My beach mode was turned on after visiting the beautiful Shek O Beach last week. There was no set plan for this weekend but we knew that Tai Long Wan Beach is considered by many one of the best Hong Kong beaches. With the information on how to get there and a camping store phone number (we needed to rent a tent) we packed a small backpack and left around 4 pm on Saturday (maybe a bit too late for an unknown area?). Throughout the years, we have noticed that setting up our tent in the middle of the night has become a repetitive action or as we romantically like to say, a tradition.
We were supposed to take the subway to Diamond Hill station, two buses to Wong Shek Pier and a boat to get to Chek Keng area. From there, the next step was to hike a section of the stage 2 Maclehose trail to Ham Tin Wan, a beach and little village very close to Tai Long Wan beach and where the camping store is located. So our main stops were Wong Shek Pier-> Chek Keng-> Ham Tin-> Tai Long Wan.
The bus ride was slower and longer than we expected. Before jumping on the second bus we asked some guys who were carrying camping gear if the Maclehose trail was fine to walk at night. Talking to them was probably the best thing we did as we found out that the boats going to Chek Keng were not an option anymore at that time of the day. They advised us that if we wanted to make it to Tai Long Wan we were going to have to go to Pak Tam Au, a few bus stops before Wong Shek Pier, and to walk the whole stage 2 of the trail. They could not say approximately how long the hike would take but at least they confirmed that the trail was going to be properly signalised.
We made it to Pak Tam Au at 6:45 pm. We asked a couple of people exiting the trail if the path was clear all the way to Tai Long Wan. We quickly noticed that there was a cement path. I had been a little worried as we only had one flashlight and no extra set of batteries. A cement path was a surprise and made things a lot easier for us newbies.
The sound of crickets and birds accompanied us all the time. I was hoping we would not hear or cross any other animal. We knew we were surrounded by water and high mountains and as we were going up and down the hills I thought of the nice beach that was awaiting us. At some point, we saw a dog in the middle of the road, sitting there, not minding us getting closer. We stood there waiting and wondering what was going on. Right away, we saw a flashlight in the distance and some people coming our way. They told us that we were not too far from Chek Keng.
The hardest part of the trail was from Chek Keng to Ham Tin. I broke a sweat trying to keep the pace while going up the mountain. After a good 30 minutes we reached Sharp Peak and I was ready to roll down the hill to make it there faster. I was thirsty, hungry and hot.
When we finally thought we had arrived to the village one of the locals told us that the camping store was continuing the road. Another 10 minutes by foot and we got there to find not only the camping store but a couple of restaurants and a lot of people hanging out and drinking. It was 8:20pm. We got our tent, had some nice food and iced milk tea and headed to the Tai Long Wan Beach.
The beach had about 20 tents in total. There were some small groups of people by the fire and a few villagers going to catch some fish. Besides the crabs moving around and the sounds of the waves there was not much activity. We were in beach heaven… warm and relaxing beach heaven.
Next morning we got to see the real thing. By 8:30 am we were out and about enjoying the surroundings. We followed a small trail up a hill to take some pictures. Soon, surfers started arriving but the beach was never crowded. Around 2 pm, we started packing up to go for lunch. The idea was to be back to Pak Tam Au by 6 pm. We were thinking on skipping the boat part to be able to see all the views we missed the night before.
The trail was busy with Sunday hikers with little packs and amazingly fit. Some of the people along the way were over 50 years old and really sporty. The view of the bays and mountains is incredible. The variety of plants and trees is quite wide and tropical. At the very end of the road we saw a monkey playing with a garbage can. Would I have continued the night before if I knew there were monkeys around?
