24 April 2019
Looking down on the airport
Hiking up and over sunset peak from Tung Chung station
Last full day in Hong Kong. Last opportunity for a hike. Good weather. No jokes no tangents no segue, lets get going. Shit too late, until just now I thought segue was spelt (spelled) segway, i.e. (e.g.) that silly 2 wheeled electric bike that conned the world. OK that was a segue.
For my last hike I had selected a course on Lantau island. A very big island that also hosts Disneyland and the airport. There are 2 popular mountains here, divided by a valley, Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak. I selected Sunset peak because it looked longer, about the same height, and the course starts from the subway station at Tung Chung, which is at sea level!
The first part of the hike was very steep, giant rock stairs double the height of normal stairs. I was dripping sweat and managing my heart rate to keep it below 160, just like going for a jog.
This giant stair climb lasted over an hour and was very satisfying, after which the path flattened out, the trees disappeared and the views were fantastic. Then there was cloud.
The hike delivered on promises of great views of the airport, I was watching large aircraft take off and land, but it failed on the promise of views across the valley to the other mountain, due to cloud.
Then I got to see most of a girls bum.
Right on the summit of sunset peak was one of the very few times I ran into other people, a young couple with a gopro on a tripod, possibly even high school students. They were trying to climb the summit marker, which was not really big enough for even one person to stand on, and have their photo taken. The guy was controlling the gopro with his phone. They kept stuffing it up and the tripod kept falling over, so they asked me for help. I held the gopro and the guys phone with the live view running and the shutter release button while they tried to both climb the summit marker. Eventually the girl tried to go up backwards. I insisted they be careful. She slipped down the concrete footing thing, and tore the entire ass out of her running tights. Apparently, no underpants. I saw most of her bum. They were good sports about it and still climbed up for the photo, eventually they kind of hugged each other and the pole thing. I took some amusing shots of them climbing the pole with her bum hanging out, with their camera. Sorry, I did not take any photos of them with my own camera, no Asian girl bum shots.
There are lots of good directions online of exactly how to get from the subway station to the start of the hike. It goes through a poor persons village, unusually, there is graffiti. I dont think that mountain is the one I climbed, mine was around to the right, and bigger.
There is a very well maintained trail all the way along that ridge that ends at the Big Buddha. It is kind of flat. My challenge was to get up to and down from that nice flat ridge trail.
You know you are in a rural area when wild dogs are everywhere and volunteers in safety vests are feeding them. Yes, rural areas in Hong Kong. Apparently there are still villages without electricity. By choice these days.
The weather was looking good for some clear shots today. Very green, lots of white flowers and millions of bees. The bees left me alone though. Further up the path I also saw lots of interesting spiders. Big daddy long leg things, but the actual body part was a pin prick of bright red.
Part of the path up. Steep does not photograph.
I had already hiked some distance away from Tung Chung.
That is yet another mountain, neither of the two main ones and quite a bit shorter. However if you stare at the full size version you might see a really cool looking trail heading straight up to the summit. I will be back.
I am about half way up at this point, and I think thats where I am going. The highest looking bit here that is actually a bit behind the rest of the bits in front of it. Yeah, no one cares, its too confusing, I climbed up a mountain. I do that.
At times the path became very interesting and moss covered, but was never slippery.
There is the airport. Nearly all of the airport. I took a lot of airport photos but trimmed them down to this one and one other. Be thankful.
After getting above the trees, the remaining bit of the path to the top was also very enjoyable. Great views, periodically in the cloud, and lots of little camping spots people sleep at so they can be at sunset peak overnight. No one was camping today though, the huts were all boarded up.
Great view, almost time to head into the cloud.
More view.
Some of the mountain huts heading up to the summit.
Occasionally, the cloud lifted, and I could take a photo back down the path. I like this one.
Of course, once on the summit, there was no view, just cloud.
Last of my big head up-nostril shots. Today I wore my actual running clothes, bright orange shirt, shorts with zip up pockets. This was a wise choice.
Here is the summit marker thing the young couple climbed to stand on the top of together for a photo. Foolish. I described the bum exposing pants related incident in lurid detail above.
Just as I was about to head back down, 5 seconds of almost a view.
The path down the other side was also great, that is the ocean on the other side of Lantau island.
There are a few hundred little pirate islands off the coast of the main Hong Kong islands. Some are densely populated, others are owned by individuals. Scary.
As I got back below the cloud, I could see the next mountain over. Lantau peak is in there somewhere, and the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping where the cable car goes, somewhere beyond that.
As I was almost down, the left edge of the airport comes back into view.
The bus back to Tung Chung came almost straight away. Tung Chung has a few big outlet malls, full of people who think they are getting a bargain. Also has a good cake shop. I like cake. My lunch today was cake, and then an orange. Now I need to go in the shower and wash off the last layer of sunscreen.