taken.

Life at Tai-O


Life at Tai-O

We'd booked with one of the ferry operators to take us back to Tung Chung, near the airport, where we'd be able to take the train back into the city. The ride was pretty interesting and took around 45 minutes. On the way we able to see the construction of the bridge to Macau.

In the evening we met up with a friend and went for a drink and dinner before I packed and then went to bed early for my flight to Bangkok in the morning.

Heading back to the ferry


Dried meat


More dried sea food


Watching the bridge construction



Up Next



My first Cathay Pacific First Class flight to Bangkok

OttoMH

Fantastic pictures matthandy!

I'm going back to Hong Kong in July, will defo try these 'off the beaten track' trips!

offerendum

Coudn´t do Lantau on our HKG-trip Thanks for the great report!