Climbing Tiger Mountain.

View over Tai O from the Fu Shan Trail.

Yesterday I returned to Tai O to walk the Fu Shan Trail. Fu Shan literally means Tiger Mountain. It's actually just a small hill, only 246 feet high, but it is known for its spectacular views over Tai O in one direction and out towards the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in the other. I knew this hike would be short and not involve much climbing, but was a bit worried about lack of shade.

To get to Tai O I took the number 11 bus from Tung Chung to the last stop. The driver drove really fast and it is a very winding route, not a journey you would relish if you have motion sickness, but the scenery is wonderful.

Looking down on Cheung Sha.

Passing Cheung Sha Beach.

Shek Pik Reservoir looking towards Lantau Peak.

Shek Pik Reservoir looking towards the prison.

On arrival in Tai O, I headed into the fishing village. I crossed the main bridge, which has fantastic views into the fishing village on one side and out to sea on the other side.

Painted wall, Tai O.

Tai O Bridge.

View from the bridge.

View from the bridge.

Boats near the bridge.

I headed past lots of market stalls selling fruit, vegetables, dried fish and seafood.

Dried seafood.

Fruit and vegetables.

When I reached the indoor market, I headed left into an area of Tai O I hadn't explored before. The main part is off to the right of here. I passed a primary school with many paintings on its walls.

Painting on the school walls.

Painting on the school walls.

I was looking for a signpost that pointed off to the viewing point. I found it easily but deliberately went past it, as I had decided to walk to Tai O Heritage Hotel before doing my walk.

This sign is where you turn off to the trail.

Tai O Heritage Hotel is located in an old marine police station which was built in 1902. It has been beautifully restored and has nine guestrooms.

Sign for Tai O Heritage Hotel.

Painting outside Tai O Heritage Hotel.

Tai O Heritage Hotel.

Tai O Heritage Hotel.

Unfortunately, the Heritage Hotel is pretty hidden away in the trees, but I was still glad I came because the scenery around this area was lovely. There were lots of houses on stilts, fish hanging up to dry in the sun, vegetable and flower gardens and some lovely houses.

Houses on stilts.

Houses on stilts.

Vegetable garden.

Vegetable garden.

Vegetable garden.

Garden.

Flower garden.

Flowers.

Fish drying.

Flower filled garden.

House.

Houses, Tai O.

Washing.

Doorway.

Looking out over the sea I could see one of the waterfalls in the area I walked around last time I came to Tai O. There were lots of mangroves in the water and they were covered with little yellow flowers.

Distant waterfall.

Mangroves.

Mangroves.

Mangrove flowers.

There were also other wall paintings, a few village shrines and the odd quirky decoration.

Dragon boat painting.

Village Painting.

Village Painting.

Little shrine.

Little shrine.

Bottle decorations.

Decorated tree.

I then returned to the turn off to the Fu Shan Trail. There is a temple right next to the start of it. This is the Hung Shing Temple which was built in 1746. Hung Shing is the god of the Southern Sea. This temple plays a big role in Tai O's annual dragon boat races.

Hung Shing Temple.

Hung Shing Temple.

Next to the temple is The Hong Kong Shaolin Wushu Culture Centre. This building used to be Tai O Public School, but is now a martial arts training centre and hostel. It wasn't open when I was there. It had an impressive gateway.

Lion next to The Hong Kong Shaolin Wushu Culture Centre gateway.

Elephants next to The Hong Kong Shaolin Wushu Culture Centre gateway.

On the left of The Hong Kong Shaolin Wushu Culture Centre is the start of the Fu Shan Trail. The first part is a stairway and most of it is shaded by trees. It passes by several graves. It's good feng shui to locate graves high up and near water. There is normally an excellent view next to graves.

Grave.

View from next to a grave.

When I got to the top of the stairs, there was a sculpture of Chinese pink dolphins (also known as Chinese white dolphins). The Fu Shan Trail is supposed to be a good place to spot dolphins from. However, due to too much boat traffic and water pollution the numbers of Chinese pink dolphins has decreased rapidly. They are now an endangered species, so the chance of seeing any isn't high.

Stairway.

Dolphins statue.

My fears about no shade were sadly proving to be true. The sun was beating down mercilessly. It was so beautiful walking along the pathway lined with a lovely red wooden fence, but even with a hat and an umbrella it was still way, way too hot. I rapidly came to the trigonometric marker indicating the top of the hill.

Red fence lined path.

Trigonometric marker at the top of the trail.

Panoramic view over Tai O.

Beautiful view over the village graveyard.

On the other side the views are out across the sea. The thirty-four mile long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge can be seen from here. This is made up of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel and four artificial islands. Apparently it is the longest sea crossing in the world.

Path and bridge.

Bridge.

Bridge.

In the distance I could see a little pavilion. I hurried towards it, knowing that I could at least get a little bit of shade there.

Looking towards the pavilion.

The Pavilion.

I sat in the pavilion for a little while. Although it was shaded, it was still incredibly hot. I seemed to be near the end of the trail, so although I knew I was starting to suffer from too much sun, it seemed more sensible to continue than to go back.I was glad I did continue as some spectacular views of Tai O were coming up.

View over Tai O.

There was one more small hill to climb up. From here there was a lovely view back across the trail I had just walked.

View back across the trail.

After this point I began my descent and mercifully part of the stairway down was shaded by trees.

View over Tai O.

View over Tai O.

Descent into Tai O.

Descent into Tai O.

At the bottom of the trail I went right and then left across a bridge. I soon reached a temple I had been to before. This was Yeung Hau Temple. This temple dates from 1699 and is dedicated to Hau Wong a loyal follower of the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. There were some lovely flowers all around the temple.

Yeung Hau Temple.

Flowers.

Flowers.

From the temple I was soon back in Tai O Village. I could have taken a longer scenic route back to the bus, but I had really had too much sun by this stage, so I took the quick way. It's not like me not to divert and try and see everything, so I really must have been suffering.

Stilts houses.

Boats.

Village houses.

Fancy gateway.

I rather liked this bike.

Soon I was back on the main square which has yet another temple. This one was Kwan Tai Temple. It dates from around 1741. Kwan Tai is the Chinese god of war. I continued on towards the bus station. I noticed a lovely dragon boat next to a rather prettily decorated window.

Kwan Tai Temple.

Dragon boat.

Cat window.

The problem with Tai O is it's difficult to escape from the heat. My solution was to get onto the first air-conditioned bus out. It had been a gorgeous walk, but I had a pounding head for the rest of the day and had to lie down in a cool dark room at home to recover.