Trek to the Trappist Monastery

One of the best things about being unemployed is the ability to do touristy stuff when few other people are doing it. Since I'm still unemployed (I am trying to alter that state), I headed off to Lantau Island yesterday to visit the Trappist Monastery which, at one time, produced much of Hong Kong's fresh milk. The brand remains on the shelves today, but the production has moved to the New Territories, where there's more space and, presumably, fewer mountains for the cows to climb.

Lantau is actually twice the size of Hong Kong Island, and its highest peak is nearly twice as high as Victoria Peak. (It's also home to less than 90,000 people, compared to the more than 1.5 million of us who live on Hong Kong.) I wasn't sure there would be much to see at the Trappist Monastery, but something about it tickled my brain and urged me to go, so I set off from Central for Discovery Bay on the high speed ferry. This set me back HK$27, which seemed like an enormous amount of money for transportation in Hong Kong, where the tram only costs HK$2 and a subway ride halfway across the island costs less than HK$7. (It seems much more affordable when I figure that the trip cost less than US$3.50 for a comfortable 25 minute cruise, and that a similar trip in the States would have been many times more expensive.) Discovery Bay is a popular place for expats to live, but (perhaps since we have neither dogs nor children) I can't imagine why. There are a few retails shops near the ferry pier, a decent looking beach and lots of golf carts that residents use instead of cars, but otherwise there seems to be little to the community other than high-rise apartments and condos.

Disco Bay is the start of a coastal trail to the monastery, however, and starting in Discovery Bay gave me the opportunity to take one route to the monastery and a different route home, resulting in more touristy bang for my buck. The trail first took me near the sand and through a couple of small, non-threatening squatter neighborhoods and past several sleepy-looking dogs before turning inland and, therefore, uphill.

It's hard to think of Hong Kong as a place where you can easily escape to the countryside, but while parts of the city are most definitely densely packed urban jungle, parts are closer to actual jungle, especially if you can overlook the concrete path and the skyscrapers in the background.

In the hour I spent hiking to the monastery, I only saw three other people so, at least on a weekday, it is a relaxing hike. Now, whether it should have taken me an hour is another question, but that time does include getting lost in the squatters village. Sadly, it left nobody to explain why there is a collection of what appear to be big mops along the trail. Signs along the trail indicate the area is subject to mudslides in the rainy season, so perhaps they're there for neighborhood residents to come mop the mud away in the summertime.

About 45 minutes into my hike, I came upon a steep road with a sign directing me to go, of course, up. A few steps up the road, I came upon a cross with a big Roman numeral X on it. I'm not Catholic, but after living in the Philippines and on Guam, I know enough to know that I was seeing the tenth Station of the Cross. Also knowing that there are only 14 of them, I knew I was getting close to the monastery and, not coincidentally, the top of the hill.

It wasn't much longer before I came upon the sign, quite literally, that I had been looking for:


I had happily arrived just in time for the afternoon services. The bell was calling the monks as I walked across a short bridge. The monks were walking, all separately, all silently, towards the chapel. The monks here have what I would think of as a challenging life: they're silent all day (except when in prayer) and have their first service of the day at 3:30 a.m. Eventually, ten of them filed into the chapel and began chanting. Once upon a time, there were Western monks at the monastery, but today they're all Chinese.


I don't know how many monks live at the monastery, but there's apparently at least one more who I met at the pier. He came to Lantau on the same kai-to I would take to the island of Peng Chau, where I would catch a ferry back to Central. He did not have to climb the hill, which is probably a good thing, because he looked to be about 90.


The ferry trip back to Central gave me a fantastic view of the western end of Hong Kong, including the neighborhood where Shelly works. The haze wasn't too bad today.

There's also a small lighthouse on the way back from Peng Chau. Now if this can't lure Mom and Jerry to Hong Kong, I don't know what can!

(Sorry guys, I couldn't find any way to get to the lighthouse, though there must be a road somewhere.)