Quite close to Tung Chung, another way to go up to the Buddha temple within crystalline water and challenging jungle waterfalls.

  • Beauty/fun: 7/10 Clean water, different sections (flat, steep, open sky, jungle-like…), several nice looking waterfalls that you can mainly scramble in.
  • Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 7.5/10 There are parallel side paths in the main waterfalls, but this considers climbing bigger ones within. Consider bringing a rope to help weaker hikers. I used 20m but you could go with shorter one, resetting several times. No clear exits once in the stream. Loose rocks in some of the waterfalls
  • Map

See full screen or the Garmin track.

MTR to Tung Chung. Walk SW direction as if you would be heading to Tai O through the coastal path. You will see the stairs going up to the Buddha Temple under the cable car on your left. Just continue for approx 1.2km and you will arrive at the bottom of the stream.

You can try to keep your feet dry for little time

or just enjoy the water. It will happen soon anyhow.

The initial part is quite flat and will get you little

by little into the forest- jungle.

There are ribbons around but the side paths are obscure and quite often very overgrown. It can be easier to keep within the stream.

The slope starts to increase and you have the first waterfalls.

On the map above I have marked where the real action starts. You have a relatively easier path just 100 meters before. Here with tons of ribbons (May 2020).

It gives you access to Sky cliff (摩天崖)

Starting from 1m22s. As you can see it is not really easy either. In our case we prefer to continue the water action and continue up the waterfalls.

A big section, approx 80m altitude gain, of 3 to 6 meters high concatenated waterfalls.

There might be side routes within the muddy jungle mainly on the left side, depending on groups that have been there before (gets closed easily). Slowly and carefully climbable fully IN stream. You might get a better feeling of what it is in the video

Just a couple of recommendations. This section is better to be climbed on the right side (red arrow), not where he is climbing, trickier and with looser rocks.

Just after continue up in the “channel”

Even if it can look tricky the grip for feet and hands was quite decent.

After this waterfall the stream does not end. You have more falls to see

enjoy

and climb on their side

Check the GPS app from time to time to see how far you are from the exit. It is not completely obvious. You should see a little tributary on your left. Continue a bit more till you see ribbons guiding you up

connecting to the wooden steps of the “Donkey Trail” (Ngong Ping 360 cable car rescue trail). You could go down here (green line). In our case we went up towards the Buddha Temple (purple). Just after the end of of the steepest parts under the cable car, this tower (actually the third),

you can find your way to the path going under Nei Lak Shan and down back to Tung Chung (red track) with an additional stream doable downhill. I have marked it with a blue line on the map.

Everything you should know before stream hiking.

Last visit in May 2020. Just starting the stream season. The lower part was quite bushy. My pruners were very handy.

Update 2022: Several deads and close calls in the last years at the Sky Cliff. News for reference.

Be careful. No option there is completely safe. The cliff is really high. The stream explained already. The forest side can be muddy slippery easily. If in a desperate situation, I have been once there with a small accident on the rain mid way ascend in the stream, the forest felt the safest. Holding to trees to ascend.