On the Olympic trail

We finally tackled the Olympic trail. We've been putting it off because the name sounded like it would be an Olympian effort. But it turned out surprisingly easy... there were even families with toddlers walking the trail. Actually, the only bit that we found difficult was walking over the saddle from the Silvermine Caves.

Once you get to the rain shelter, it's mainly downhill or flat.  

Pat Mong village awaits on the other side of the trail. It is home to the famous Sword Sharpening Stone (so called because the stones look like they were cleft in two).

 And the village watch tower, which doubled as the village school after World War II.

The rest of the walk to Tung Chung was relatively blah... but if you walk through the underpass at Pat Mong, at least you get the views of the sea and the airport. It took us about two hours to cover the trail and another hour trying to find our way to Tung Chung.

Mui Wo has a Base Camp

That stretch of road where the Hong Kong Jockey Club is used to be a bit of a dead zone but seems to have gotten exciting recently. Village Bakery is opening soon (looks like yesterday was only a trial run). And now we have Lantau Base Camp, one of those "why didn't we think of it earlier" shops catering to mountain bikers and hikers.

Shopowner Jeremy is really nice and chatty and he lives in Pui O, so he's familiar with most of the trails around Lantau South.

Non-residents can leave their bags in the shop (for a HK$15 fee) and go hiking without having to hump the extra baggage around. After they're done, they can just pick it up and head for the ferry.

Trail etiquette

Find a steaming pile of buffalo poo on the hiking trail?

Break off a twig and place it on top of the poo.

There, you've done your bit to stop fellow hikers and bikers from stepping into the doo doos. Give yourself a pat on the back – preferably not with the hand that inserted the twig.

Walk slower

I always knew the Mui Wo-Pui O walk was not for serious hikers, just people looking to stroll.

Mui Wo guide book

We've been curious to read up more on Mui Wo ever since we moved here but there hasn't been much information about the place in English. So we've been reduced to reading the heritage boards scattered around the villages for to glean more about Mui Wo.

A few days ago, Buffalo Wilbur found an Island Series book on Mui Wo for HK$60 at The Bookshop and we've been happily devouring the little factoids in the tri-lingual (English, Chinese, Japanese) book.

Produced by the same people who publish hiking maps on nature trails and guides, it is a fount of information and photos. I like the historical tidbits and village-by-village guide of the Tung Chung-Mui Wo and Discovery Bay-Mui Wo trails.

Don't expect scintillating writing - there are some bloopers (Jesus was "resuscitated", not resurrected, according to the authors) and the English is clunky in places. But it does fulfill a need, by satisfying our curiosity on some Mui Wo curiosities.

You better hurry if you want to lay your hands on one in Mui Wo. Terry at The Bookshop only has a few left - they sell out almost as soon as he brings them in.

Bell the bikers

Back from our Easter eatfest, Buffalo Wilbur and I decided to go for a walk to burn off the fat. It was supposed to be a leisurely hike; I never thought we'd be taking our lives into our hands.

We were almost mowed down by a couple of cyclists careening down the hills in breakneck speed without any warning. Thankfully, Buffalo Wilbur managed to whisk me out of the way in time or I don't think you'll be seeing any posts from me anytime soon.

By the way, the photo above is not of those cyclists. I was too busy checking for broken bones to get a picture of the real culprits.

I am all for sharing the trails with mountain bikers. But what I don't understand is, why do they never have bells on their bikes? The village folks have them and use them indiscriminately (word to the wise – pedestrians and not bikes should have right of way on those narrow paths).

Maybe having bells are not cool on off-road bikes but neither is sending innocent hikers flying off the edge of the cliff. So for courtesy sake, can we have more warning please?

Or, if it's too much of a bother ringing a bell while trying to navigate an out-of-control bike, maybe we could just have a bell that warns of a bike approach, like those on cows and cats.

New hiking trail

Looks like Mui Wo has got a new trail, called the Islands Nature Heritage Trail. That's a picture of Mui Wo from Mong To Au, taken from the government website.

We caught glimpses of the opening ceremony at the Nam Shan picnic area from the bus but thought it was just another marathon or something.

The new trail starts in Mui Wo and goes all the way to Pat Mong in Tung Chung and is supposed to take three hours (most likely all day for people like me).

We may just steel ourselves for a walk. But can anyone tell me exactly where the trail begins in Mui Wo?