Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls.

Middle Fall.

I've been thinking about doing the Ng Tung Chai Waterfall Hike since last September, but I keep making excuses and doing other hikes instead. I rationalise this by constantly telling myself the water level at the falls won't be high enough, but in reality I think the true reason I've been avoiding this hike is because it sounded quite hard. Anyway, yesterday, I finally got around to doing it.

Ng Tung Chai is a village situated on the lower slopes of Tai Mo Shan, the highest mountain in Hong Kong. Behind the village the Lam Tsuen Stream tumbles its way down the mountains in a series of waterfalls. Most people visit the four main ones, though there are actually several more.

To get there, I travelled to Kam Sheung Road MTR Station, exited through exit C and then took bus 64K in the direction of Tai Po Market. I got off at Ngau Len Wo.

It was quite a pleasant journey and took around twenty minutes. From the bus I took a picture of a monument in Sheung Tsuen Park, not sure what it commemorates.

Sheung Tsuen Park. I think this is a Reunification Memorial celebrating Hong Kong's return to China in 1997.

When I got off at Ngau Len Wo, I crossed the road and immediately saw a sign for the Ng Tung Chai Waterfall Hike. I was delighted, as I often waste so much time and effort trying to find the start of hikes. As I later noticed many times on this walk, the whole route was incredibly well signposted.

I followed the direction of the sign up a sloping road and into the village of Ng Tung Chai. I only passed a couple of village houses as the path to the waterfalls left the village very quickly. There were some lovely flowers and trees in some of the gardens and I liked the fancy mailbox at one house.

Sign for the village as soon as I crossed the road.

Beautiful tree.

Bougainvilia.

Bamboo.

Bamboo.

Broad Leaves.

Decorations and fancy mailbox outside a house

Decorations.

Fancy Post Box.

Ng Tung Chai Village.

House and dog in Ng Tung Chai Village.

House in Ng Tung Chai Village.

I left the village via a very steep road with views over a couple of small farms. There were a few well kept village graves on the hillside. I soon reached a large arched gateway which indicated that there was a temple nearby.

Village grave.

Temple gateway.

Temple gateway.

Little farms.

Little Farms.

One of the little farms.

Farms.

Silver grass.

Banana flower.

The temple is called Man Tak Yuen. It is a Taoist temple and is supposed to be lovely inside. Unfortunately, this temple was closed due to COVID. Just past the temple there is a little bridge and on the far side of this, I saw the first waterfall of the hike. The Ng Tung Chai Waterfall hike is called the Four Waterfalls Hike in English. This is not one of the four waterfalls, but it was quite pretty nonetheless. The trail to the waterfalls starts from next to this waterfall and comes with its very own warning sign. There was a slight tree obscured view of the temple from the stairs up to the start of the walk.

Temple entrance.

Temple entrance.

Shrine in front of the temple.

Inscription outside the temple.

Bridge next to the temple.

Waterfall next to the temple.

Sign for the waterfalls.

This sign did little to reassure me about the hike ahead.

Looking back towards the temple from the hill.

Looking back towards the temple from the hill.

Very quickly into the walk the trail divides into two. To the right there is a way up Tai Mo Shan without passing the waterfalls. On the left is the way to Tai Mo Shan via the waterfalls. I had no intention of going all the way to the top of Tai Mo Shan on this hike. I just wanted to see the waterfalls, so I took the path on the left.

Soon this path starts to get a bit steep with lots of stairs, but it wanders through the beautiful greenery of the jungle and is perfectly pleasant. I believe this route gets busy at weekends and on public holidays, but yesterday it was fairly quiet. All I could hear as I climbed, was the buzzing of insects, birds singing and water trickling down the hillside. It was very peaceful. Some hikes are friendlier than others. Here everyone I passed said hello.

The path splits at the Tai Mo Shan Country Park sign.

Don't take this path on the right. It misses out the waterfalls. It's the route I came back by.

Follow the sign for the waterfalls on your left.

Some stretches of the path had stone steps.

The way was mainly shaded and surrounded with greenery.

Stone steps through the jungle.

Tree roots growing across the path.

Moss covered rocks.

Giant ferns.

Epiphyte growing out of a tree.

I loved wandering through the jungle.

Some bits were trickier than others.

Some bits were trickier than others.

After about thirty minutes of walking I arrived at the first of the four waterfalls this hike is named after. This is called Bottom Fall. To reach it, you have to leave the path and climb down some steps. I had the whole waterfall to myself. It's shady next to the falls and there are lots of moss covered rocks. I found it very relaxing here.

Bottom Fall Sign.

Bottom Fall.

Selfie with Bottom Fall.

Bottom Fall.

Epiphyte at Bottom Fall.

Once I had made it to Bottom Fall, I knew I could certainly reach the second waterfall as it is only around five minutes further on. This one is called Middle Fall and it's a lot taller than Bottom Fall. There were two other hikers sitting on the rocks here.

Sign for Middle Fall.

Middle Fall.

Selfie at Middle Fall.

I took a slight rest here, as it was the next section of the hike I was worried about. I've read lots of blogs on this walk and adjectives used to describe the section between Middle Fall and Main Fall are commonly words such as gruelling, dreadful, exhausting, daunting. These had not inspired me with confidence. I had promised myself that if I was really tired by this stage, I would turn round and go back down. I could tell anyone who might read this blog that Ng Tung Chai is known as the Two Waterfalls Walk and they would never be any the wiser. However, to my surprise, I was not really all that tired and I was actually enjoying the walk. I ploughed on.

The stretch between Middle Fall and Main Fall is gruelling and exhausting and everything else it has been described as, but it has one thing in its favour - it is also amazingly beautiful. It really is the jungle now. I felt like Jane wandering around wondering where Tarzan had got to. I stopped frequently to catch my breath and photograph everything. The beauty all around me distracted me from the difficulties of the walk.

The path was steep and slippy and in many places incredibly narrow. This would not be fun if it were crowded, as there are many places you cannot pass someone coming the other way. I only passed two other hikers before I reached Main Fall.

I realised that I was drenched in sweat from the humidity even though it was not a particularly warm day. I was also getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I had forgotten to bring repellant.

This part of the walk took me forty minutes. Near the end of this stretch, the path descends around the edge of a cliff with a bit of a drop off to the left hand side. In places you have to sit down and lower yourself to the next part of the path below. At this point I was beginning to question my sanity and that's when up ahead I saw the incredibly tall Main Fall and knew I had made it.

In some places the path was narrow.

In some places it was rocky.

Some parts of the path ran along beside the stream. There were little waterfalls every now and then.

Moss covered rocks next to the stream.

Different colours of mosses and lichens on the rocks.

Being here all alone made me feel like an intrepid explorer.

As you can see I got totally carried away photographing my surroundings.

Jungle path.

Jungle path.

Stairs through the jungle..

Stairs through the jungle.

Vegetation lined path.

Rocky Path.

Selfie on the jungle path.

Fallen log.

Flowers.

I believe Main Fall is the highest falls in Hong Kong. The water drops down from a height of thirty-five metres. People swim in the waterfall pools at all four of the waterfalls in summer time. I actually wore my swimming costume yesterday, but we haven't had much rain for a long time and the pools did not look that deep. Add to that, that having got really warm just before Easter, it has mercifully cooled down again. Yesterday was not at all hot.

Sign for Main Fall.

Main Fall.

Selfie with Main Fall.

Zoom view of the top of Main Fall. Someone died here taking a selfie last year.

Main Fall.

After enjoying Main Fall for a while I crossed over the stream flowing out of it. You have to do this on the rocks. There isn't a bridge. I was heading for the last of the four falls - Scatter Fall. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get here as I read some blogs saying the path between Main Fall and Scatter Fall had been wrecked by a typhoon and was impassable. That may have been the case before, but it has been cleared now. There were warning signs about landslips and advice not to go here in rainy weather.

Warning sign on the way up to Scatter Fall

The path from Main Fall to Scatter Falls is short but steep and quite challenging in parts. There were lots of banana trees all around it. It only took about ten minutes between the two waterfalls. Scatter Falls is just above Main Fall. I passed a cave on the climb up, when I investigated it from close up, I discovered it was flooded. There was another cave right next to Scatter Fall. The falls are not exactly imaginatively named: Bottom Fall, Middle Fall, Main Fall. I can only imagine Scatter Falls is called this because it is wide and so the waterfall is scattered across several rocks. Some people have suggested it looks like locks of long hair scattered across a pillow.

The path up to Scatter Falls.

The path up to Scatter Falls.

The path up. Those rails came in handy.

The path up. Where did it go?

The path wasn't always easy.

Vegetation on the walk up to Scatter Fall.

Banana Trees.

Banana Trees.

In places water flowed over this path and bits of it were quite wet.

Wet Path.

Flooded cave on way up.

Flooded cave on way up.

When I finally got to Scatter Falls, two Chinese girls came along and started taking photos. I offered to take their photo so they could be in the shot together. Then they took my photo. Then one of them wanted her photo taken with me. For a while we were all hopping around all over the place like idiots posing in front of the waterfall. Then we said goodbye and I set off, but suddenly they called me back. One of them had lost her i-phone and they thought I might have taken it. I don't mean they accused me of stealing it. They thought I might have taken it by mistake with all the passing around of phones. Now I must admit I am one of the world's most scatterbrained people. Even I thought I might have taken it by mistake and was wondering how I would be able to explain: 'I'm not a thief, just an idiot.' I began searching frantically through my bags. Anyway it turned out the girl had dropped her phone next to the stream and she finally found it. Then of course they were really apologetic in case they had offended me, but they hadn't. It was all just a big mix up. I thought that girl was really lucky that she had realised right away she had lost her phone or she would never have found it again.

Scatter Fall Sign.

Opposite Scatter Falls is the top of Main Fall.

Cave next to Scatter Falls.

Scatter Falls.

Side view of Scatter Falls.

Me in front of Scatter Falls.

Photo before the great I-phone mystery.

Selfie with Scatter Falls.

I had made it, and what's more I had really enjoyed this walk. However, in many places the path had been like a sort of assault course. I wasn't really relishing trying to get back down it again. I had three choices. I could retrace my steps. I could go up further, then head left and continue on till I reached the road up to Tai Mo Shan. Or I could head up further, then head right. This way would eventually lead me down to the place where the two paths diverged just after the temple. In other words this was the path up Tai Mo Shan that didn't go via the waterfalls. I chose the latter option.

At first this way was very pleasant. It followed a flat path. At one point the path even cut through a ruined building. Then after around fifteen minutes or so, I reached stairs down the mountain. I must admit I did not enjoy this path. The stairs were uneven and difficult to walk on, so I had to concentrate on them fully in order not to trip. This meant I could not enjoy my surroundings. Also they seemed endless and they were really jarring on my knees. I was beginning to think I should have continued on to the Tai Mo Shan Road, but who knows, maybe this way would be difficult, too. I did pass some colourful flowers on the way down and the occasional distant view. I was delighted when I finally reached the bottom.

To get down first I had to go further up

Passing through a bamboo grove on the flat path.

Ruin on the path.

Ruin on the path.

Choices, choices.

Nonstop stairs down. I hated this path. My knees hate me for taking it.

View on the way down.

Flowers on the way down.

Flowers on the way down.

Flowers on the way down.

Selfie on the way down.

It was wonderful to finally be done with those awful stairs. I caught the bus back to the MTR and returned home to rest my weary legs and feet

Excellent signposting right to the end.