The Spontaneous Hike | South Lantau Trail

It was 11:30pm on a Friday night. I was chilling with my dad and sister, talking a whole load of crap before heading to sleep. For some reason, the whole idea of hiking somewhere as part of a “Saturday-sibling-bonding” session popped out of nowhere. As sleepy as I was, I agreed to it subconsciously and the dream of lying into the weekend was quickly demolished. My brother, who was already fast asleep then, had no say in this and was dragged to do the hike unfortunately. We woke up at 7am the next day (surprisingly) and got ourselves ready for the hike. It was perhaps the most spontaneous hike I have ever done in my life.

Duration: 2.5 – 3 hrs
Difficulty: 2/5
Views: 3/5

“Pak Kung” of Pak Kung Au

Getting to the beginning of the trail isn’t too hard. From Tung Chung Station, walk out from Exit B and head towards the bus station. You can take buses 3M, 11 and 23 and get off at Pak Kung Au. This stop is very easily recognisable as it is located at the very top of the hill (i.e. you’ve just saved yourself from walking a whole flight of stairs up). There’s also a rock with the Chinese characters of Pak Kung Au carved on it to mark the beginning of the trail. Stay on the left of the road and you’ll see a sign pointing towards the South Lantau Trail.

Rocks for banter

This trail is very suitable for beginner hikers as there’s plenty of shade and the path is quite flat with a few rocky parts scattered throughout. The path involves winding through the very south of Lantau until reaching Mui Wo. There are very nice views on the right at the beginning, with a stunning panoramic view of the sea, Tong Fuk Beach and Upper Cheung Sha Beach. There are big, steady rocks to sit on throughout the trail, and along with the slight wind breeze makes it a very good place for some quality banter session. That was exactly what happened to us.

Chilling with the siblings – stunning view of Upper Cheung Sha Beach

Throughout the trail, there are also quite a few mini waterfalls. The water is definitely clean and cool, but the rock pool is quite petite, so you can’t really go for a dip or swim. Washing your hands is pretty much the most you can do there.  However, it’s always nice just to listen to the splashing of water and the crisps of leaves as the wind blows.

Mini waterfall and rock pool

 

Rocks, waterfall, repeat

Rocks after rocks, waterfall after waterfall, you’ll finally reach the end. The end is quite obvious as suddenly, the trail turns into proper roads for cars. From here on, there are 2 options: carry on walking down to Mui Wo (~20 minutes) or take Bus 3M back to Tung Chung. Mui Wo is nice if you want to chill on the beach or continue exploring more waterfalls and caves. Tung Chung will be a better choice if you feel like shopping as there is a big outlet mall right next to the bus station: Citygate. It really depends on how you’re feeling then.

We chose to go back home and sleep. Sleeping was perhaps the least spontaneous thing we did the whole day.