Sunday morning we took the ferry to Moi Wan, Lantau Island with indefinite plans. Having never been there, I did some background research the night before and was overwhelmed with information and my tired eyes quickly gave up. So, my plan was, “eh, let’s wing it.” I basically have two types of plans: very detailed, and winging it. It varies based on my sense of adventure and energy level.
We saw many of these brightly colored flags throughout the villages, but not sure what the meaning is.
The small town of Moi Wan is a good starting point for spending time on Lantau. Being the largest island in all of Hong Kong, it has a lot to do and see. You can catch several buses right at the pier, a couple hiking trails start here, and nearby there is a long, sandy beach.
We walked into town to get some food for another picnic style lunch (like the day before on Lamma Island, read the post Take a Hike: Lamma Island). I ducked into a quaint bakery while Brad went to the jockey club. On the ferry ride over, Brad examined the horse race section of the local newspaper to research on bets. Having never placed bets on horses, he was excited to try it out, and our plan was to go to the races later that day (read about it at Off to the Races).
Soon later, we followed signs/map to what we thought would be about a two hour hike through the hills, a temple, and villages. Well, we didn’t find the trail we were looking for, but we had a nice walk anyway through a little farm land and villages.
It seems everyone who lives on Lantau owns a bike, which seems like a smart idea, and we passed several happy locals on their way to or from running errands. How do I know they were happy? Well, they said hello and smiled, and thanked us when we moved to give them room on the trail. We were so pleasantly shocked at their politeness/happiness because it’s such a stark difference from mainland China.
On our walk, we came across a water buffalo grazing in a small field that made me jump in excitement. Back when we traveled last fall to Guangxi province in southern China, known to have plentiful water buffalos, I had my hopes up of getting a lot of pictures. I got one picture of a couple buffalos that were so far away if you looked at the photo, you’d wonder why I took a picture of a of grey blobs along the river.
The set up for the photo was all I could want. As Brad and I were walking closer to it, he turned to me and pointed to the dried out river ravine to our right, “We’re jumping down there if that thing runs at us.” It was like he read my mind. “I don’t think it’ll want to follow us down there,” he said and I agreed. It’s always good to have a back-up plan. I imagined myself jumping as far out as I could to miss the rocks to land and roll on the soft grassy part, holding our camera high out of harm’s reach, while the buffalo stands on the edge staring down at us. I am willing to sacrifice my body for my Nikon DSLR camera. Bruises can heal, but buying a new camera is very expensive. Fortunately, there was no need for a dramatic getaway. I doubt the water buffalo even noticed us.
A ‘feral’ water buffalo just outside of the town of Moi Wan, Lantau Island.
Walking back from our photo shoot with the water buffalo. To the left of Brad is where we planned to jump to safety should the buffalo get aggressive.
We followed a road/trail and looped back towards Moi Wan and ended up at the beach. We sat along a stone wall and watched a dozen people practice rowing in a dragon boat while we ate our lunch. We stopped a random couple to take our picture, and they happened to be from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota! They were in Hong Kong visiting the wife’s family. Half the world away and we bump into people from Minnesota. And this isn’t the first time this has happened since we’ve been in China.
It wasn’t the best beach weather that day, so we just walked in the surf, and aside from a family of three, we had the beach to ourselves.
So, wondering about the title of this post? On the walk back from the beach to the pier, a large sign with photos of cows and water buffaloes, was posted on a chain link fence warned, “Do Not Feed the Feral Cows and Buffalos.”
Feral cows? As I read the sign I’m questioning my understanding of the word feral. In my mind I see a feral dog, growling, drooling, and mad with rabies. Now, I try to picture a cow with those characteristics, and it’s just humors. A water buffalo, that’s seems more realistic, and while I think they are very cool animals and great photo subjects, I definitely keep my distance. I credit my camera lens for getting so close. I just looked up the word feral, and the first definition is “existing in a natural state: not domesticated”. Okay, well the sign is right then. But I read on, and the third definition is: “of or characteristic of wild animals; ferocious; brutal”. Ah ha! I wasn’t totally wrong after all.
We’re looking forward to going back to Lantau to check out the beaches, temples, and other attractions of this large island.