Not all days go to plan,

The Pearl Falls, Mui Wo.

Yesterday we went swimming in the other outdoor pool in Discovery Bay at the Residents Club. We don't like this as much as Siena, because this is just a regular rectangular pool and Siena is like a hotel resort pool. Nonetheless, we had a lovely and enjoyable swim, then we met our friend, Bonnie, for dinner in The Chippy.

Today, Peter said he didn't want to swim as it was really quite cold, so I took this as an opportunity to hike. I had planned out an uphill hike to a strange rock formation with a great view, but when I set out, I discovered it was really foggy. I saw no point in doing a hike for the view if there wasn't going to be one, so first of all I thought I would head to the Big Buddha and do a hike from there, but I just missed the bus to it and not only that the bus departed full and leaving a long queue. It seemed everyone was heading to the Big Buddha for some reason. I had yet another rethink and decided since I was already in Tung Chung, I should redo the Olympic Trail to Mui Wo. There was some logic to this as there were two things on route I had recently found out about and never seen before.

The Olympic Trail.

I had forgotten that the first part of this walk involves twenty minutes of walking on a narrow pavement at the side of a motorway. Ten minutes in to the walk and I was already questioning my sanity in redoing it, but eventually I did finally reach the turn off for Pak Mong Village. Thank God, I was totally sick of fast moving, smoke emitting cars by this stage. The only nice thing on this part of the walk was that I passed some beautiful Bauhinia trees.

Bauhinia.

I was so pleased to finally reach the turn off for Pak Mong Village.

I've written about Pak Mong Village before. Its name means White Miscanthus, which is a form of silver grass. It was founded by Hakka settlers in the sixteenth century and is located very close to Tai Ho Wan Bay. It's got several historical sights: an old incinerator, a stone that looks like it has been split down the middle by a sword, a watch tower, an entry gate, an abandoned school and several shrines. It's not allowed to actually enter into the village, but all these sights can be observed from outside it.

Tai Ho Wan Bay.

The incinerator.

The watchtower Pak Mong Village.

The watchtower Pak Mong Village.

The sword testing stone.

Earth god shrine.

The old school.

A stream flows through the village and many people do a hike along this. I have not yet tried doing this.

Stream.

Stream.

One other thing Pak Mong possesses is a public toilet which I was very grateful for.

Past Pak Mong I came to two more villages. Both of which looked very nice, but they don't welcome visitors. I bypassed them and came to the end of the roadway and the start of the country trail.

One of the villages I walk past.

Bridge.

Forest path.

Bridge.

Mountain scenery.

A year ago when I did this walk it was roasting hot. I did it because a friend assured me it is a brilliant summer walk as it is all flat. That time I felt like I was about to die on it. This time it was cool, but I'd still like to state it is definitely not flat. I had to walk uphill for quite a bit, but in the cool it was extremely doable and even pleasant.

This walk was named the Olympic Trail in honour of the Beijing Olympics. Every so often it has pictures of Olympic sports on the paving stones.

Cycling.

Athletics.

Last time I didn't notice the turn off to a little pavilion with a view; I was too busy passing out from the heat. This time I saw it and climbed up to it. It would have had a good view on a clearer day, but it was still pleasant.

The Pavilion.

View from the pavilion.

There are lots of village graves on this hike and some of them were decorated with bits of paper. I'm not sure why. It's probably a good luck thing. It may be related to the recent grave sweeping festival. The Chinese have two public holidays a year when people go and tend their ancestral graves.

Decorated village graves.

Decorated village graves.

There were lots of butterflies fluttering all around me as I walked. Unfortunately, they weren't the only wildlife I encountered.

Butterfly and flowers.

Butterfly and flowers.

Butterfly.

Berries.

When I did this walk previously, I got to a set of stairs where I largely keeled over and it was only a passing man saying: "Come on, don't give up. You are minutes away from the top." that got me moving again. This time I paused for breath on the same stairs and a snake slithered past me. I was too surprised to photograph it. We have both harmless and poisonous snakes here. Most of them are non-aggressive and avoid humans, but one of them, the bamboo pit viper, goes out of its way to find trouble and unsuspecting humans to bite. Fortunately, this snake could not get away from me fast enough.

The stairs where I nearly gave up when I walked this in the heat.

Soon I came to signs for the Tiger's Head hike which is directly behind my building. I injured my leg doing this before. I steered clear of it and continued on towards Mui Wo.

Turn off to Tiger's Head Trail.

I soon reached another pavilion. This pavilion is around about the half way mark and the highest point on this trail, so I knew it was downhill all the way from here.

Shelter at the highest point of the trail.

Highest point of the trail.

Me at the highest point on the trail.

I took an occasional view even though it wasn't a very clear day.

View over Mui Wo.

View over Mui Wo.

I was keeping my eyes open for some red Chinese graffiti which indicates where there is a turn off to a waterfall. This was one of the things I had never done before. There's a very obvious but not very exciting waterfall later on, but this one is known as the Pearl Falls and it is more hidden and more beautiful.

The secret trail is next to this post.

The path to the falls isn't difficult but it's not a real path. You have to climb over pipes and duck under metal obstructions, but it's very short.

Makeshift path to the waterfalls.

Makeshift path to the waterfalls.

I learned about these falls by watching someone else's hiking video. They climbed all the way up to the top of them, discovering more and more waterfalls, but they were around twenty years old, skinny and athletic. I'm fifty-eight years old, fat and unfit with neither sense of direction nor ability to balance. I decided to just observe the falls from the bottom level.

The Pearl Falls.

The Pearl Falls.

Selfie at the Pearl Falls.

Not much further on there's a village and then the descent into Mui Wo starts. There were some crops growing in the fields here and lots of fruit on the trees.

Coming into the village past the waterfall.

Farmland.

Village houses.

Bananas.

Bananas.

Not far away there's an old cave from which silver was once mined, giving Mui Wo its English name - Silver Mine Bay. I had a quick look in the now sealed off cave.

Pavilion next to Silver Mine Cave.

Silver Mine Cave.

Silver Mine Cave.

Inside Silver Mine Cave.

Looking out of Silver Mine Cave.

Further on and I was at Silver Mine waterfalls. These are on the River Silver just like the Pearl Falls. For some reason it is very hard to get a good photo of the Silver Mine Falls. I guess it's because the two falls are far apart with just bare rock in between.

Silver Mine Waterfalls.

Silver Mine Waterfalls.

The River Silver.

Sign post for The Mui Wo end of the Olympic Trail.

I went through a gateway to Pak Ngan Heung Village. One of the villages that makes up Mui Wo. Pak Ngan Heung has a lovely Man Mo Temple, dedicated to the god of war and the god of literature. It was here that the silver extracted from the mine was once weighed. I like the paintings on the outside of the temple.

Gateway to Pak Ngan Heung.

Man Mo Temple.

Man Mo Temple.

Outside Man Mo Temple.

Painting.

Painting.

There are quite a few lovely things to see in Mui Wo: many farms filled with vegetables, shrines, attractive village houses. Today surprisingly there were no cows. This is highly unusual.

Farmland.

Farmland.

Village houses, Mui Wo.

Village houses.

Village houses.

Abandoned vehicle.

Plant shop.

Shrine.

Shrine.

Gateway.

Tree covered shelter.

Colourful plants.

Church.

Street art.

Access to the beach was blocked off at certain places due to roadworks. This was annoying as the sign I had followed for the waterfront led me to a dead end.

Looking back at the beach and the Silver Mine Bay Hotel.

I was aiming for the River Silver to see the second thing I had never visited before. When I found the river, I wandered away from the sea. It's very pleasant to walk along the river. There are many boats and restaurants. There was a very fancy trishaw outside one of the restaurants.

The River Silver.

The River Silver.

Bridge across the River Silver.

Boats on the River Silver.

Trishaw.

I wanted to see the Old Chung Hau Mansion. This granite building looks like a castle or an abbey or something. It was built in the 1920's as a guard tower by Yuen Kwan-yu. He wanted it as protection against pirates.

I first heard about this mansion in an article written by one of the Yuen family descendants in which he was complaining that the government were not helping with the upkeep of the building despite its historical significance. It looked in good condition to me, though I could only observe it from a distance, so hopefully that situation has been resolved. The Yuen family still live in Mui Wo though not in this historical building.

Old Chung Hau Mansion from across the River Silver.

Old Chung Hau Mansion.

Old Chung Hau Mansion.

Old Chung Hau Mansion.

The river near the mansion.

From here I walked to the bus-stop and in keeping with my luck just missed the 3M to Tung Chung. After a twenty minute wait I was on the next bus, heading back to Tung Chung, a visit to the bank, some shopping, then home. I took a few shots of the view over Cheung Sha as we passed above it on the bus.

View from the bus.

View from the bus.