Category: Travelogue

‘We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us’

– Robyn Yong

Now, into seventh decade of life, I find myself yearning for more productive and soul filling, travels. Indulgence into run of the mill tourism, attracts me no more now. Travel is a nice getaway as it up-sticks us from the grooves of our daily mundane chores, and releases us free to make fresh connects within and without. It is a great feeling of being liberated, like switching over to ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode. We, four childhood friends homed on to Bandhavgarh National Park, for a sojourn with its luring deciduous forest.

All of us Boarded Dayodaya Express at Jaipur, to take us to Katani junction, the railhead for Bandhavgarh. Dayodaya (दयोदय) was a strange word to me, and it took me a while to understand its meaning. I learnt, it is concept, and a movement by one Jain muni, Vidyasagar about the human compassion towards animals. May be the Indian Railway thought well to name this train so, taking travellers to wildlife sanctuaries and parks of Madhya Pradesh.

Soon, we were on the road loaded in Innova driving to Bandhavgarh, Tala to be precise. The deciduous forests along side, made the single road look like a tunnel. The whole environment was so invigorating, we rolled the panes of car windows down to gasp as much fresh air. Our hosts: The Tiger Den, run by Mr Gyanendra Tripathi, gave us opened arms reception. The resort is tastefully laid out, landscaped with exotic plantation. The bamboo groves, Champa, Molsari,  Kadam, Palash etc, standing tall and were enough to make us fall in love with the place. Here we will be spending nextt threed  and the very thought was kindling excitement inside us. The cottages were neat, clean and well furnished.

It was Safari Time at 2.30 PM.

We all dressed up like cowboys, donning shades, mounted the Maruti Gypsy, and our सारथी was Sh.Raju Singh, a veteran driver of Bandhavgarh Park, for 25 years. He knew the sanctuary like back of his palm and Tigers by their first names including lineage. Our rattled backs, after Dayodaya Express, found no respite with Raju Singh Ji’s Gypsy. Himmat Singh, one of the  foursome had tough time in the rear most seat. I had comfortable time sitting in front, courtesy the rest. They knew my handicap.

Bandhavgarh, is mainly a Sal forest, a tree that provided timber for railway sleepers, till the concrete ones replaced these recently. The locals say nothing goes wrong with the wood for 300 years, and in their dialect “ सौ साल खड़ी, सौ साल पड़ी और सौ साल ना सड़ी। It is a tough wood. We soon started seeing wild life, and the very first were elephants housed in their camps. It was wonderful sight of a baby elephant and mother cuddling with her trunk. Soon, we crossed a herd of spotted deer grazing, then

appeared wild boars, crossing our track. Jungle babblers, and many birds we don’t know names of,were cooing and chirping filling the air with such delight.

And then our guide drew our attention to the callings by different animals. It was monkey and Chital repeating the call with enough desperation. I was experiencing it for the first time. Padam Singh, a veteran of Forest services, explained us the calling by animals and how one can track the movement of the predators. Our guide, soon changed his guess from Tiger in proximity, to Leopard because the Chital’s bleating was not crying enough. It was getting dark, and there was no sighting of Tiger as yet.  We returned to our camp empty and disappointed. Fortunately, Padam Singh’s friend and a colleague from Forest Dept, Mr Narendra Singh Parihar came down to meet him. He promised us

Tiger sighting next morning.

We were up at five, made second attempt and this time through a different zone called Magadhi. Early morning chill, and drive in open Gypsy was bothering us when, we were pleasantly surprised by our hosts who handed over us soft blankets to cover ourselves. It was like God sent. As we drove into forest through the misty morning, we were greeted by a herd of Bisons grazing not any far from us. What a massive beast it is! Each shouldn’t be weighing less than 6 to 700 Kgs. Our guide, indicated two alpha males, who would be around 1000 kgs. They both had locked their horns, and may be claiming mating rights in the herd. We took some snaps.

As we moved deeper into the jungle, Kamlesh our guide spotted the pug marks of Tiger. He further asserted, these are of a Tigress and other smaller ones of her three cubs. He knew, that she is Dotty and just finished her night patrol, along with her cubs. Dotty, with her young ones now in a process to settle down for the day, he further stressed. I asked, why she is called Dotty? Kamlesh explained that the Tigress has a ‘D’ looking spot on her forehead, and that’s how the name. And, there is another Tigress who is named Spotty, on similar lines. The pug marks were seen vanishing into the woods, and we all knew where she has taken a morning break. There was continuous calling, and the presence of Tigress was eminent. But, she wouldn’t just show up. Our patience gave up. We decided to drive upto the refreshment point and have our breakfast, in the meantime. The hawkers, there were making hot pakoras, steaming Maggi, and ginger tea. I didn’t touch packed Breakfast from Hotel. As, we were getting done with our last sips of hot tea, there was sudden alert sounded for the Tiger, who was greedily eyeing for some cows, strayed grazing into the buffer. All the tourists jumped into Gypsies, and everyone just broke loose, zipping towards the sought after spot.

And, lo behold. The Tiger was in his ambush, tactically sited. Unnerved by huge gallery, the regal predator was sitting on the fringes, well camouflaged. His demeanour was kingly and we all watched him with widow eyes. Our wait was over. After, granting us a great audience, he quietly walked to his next bound for an intended hunt. As he gracefully moved, his gender was reconfirmed and “ He is Bhamera’s son” said Kamlesh. What a name the royal beast had! I enquired further, and unfolded the story. There was Tiger who had once strayed into nearby village, called Bhamera. He got his name. What we saw was his son. Seems so strange! No?

Our mission was nearly over once the Tiger had shown up. For all those wildlife enthusiasts, who venture into various sanctuaries and parks, I would leave a thought behind. It is the forest and it’s environ that has to be savoured and felt by our souls. Focusing on Tiger sighting can rob you of the small pleasures of watching the flora and fauna, the cooing and chirping of the birds, fluttering of jungle fowls, that innocent gaze by antelopes or may be monkeys jumping around. The moist air of jungle has soul filling scent and earthly whiffs that invigorates your nostrils and lungs. The quietness and serenity of jungle is treasure we miss in cities. Let’s not miss woods for the trees, or shall we say Tiger?

Part II

A visit to Bandhavgarh would be incomplete without having shopped and eaten at Malaya, a boutique cum café run by an elderly lady Ms Neelam. Her shop be better called as an Art Gallery. She relocated herself away from the hustle bustle of Ahmedabad city, for her sheer love for living in smaller places, close to nature. The lady has rightly thought of running such a delightful corner in a rustic rural, Tala. Ms Neelam has a passion of collecting art & craft works from pan India, specially the tribal work. She singlehandedly drives her Maruti Gypsy, and detests national highways. Venturing deep into the countrysides, she looks for dying arts and skills of our Indian tribes, reach out to artists, crafts(wo)men and does her best to preserve these. Each item in her shop is carefully selected, handpicked and needless to say priceless. Himmat Singh and I bought a few souvenir, but  God sent,  through her, was my favourite fresh beans, French Press filtered Coffee, with a delicious banana cake (egg free), that too complimentary. Knowing her was great pleasure, and my blog would have been equally incomplete without mentioning The Malaya.

Continued from Part 3

As per our Schedule we proceeded to Haa on the Morning of 7th Oct .

 Happy people find time to celebrate. Celebrations need not wait for an event like a  Birthday or a Wedding.  Any fine day  of clear sky and sunshine or a moonlit night can be and should be celebrated. My own suspicion is that ancient societies ‘invented ‘ birthdays of their favorite deities to coincide with pleasant weather conditions and full moon days.  How is it that  most full moon days are celebrated in some form or the other; Buddha Poornima, Guru Poornima, Kaarthiga Poornima , Gurpurab  in Punjab Chitra Pournami in Tamilnadu and so on ? Of course Deepawali , as a festival of lights ,conveniently falls on a New moon day .

Haa is the home for Indian Military Training Team.  We stayed  in some fine guest rooms of IMTRAT.  We were tired after the not so long drive (three and a half  hours ) from Thimpu . But  before going to our rooms we went straight to the monastery to watch the mask dance for some time.

After lunch and some rest ,we went back again. There was a huge downpour but the festivities went on . There were a number of shops around the monastery, but it was all toys and other knick-nacks , a gift to the ancients from our ‘developed’ plastic civilization.

It’s at the Non CSD Canteen of IMTRAT that we found many handicraft items and other  items of clothing at reasonable rates. This shop was very popular among the locals who come from far off places to attend the fair.

here are some videos

Loading Videos...

For Part 5 Click

6 Oct 2019

Continued from Part 2 

We had a whole extra day to explore Thimpu.

There are some things you won’t find on trip advisers. Though there are specific ‘view-points’ , any place on the few roads skirting around the valley gives a beautiful panoramic view. It’s worth stopping to admire the landscape.

Down town or the local market is another place , not many tourists spend time in. Since we were free till 6:30, in the evening, we decided to explore the down town .

At about 9 in the morning, after a good breakfast, we started off for the local farmers’ market. For most people, a visit to a Mall or a Theater may not be an everyday event, but a visit to a vegetable market is a regular event particularly for the ladies.

Here’s a Vegetable and grains market that is clean, well organized and a treat to spend time in for adults and kids alike.

Centenary Market is located over a sprawling area on the bank of River Wangchu. On Google map it is shown as Thimpu Chu keeping with the pattern of naming rivers according to the towns they flow through, like Paro Chu.

The market is under control of the Govt regulators and their office right in the heart of the building.

The market is organized into organic produce section, imported vegetable section, grains section and spiritual items section. Every house has an ‘altar’ room and incense and butter lamps are everyday use items. You find all kinds of incense powders mostly herbal.

Children keep moving about on their own in a carefree manner while the adults are busy shopping. There is a Rest room also on one side of the shopping complex.

We were delighted to find banana flower and coconuts. Banana flower is something that is difficult to find in North India.

Bhutanese favour red rice which is either cooked as ‘sticky rice’ (south Indian way) or is roasted and eaten with suja(salt and butter tea)

Just across the river , a narrow stream really, there is a market for handicraft and regular use items like clothes and shoes. Here you find more local people than foreigners.

We bought some shawls made of baby yak wool. Mostly they are reasonably priced . While plain shawls are less expensive, ones with intricate patterns weaved into them are  more expensive. Things like small wooden containers , purses and bags are also sold in this market.

After the experience of local cuisine, the day before, we were looking forward to a more predictable meal of Dal, roti, sabji at the officers mess. I wanted to have some local tea before heading back to our guest rooms for lunch.

We found the right place for Suja.(salt – butter tea) It was a small store selling only organic products. There were 4-5 tables right in the middle of the store for tea and snacks. We also had some very tasty momos made of buck wheat and cassava (tapioca.) .

Dinner at Sangay’s home.

This certainly was a high point on the whole trip. Sangay and I were meeting after about 40 years . His entire family was there. His sister had driven down from Paro. His children and grand children had also come over for a family get together.

We started with tea and it didn’t take long before we too felt like part of the family. Kids, as kids are, were climbing over the sofas and running around making the place truly lively ; all warmth and sunshine.

I asked for a local drink, without realizing what I was putting the hosts through. The hostess, had to get some ‘ara’ (a vintage one, I believe) from her daughter’s house. ( Ara, or Arag,  is a traditional alcoholic beverage consumed in Bhutan. Ara is made from native high-altitude tolerant barley, rice, maize, millet, or wheat, and may be either fermented or distilled.)   I had the pleasure of taking the drink , the  Bhutanese way. First, egg is cooked and the drink is poured over it. Then the gas is switched off. The drink has to be warmed enough just to bearable temperature. You just pour a drop on to back of your hand to check ; should be hot but not so hot that you pull your hand back.

 The food was excellent.  Notwithstanding the initial misgivings we had about our ability to enjoy the local food, the sheer variety of the spread and the warmth of hospitality proved too irresistible.  The local chilies made up for whatever taste an Indian tongue craves for.

A great day indeed. Cheers to Brig Sangay Thinlay and his Family !!

For Part 4 Click

Continued from Bhutan – Part 1

Nowadays most of us lean heavily on google aunty( some would call google uncle) and online trip advisers to plan an itinerary. Nothing wrong with that. Only issue is that one has to be aware that the advice is based on the intentions of the majority of tourists; to cover maximum places in minimum time. This creates an inherent conflict; the more places you cover shallower will be the experience. One ends up moving from place to place, mentally checking off bullet points, with very little time to fully digest the sights and sounds.

So , should we temper the recommendations with our own  inclinations to buy stuff, do stuff and to just be what we are ? No adviser is aware of our capabilities, limitations and  the health status ; after all what’s the point in going to a place if you are in no shape to experience anything?

Our original plan was to spend two days at Thimpu, one day at Punakha, one day at Haa and two days at Paro. Later it was modified to three days at Thimpu with a day trip to Punakha. Though very much do-able, it would have meant covering around 200km in a day , and in the mountains , 200 Km is a lot.

As it panned out, Punakha had to be dropped altogether, due to some permit issues. In a way it was good since we could move around Thimpu more leisurely. Also our sixty year old frames would have been thankful to be spared the hectic road trip.

05 Oct 19

On our second day at Thimpu, our plan was to cover Simthoka Dzong, Royal, Takin Reserve, Dechenphug Lhakhang Folk Heritage Museum (Simply Bhutan), National Textile Museum and the local handicraft market.

Simthoka Dzong

Dzongs are Castle – Monastries. They are well fortified to withstand an attack by an army and are also places for monks to stay and practice their rituals and to meditate.

Normally one doesn’t associate Buddhist monks with battles. But it does appear from history that lamas fought other lamas often resulting in bitter stuggle spanning over centuries. Tibetan Buddhism , Main stream Mahayana Buddhism and our own Indian religious ideas influenced one another, sometimes clashed violently, leading to the present form of Buddhism in Bhutan.
It is called Vajrayana Buddhism.

Royal Takin Reserve

Here the animals are fenced in , over a large area in the natural habitat. In fact, the natural habitat gave them such a good cover ; we could just see them moving about lazily or just sitting ; there are no photographs to show; and they wouldn’t come out to pose for a selfie.

Dechenphug Lhakhang

Only Bhutanese are allowed to enter the temple . Note that even small children are dressed in traditional clothes. One group of worshipers  happily let us pose with them.

Folk Heritage Museum (Simply Bhutan)

This covers all aspects of Bhutanese culture; the way they live, build houses, the agricultural tools they use and so on.  There are English speaking guides to explain.

It was lunch time and we had worked up a healthy appetite. Despite our best efforts to enjoy local food, we failed miserably. By and large the food is bland . They sure don’t believe in spices or salt. They do have ferocious looking chillies  (if you are from Rajasthan, you would call it mouth-watering) . Personally , for me rice with anything is quite ok and yes, I kept a decent distance from the chillies.

After the meal you are treated to some practice in Archery.  You get two attempts and if you hit the target the staff breaks into a nice jig in Bhutanese style. As a group of four we did manage to get them dancing twice. Unfortunately there’s no photo to show. I feel one should have a battery powered video camera fixed to the forehead to record everything you look at .

National Textile Museum

There is a rich history of weaving . There are many legends on the origin and evolution of weaving tools and skills as we see it today. While in most cultures, handloom industry is struggling to survive, in Bhutan the govt has taken massive efforts to keep it alive. There is a National Textile Academy in Thimpu to train weavers.

Weaving a single dress may take 3-6 months , while a machine made fabric is easier to make and is also less expensive.

Bhutanese are very proud of wearing their national dress and it is mandatory to wear it in religious places and Govt offices.

Local Handicrafts Market

There is a well laid out Handcrafts Market, though it appears expensive to a typical Indian tourist. Bargaining is frowned upon and there is hardly any Bhutanese trying to hard-sell any merchandise.

We found that many of the items were much cheaper at the IMTRAT Non CSD Canteen at Haa, which is open to faujis and the general public alike. (Useful tip for faujis)

PS

I had messaged an NDA and IMA coursemate of mine Brig Sangay Thinlay of Royal Bhutanese Army. He was a busy man on Palace duty and was then at Punakha in connection with funeral rites of the queen mother’s father, Yab Dasho Ugyen Dorji .
While we were shopping, I got a call from him and later he turned up to meet us at the market. He said, he was free the next day and invited us to dinner at his place. It was a pleasant surprise indeed. As it transpired later that he was called back to Punakha early morning on the 7th and he went back just as suddenly as he had come.

So there was something to look forward to in place of the Punakha Trip.

For Part 3 Click

            A cursory search on the net would throw up a number of reasons as to why Bhutan is called the Land of Happiness.  For me, the one over-riding reason for calling it so,  would be my own experience of the seven days I spent there from 4th Oct to 10th Oct 2019.

A quote from Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist comes to mind .    May be it was the great company, the land , the weather ,the people or just good luck the whole universe seem to be conspiring to make it a truly memorable experience.  Even the occasional set backs turned out okay in the end, as if by magic.  While the memory is still fresh, I intend putting down all events, thoughts and photos not just to share with others but to help me re-live that experience later.

03 Oct 

Left home at around 830. Took the flight for delhi at 1100h. Rajji was with us till airport, to take a flight to Bombay  around the same time.

Journey to Delhi was smooth and uneventful. Reached USI Residency Resorts at around 1330h. Got the USI membership  card made. The apartment at USI really good.

Had lunch with Atul Madan. As a coincidence, I found a table where the JAT crest was prominently displayed .

Agarwals brought  with them, lots of rain . Reaching our rooms from the reception turned out to be more adventurous than any event at Bhutan as it turned out.

4th Oct

Early morning trip to the airport started with some anxious moments and ended up as an adventure. We were getting  an SUV for Rs 1100/ for dropping us at the airport. I was reluctant to pay that sum for a 5km/  15 minutes ride; particularly when Uber taxi was available for around rs 250/. So, I booked one. As it happened, the taxi was late, though the driver did contact.

While waiting for the taxi, another one, a sedan offered to drop us at the airport for the same fare. As a  CNG car  it had very little space for baggage. Nevertheless, we stacked some of the baggage on the front seat and four of us squeezed into the rear seat like teenagers.

We reached well in time and a mini crisis, turned to sheer adventure. That spirit of adventure set the tone for rest of the trip.

At the airport, we took a selfie to be sent the person from Indian Air Force who was to receive us at Paro.

The flight itself was awesome. The flight crew was  dressed in their national attire and were very polite and charming.

The view outside was fantastic. The flight route was parallel to the Himalayan ranges and you could see the majestic snow clad peaks Mt Everest, Makalu and Kanchenjunga. The day was so clear the roads in the plains were visible from an altitude of over 30000 feet.

The landing at Paro airport was tricky yet the pilot made it so smoothly and the passengers broke into a spontaneous applause . On stepping off the plane, the air was cool and crispy; absolutely rejuvenating.

What catches one’s eyes first is the ethnic ambiance all over. Even the airport buildings were constructed keeping with the national culture. The staff personnel were all  in their national attire .

Corporal Arvind Kaushik had no problems identifying us.  He just collected all our passports and whisked us through customs and immigration. We also got two sim-cards for ourselves just bought over the counter, on production of our passports. As it happened, there was no need to take out all the documents of our identity papers , itinerary and so on that  we had methodically compiled.

We proceeded straight to Thimpu. IMTRAT (Indian Militart Training Team) guest rooms were superb. It was a difficult choice to make; whether to stay indoors in these rooms are to go out and enjoy the excellent environment outside. We decided on the latter. As we had been invited for dinner at Maj Gen Raju’s place, we had just two hours or so at our disposal. So, we went to Bhuddha’s point just about half an hour’s drive.

What a sight! A giant Buddha benignly smiling at the sprawling valley of Thimpu. Nowadays, tourist friendly places have motor-able roads or may be even aerial cable cars everywhere. This Buddha Statue has an approach through a hundred odd user-un-friendly steps besides the motor-able road.
Against the advice of our guide and braving the reluctance from our group I decided to take the steps on our return. It , sure was worth the effort. It was sheer bliss to be sitting on those steps with a benign half smile like the great Buddha himself.

Frankly, I did not expect the Commandant of IMTRAT to spare an evening to host a dinner for us. It was very kind of him to come over to our guest rooms to welcome us. He also went that extra mile to invite us to dinner at the Flag Staff House, the official residence of the commandant.

At the dinner, the Rajus were warm and friendly and it was more like a family gathering rather than a regimental officers re-union.

>‘Taking someone for a ride’ is a fairly common expression, but taking someone for a trek? My poor unfortunate copilots have recently been getting a lot of it! We have this flight to Hong Kong which starts from Mumbai in the evening and makes it to Hong Kong early morning, the next day. As crew, we have about 24 hours of free time at Hong Kong before the next flight back. Having seen all the sights when we were flying the Airbus 310 ten years earlier, there is little else to do but sleep and watch TV or probably go down to the Citygate mall near our airport hotel.

Hong Kong airport used to be one of those tricky places to land into and there are numerous tales of pilots making hairy approach into Kai Tak. It was classified as the 6th most dangerous airport in the world. The runway extended into the sea with hills all around the other sides. The landing approach at Kai Tak was spectacular and world-famous – the aircraft would pass over the harbour, and then over the densely populated areas of Kowloon. Upon reaching a small hill marked with a huge orange and white checkerboard, used as a visual reference point, the pilot needed to make a 50° visual right turn to line up with the runway and complete the final leg at a fairly low height of 140 feet, to line up with the runway. This manoeuvre has become widely known in the piloting community as the “Hong Kong Turn” or “Checkerboard Turn”. Amongst passengers it became known as the “Kai Tak Heart Attack”

In part due to all this and a need to increase capacity, the British before handing over the crown colony back to the Chinese at the end of it’s 99 year lease decided to build a new airport. Since most of Hong Kong and the New Territories are either islands or hills or both, finding a flat piece of land large enough to accommodate a couple of runways and the associated infrastructure was going to be tricky. The Brits did the next best thing – combined the islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau off the largest island of Lantau, south of Hong Kong island.

This is the island which you see from the airport hotel, easily spotted by two prominent hill features about 2700 feet high. A close look at the map of Lantau on Google maps shows a number of hiking trails running around the island. An Internet site dedicated to trekking on Lantau gives a description of the difficulty level, access points and approximate duration of each manageable segment on the 70 odd km long circular trail. A useful app which can be downloaded free for most places is one called maps.me. The salient feature of this app is that it works on downloaded maps and can thus be used offline. The maps here show trekking trails and bus stops, which I find extremely useful.

I had already completed two sections of the trail, one going beside Lantau peak and the other right over it, on earlier trips into Hong Kong. The one I was planning today was over the lesser Sunset peak. The trek segment was classified as ‘Very difficult’ and predicted to take almost three hours over a distance of about 7 km. I had already prepared my copilot in advance before leaving Mumbai to come prepared for the trek – mainly water bottles, a sturdy pair of shoes, a light jacket and a small backpack to carry a lunch pack. Other useful items would be a flashlight in case it got late, a camera and of course a fully charged smart phone preferably with an additional battery pack.

A short nap after the red eye flight into Hong Kong and my copilot and I were good to go at 1 pm. The hotel shuttle dropped us at the Citygate mall and from there it’s a short walk to the bus station where we pick up the number 3M bus to Mui Wo on the eastern side of the island. The planned trek segment starts at a place called Nam Shan where we alight.

My copilot is fairly enthusiastic and the initial section of the trek goes well. About a kilometre into the trek and we have been climbing steeply with more frequent breaks, ostensibly to take pictures but in reality to catch our breath!

The good part of treks in Hong Kong is that the path is well made, with clear markings.

The climb is on rough cut stone slabs which provides ample support and a fair degree of confidence to the novice trekker. The signage helps too – they pop up every 500 m and give you some kind of encouragement to go on as the distance counter is seen to wind down.

Surprisingly there are very few other hikers. The only group,we came across was a bunch of youngsters on a photo shoot – at least it looked like one, seeing the pro version of lenses they were using on their tripod mounted SLR. We took the opportunity to shoot some pics ourselves as well. The clouds were at times below us and the fair wind was pushing them along at a good pace. The strong winds were also being made use of by the odd bird on the look out for prey. The wind kept the bird at the same spot without even having to flap its wings! Lazy bird, we thought.

The marked trail actually bypassed Sunset Peak, but having climbed this far, we thought the additional climb to the peak was worth the effort, if nothing else but to take a pic on the trig point marking the elevation of the hill. The rough track going up Sunset peak was not too steep but unlike the earlier neatly laid out trail, it was a rough slippery affair. We scrambled up easily enough but coming down we had to clutch at straws along the path literally!

Going downhill is the real tricky part – it is stressful on the feet and your joints start to jar with the constant impact with hard rock. There is also the requirement of holding back on your downward momentum which is a strain on your calf muscles as well. The speeds are still good and we can spot the Tian Tan Buddha atop Ngong Ping in the distance. A helicopter buzzes by in the twilight, probably practising dusk landings on a helipad on Lantau hill across us.

We are down fairly quick and at the end of the trail near the bus stop, waiting for a bus. The return options are more with a choice of either the 3M, 11 or 23 bus. The first one is packed but we get the next one back to Tung Chung and on to the hotel. I thought it might be the last I see of my copilot with regard to trekking but a few days later I am heartened to get an SMS declaring that his aches and pains are gone and where are we going next?