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Published: February 12th 2011
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... and I'm back! With full motivation, I finally decided to visit the last island on my Outlying Islands itinerary - though it wasn't quite what I expected it to be.
The island that I visited today is called
Tung Lung Chau, and it's located very near on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island. Getting to the pier wasn't really very hard, as I tried to follow the instructions carefully from my source. The kaito service to Tung Lung Chau leaves every weekends from
Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter, located on
Sai Wan Ho area in the eastern side of Hong Kong. There is also a kaito service from Sam Ka Tsuen, but since getting to Sai Wan Ho is easier because the area has its own MTR, I decided to go with that one. The roundtrip ticket costed $30, and my plan was to leave Sai Wan Ho at 10:30, and go back to Sai Wan Ho at 16:00.
I honestly have no idea what Tung Lung Chau has to offer, except that it has stunning cliffs based from the pictures I saw. The island is also a popular camping site, so it's no surprise that I
saw people carrying huge bags on the kaito. After a 35-minute cruise, the kaito docked on
Nam Tong pier in a very small settlement on the island. There were two paths on the middle of the settlement; one path lead to the campsite, and the other one lead to a rock carving or some sort. I decided to start my trek on the rock carving path, and then go to the campsite afterwards.
Today's weather is not actually what I expected. It was really foggy, plus strong cold winds blew everytime I went upwards. The stairs down to the carving was really long, and it turns out that it just leads to a rock carving on a wall, sealed behind a window panel. I read the description on the plaque regarding the rock carving, and the rock carving is known to be the largest rock carving in Hong Kong. Somehow, the plaque also says that the rock carving represents a dragon symbol, but I didn't quite see it since the window was so blurry, plus there's no room to move as the trail was so narrow. At that point, I admit that I got a bit scared & shaky,
since I was too close at the water, and the water looked so violent from the winds, that I might get washed away from the trail. Of course, I had to go up again which was VERY tiring!
Moving on, I followed the path that leads to a place named
"Luk Keng Wan". I have no idea what it was, so I just have to find it out for myself. While walking on the path, I saw a small building on the other side of the land, connected by an isthmus. Out of curiosity, I decided to check that place out even if it didn't have any signs telling what that was. There were also tall fences beside the path, and I saw one peculiar sign that said "Radiation Hazard". I really, REALLY was curious to find out what's there, but after trekking the narrow paths, I came across a dead end - a locked gate. It turns out that the whole place was just an abandoned power plant supplying the electricity in the whole island.
Bummer. What a waste of time. When I got back at the intersection between the Nam Tong pier path and the path
to the power plant, there was another path leading to the other way - probably a continuation of the path around the island. Things got harder though, as the strong cold winds blew harder & became very intolerable - plus not to mention the upward paths. The greatest disappointment of all was ultimately the end of the path itself. As I was walking on the winding path, I noticed a UFO-shaped building on a summit of a mountain on a distance, and I wondered what it was. I soon realized that the path actually leads to that building, and guess what? ANOTHER DEAD END! The gates were completely locked, and there was nowhere else to go! So clearly, I didn't have any choice but to go back from where I started.
Another bummer! It was very disappointing, but hey, at least I was curious enough to find it out for myself...
It was already 2:00 PM when I got back on the small settlement, so I still have 2 hours before the ferry to Sai Wan Ho arrives. The only place I haven't visited in the island is the campsite itself, so I decided to check it out.
On the way to the campsite, I passed by small shops & restaurants that cater the campers, making the place look pretty convenient. It was also surprising to find out that near the campsite, there were more picturesque cliffs around compared to the cliffs I saw on the other path. There is also a small site on the area called the
Tung Lung Fort, which was completely in ruins. The place was not really interesting, but the plaque stated that the fort was used during the Qing Dynasty to defend the island against pirates. At least that's pretty interesting.
Before I went back down to the pier, I decided to check out the end of the path behind Tung Lung Fort, and it leads to a breathtaking view of very tall cliffs, with huge waves crashing below the cliffs. I'm still not sure if I should call Tung Lung Chau as the "Ireland of Hong Kong", but I admit that it has the most stunning cliffs compared to the 3 previous islands that I've visited this week.
And then, it was time to go, although things didn't quite go well as expected. A kaito ferry arrived at the
pier at around 3:15 PM, looking kinda similar to the kaito I boarded from Sai Wan Ho. As the kaito left the pier, I noticed that it was only 3:30 PM. I started to become suspicious, since I know that ferry schedules are supposed to be exact, whether on arrivals or departures. When I showed the staff my ticket, I suddenly had a horrified look when I realized that I took the wrong kaito! I realized that I took the kaito service to
Sam Ka Tsuen, which also has kaito services to Tung Lung Chau. So, I had no choice but to pay the staff $15 because of my stupidity, but I was even more concerned at that point on how to get myself back on track on the way home. I was itching to find out if there are any MTR stations near Sam Ka Tsuen on my way there - otherwise I'm doomed. Fortunately, I found a glimmer of light once we docked on Sam Ka Tsuen pier when I realized that the
Yau Tong MTR Station is just a minutes away from the pier. Oh well, I guess it just comes to show that we all get
lost!
... and that's the conclusion of my Outlying Islands tour folks! I know there are still alot of islands here in Hong Kong for me explore, but rest assured that I will definitely visit them in the near future. Till next time people! 😉
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Ricky
non-member comment
Great pics!! Tung Lung Chau look like a great island too! Yes there are many other islands around HK, so you should explore them too.Are you going to post the pics on Facebook? ^ ^