Just in The Nick of Time

I had my walking schedules mapped out for this week, but for one reason or another they changed at the last minute. I research walks on a whole plethora of sites and I have subscribed to some of these. Two days ago, I received a video of a hike to Lau Shui Heung Reservoir. It looked amazing, but what I noted most was the line of autumnal trees reflected in the still waters of the reservoir. The trees were stunning, but they were close to shedding all of their leaves. Should I visit? If I was going to see the autumn colours there, I had better hurry up and the necessity for speed spurred me on to getting up early and going for it.

The only off-putting bit about going to Lau Shui Heung Reservoir is that it's in Fanling and that is pretty far from where I live. I expected it to take ages, but it really didn't. I got a bus from my home to Sunny Bay, took the Tung Chung Line to Nam Cheung, switched to the Tuen Ma line in the direction of Wu Kai Sha and then when the train reached Hung Hom switched to the East Rail Line. The East Rail Line used to be the KCR and when I lived in Sha Tin, it was my main way of travelling. I have a certain fondness for it. To my surprise, it only took me about one and a half hours to get to Fanling from my home, pretty much the same as my commute to work was on a daily basis.

Fanling.

I noticed each station of the East Rail Line now has its own floral motif. This is Fanling's.

There are lots of things to see in Fanling and today I wasn't really looking for them, as I just wanted to go and see the reservoir, but I will be back to do Fanling justice later.

To get to the reservoir I exited Fanling Station through exit C. This is on platform level so no need to go to the upper levels to exit. I then looked for green minibus 52B. I was lucky - there was one in and no queue. Now all I had to do was get off at the correct stop, which is the Pat Sin Leng Country Park Roundabout. I worried about missing it, but almost the whole bus wanted off there. They were all going to see the leaves.

My friend sent me this picture of Fanling Minibus Station during a typhoon.

At the roundabout, it's necessary to head off to the right. The walk to the reservoir is along a paved road with a very slight incline and only takes 15 to 20 minutes. It's an incredibly easy walk. So easy, I could even do it in summer, I think!!! All around the road is the beautiful mountainous scenery of the Pat Sin Leng Country Park. Of course there was also silver-grass and beautiful trees.

Mountain scenery on the walk there. One of my closest friends is from the village in the distance, though I didn't know that till I showed him my photos.

Everything is peaceful and green.

I loved this tree.

A stairway surrounded by silver-grass.

The Lau Shui Heung Reservoir is famous for two things: its mirror-like reflections on its incredibly calm waters and a row of deciduous cypress trees which change colour in autumn, but would I be in time to see these?

On arrival at the reservoir, there's a lovely viewing spot straight away. There were lots of people here, even on a week day, as everyone loves autumn colours. I could see the row of colourful trees in the distance, but it wasn't easy to capture the colours in photos as they were just too far away. Even without bright colours, the view was wonderful. It was sunny and the reflections were perfect.

Lots of people had come to enjoy the scenery.

The waters were still and the reflections were perfect.

A slightly more zoomed in view.

Absolute tranquility.

The view the other way.

I assumed I could walk right round the reservoir and headed off to the right. It was beautiful, but I could only go a short way before I hit a dead end. However, there were splashes of autumn colours here, too. There was also a viewing point to climb to, though I didn't go up and there was a tree with a thick, horizontal branch sticking out over the water that lots of people were trying to stand on for a photo.

Autumn colours on the reservoir.

Autumn colours on the reservoir.

Autumn colours on the reservoir.

I walked back to my starting point and then headed in the other direction. There were various trails into the country park, but I stuck to walking round the reservoir as far as I could go. As I got nearer to the famous line of trees, their colours became stronger. At each viewpoint there were lots of people, so I asked someone to take my photo.

At the park entrance there's a choice of ways to go.

I liked the look of this little shelter.

One of the trails next to the reservoir.

Lau Shiu Heung Country Trail Sign. This is the way I went.

COVID Notice. Some people were employed to walk up and down playing information to tell everyone to keep their masks on and maintain social distancing.

Me posing with the trees.

And again.

Eventually I found the perfect spot for the classical line of brightly coloured trees photo. I stood here for a while as it was just so lovely. The perfect way to cast away your cares and just enjoy nature.

Classic view of autumn colours at the reservoir.

The line of trees is beautiful from every angle.

The colours on the line of trees stand out beautifully.

At the far end of the reservoir there are some lovely bridges across a stream. I especially liked the one with the arch that reflected brilliantly on the water below. The other bridge had a sign post in Chinese that everyone liked posing with. From certain angles the bridge looked like it was being overwhelmed by nature.

Bridge across a stream to the far side of the reservoir.

This bridge looks like it's in the middle of the jungle.

I loved this bridge and reflection.

Someone rushing by up above.

This was a popular place to pose.

The stream wasn't moving fast at this drier time of year and it also provided beautiful reflections of the surrounding forest.

Reflections of trees in the stream.

The roots of the trees near the water grew in a mass of tangles and some formed strange shapes. One even formed a perfect circle. This was another popular photographic prop with many people sitting on it to take photos.

A tangle of roots.

A circle of tree roots.

A tangle of tree roots.

After the stream, I arrived right next to the colourful trees. There were many people taking photos here. The nearest trees were a wonderful fiery orange, the further ones were nearly bare already. I was glad I had come. It seems I pretty much just made it in the nick of time

Colourful trees and peaceful waters.

Burning Orange.

Crowds enjoying the trees.

A lovely place to walk your dogs.

People posing by the water.

Fiery trees by the water.

Looking towards my original viewpoint.

I could have happily stayed here longer, but I retraced my steps back to the roundabout and caught the minibus back to Fanling. I decided I would look at the temple near the station before heading home and leave all the other sights for another day.

Fung Ying Seen Koon Temple is a Taoist temple, dating from 1929. It is located close to exit B of Fanling Station. Unfortunately, it was being renovated when I visited and the main temple building was covered in scaffolding and inaccessible. I decided to wander around the other parts of the temple anyway. I entered through the large temple gateway and climbed up the stairs to the first terrace. Here there are twelve statues depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac. On the other side of the terrace there are plants and the lift.

Temple Gateway.

The temple building was not looking its best. I visited here before, years ago.

The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, starting with the rat.

And from the other side ending with the pig.

I was born in the Year of the snake so I took a close-up.

Lift if you don't want to climb the stairs from the entrance.

I climbed up further and then began wandering around the parts of the temple that were open to the public. Like most temples here it was all on different levels with many stairs. There was a little pond filled with brightly coloured fish. This temple has quite a popular vegetarian restaurant and many people seemed to be visiting that. Another reason to come here is to tend to your departed relatives. Behind the temple there are many crematorium niches, each one has a photo of the person whose ashes are inside.

Plan of the temple compound.

Temple decorations.

The vegetarian restaurant.

Painting near the vegetarian restaurant.

Colourful temple building.

Colourful Temple Buildings.

Pond with huge orange fish.

Burial niches.

Climbing higher again I passed a small shrine and reached a pretty pavilion. In front of it were two Bixi based stele. Bixi was apparently one of the Dragon King's nine sons. He is a dragon with the shell of a turtle. There were good views over Fanling from here. Behind this area there was a little graveyard

Shrine.

Pavilion.

Pavilion.

Colourful temple roofs viewed from pavilion.

View over Fanling from high up on temple.

Stele with a Bixi base.

Details on a gateway.

I've no idea what this detail is but to me it looks like a bat with a man's face.

Graveyard at the back of the temple.

After visiting the temple, I made my way back home.