Hiking over the dragons back via Chai Wan station and a connecting bus
Today I was lucky enough to hike along what is officially one of the words top 10 urban tropical hiking locations. Who makes these lists? Coming up shortly, my top 14 goat herding locations above 300 feet of altitude.
The dragons back hike is generally the first you will see whenever you look up hiking in Hong Kong. Everyone raves about it. Frankly, I was a little disappointed. I think the lion rock hike is better.
It is not that the view is bad, its just that its not great. And the hike is very easy.
I read things saying it would take 5 hours. It barely took 1 hour. You start near the top when you get off the bus, after a short hike up its flat and downhill.
Now, you can do this as a loop, which would be really disappointing, instead I decided to combine 3 hikes. In addition to the dragons back, I continued on down to the Big wave beach, which should be called the no wave terribly sunburnt British people beach, then I hiked up over the biggest staircase of this trip to the Chinese graveyard. Even after all of this it was still only 20,000 steps. I consider a good hike 30,000 and a long hike 40,000+. The dragons back on its own probably isnt even 10,000. So thats enough about steps.
I guess the dragons back is quite remote, you do have to take a bus to get to it, but it is very convenient, easy to find bus number 9 from the subway station, and it departs every 10 minutes. There are toilets at the bus stop as you shall see. If you do go to the beach, there are shops and toilets there as well. If you do go back up over the hill a different way into the back of the graveyard, theres a gate at the top that says private property keep out. Who are they kidding? There are hundreds of people wandering around the graveyard, I dont really think they are being charged admission or being asked to prove they are related to someone dead in the ground.
Like most Asian mega graveyards (I cant spell cemetery it seems), there are lots of spots to burn paper versions of everything. So be prepared to choke on smoke. There is actually a big push in Hong Kong to convince people to not be buried at all, there are signs at bus stops explaining this, perhaps there is even a reward? So there you go, a hike a beach, a graveyard, a rant, bad English, long sentences, unnecessary brackets, insensitivity, stereotyping, elitism, this post had everything.
The view from the bus stop is already quite good, but I was disappointed you start so high up. I would have rather started at the bottom and climbed up.
Here are the above mentioned public toilets, with full time cleaner cheerily greeting everyone who wants to use his toilets. He was very proud, he literally said 'please be my guest'.
As you can see, quite flat. Theres some fog around the top, and maybe that made the view not quite as OMG!!!!!! as everyone seems to claim it is. More elitism shown here.
The sun shining off those white buildings is not agreeing with my camera. My very expensive full frame camera. Interesting. Most of the buildings you see around here belong to elite country clubs and golf courses, as you shall see.
I think that area is called Shek O, there is a big golf club white colored pants only area to the left.
You can hike all the way along all these peaks as part of the Hong Kong trail, I think it is very very long though, more than 100km. I already did part of it yesterday.
My course would follow the ridge just to the left of this shot, in the fog. You can see golf courses below. They like to hide them in Hong Kong in areas people that rely on public transport cannot get to. Also I now realise that little bit of beach is the beach I climbed down to and up again from later.
The first part of the dragon back ridge amaze balls walk is out in the open, but that only lasts about 30 minutes, then its standard covered trail in shade. Nice streams periodically.
There were not many spots for a view, this is back over the other side, the same side that bus stop is on but a lot closer to the main part of Hong Kong.
Eventually I got to this spot, which is a T junction. You can either go down through those buildings to the subway, or turn right and go down to the beach. I chose the beach.
Big wave beach has no waves, but lots and lots of backpackers staying in places with old surfboards on display in the window. There are numerous shops selling ice creams. I think a small mini bus comes to here, but if it doesnt and you dont like hiking over mountains, you can walk along the coast to the Shek O place shown above where all the buses go.
Here is the beach. It has life guards, shark nets, and almost no Asian people at all, everyone was British.
More beach as seen from the huge staircase over the mountain. Really a surprisingly large number of stairs. I was sweating profusely as you shall soon see.
First, a bit more of the coast. You can see the same golf course as pictured earlier. I am standing on the 11th tee here, its a dog leg 7km to the fairway or something. BOGEY.
OK, so where I was must be quite secluded. That is the Hong Kong maximum security prison. Luckily I brought my tennis racquet and some balls filled with contraband to knock into the exercise yard. Also I refuse to type RACKET no matter how much my dictionary doth protesteth.
Its my big ugly sweaty head. Terrible hair day. This is probably the 2nd to last big ugly head shot. Rejoice.
And after all that, it was time for a leisurely descent through a mega graveyard back to the subway. By this point I was looking forward to my delicious orange.
Riding on the slow old double decker trams of Hong Kong
I dont think I have ever ridden on the iconic Hong Kong double decker trams? Tonight I rectified that situation.
I predict most people who have been to Hong Kong have been on a double decker tram, but generally I prefer to walk. I decided that if I was going to go on a tram I would first walk most of the way the tram goes, all the way to the furthest stop, then catch it back across most of Hong Kong. If I was spending 50 cents on a tram ride, I was going to get my moneys worth.
The tram had no windows, no air conditioning, terrible seats, no leg room, and sent a violent jolt through my spine frequently. All the things you expect of a tram. It was also painfully slow, I could have walked quicker. I cant work out why anyone other than tourists would take it and yet there are seemingly thousands of them traveling along the same stretch of road.
You do however get a great view, and they are quiet, which meant I could listen to the conversation the girl / woman sitting across from me was having with various people all around the world.
She was probably no older than 21, and I think she was half Chinese, but had spent time in the USA. She was trying to arrange a place to meet for a party with her friends....this weekend. Some of her friends were in the USA, some were in Bangkok, one was in Singapore. She probably had to return to Beijing on Thursday for a polo tournament appearance, but could be anywhere on Friday night, ready for a Saturday party. Apparently meeting in Bangkok was ruled out due to the weather there, but one person who was thought to be in the USA was already en route to Bangkok to sign some kind of investment deal. Singapore seemed to be the ideal place everyone could get to, but only if a venue with a roof pool away from prying cameras could be secured. Has anyone got any ideas to help this poor girl out? If that is her life why was she on the 50 cent a ride tram?
I first walked along the water front, in the other direction to last night, towards Kennedy town. It was hot. Shirtless men were fishing. There was an area advising that it was off limits and used for loading and unloading international cargo, and yet the gate was open and everyone was walking their dogs on the wharf as shipping containers were being moved around. I also played dodge the giant forklift.
Tonight photo of big apartment buildings features a strange flying saucer building. I thought it was a metro station, or maybe a toll point for a freeway, but no, its a public swimming pool
Eventually I got to the end of the wharf, 3 fences between me and a Chinese navy ship.
Here is the view back along the coast. Nice clear skies. My camera is struggling with the white buildings again. The histogram does not show any clipping. Maybe its the terrible screen on my ancient laptop.
Time to board a tram! Even though I am on the top level, from this photo it does not look particularly high, but it is. You look down on the top of double decker buses. The tram is also narrower than a bus. I wonder how many have tipped over?
View 1 of 2 from a moving tram. I was taking photos out the back.
View 2 of 2 from a moving tram. Periodically another tram would pull up behind us, and I would be about 3 feet from the person in the other tram staring at me.
Here is a street market as seen from a moving tram. Time to get off. Getting off was not easy, it took 3 stops before I was able to negotiate the spiral staircase filled with people and get to the front door to get off. Luckily the stops are about 14.5 feet apart.
And here is a market. Nothing special about this market, they generally make for nice night / dusk photos.
I selected this butcher for a moody shot of flesh because it was the only one without the red light globe making it look weird. Generally your choices are pork or starvation.
Except, my dinner had no pork or meat of any kind! Its vegetarian curry. I actually saw it a couple of nights prior and decided that is what I wanted, and so that is what I had.
A bonus photo tonight of my phone screen. I read my phone while eating. Remember earlier I typed at length about Hong Kong graveyards? Googles recommended news story algorithm has placed a story about graves in Hong Kong costing more per square foot than housing. Google is always listening! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU GOOGLE!
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.
Eating roast pork in Causeway Bay
It is my last night in Hong Kong so I did more of the things you do in Hong Kong that I have already done.
First I caught the subway to North Point and walked along more of the harbour. By doing this I was able to prove that the phantom cruise ship terminal I tried to get to a couple of weeks ago does really get used! There were 2 ships at it. It is not just a cover for the old airport that might be removed one day if they run out of capacity at the new airport.
While walking along the harbour I inadvertently entered a fire station. They had a gate that was open, and a wharf area that looked enticing. I had no idea I was not supposed to go in there. There were lots of guys running along the wharf in running gear, I assumed it was the way people went to run along the harbour. No, they were firemen. I was escorted off the property by a security guy yelling at me in Cantonese.
Next I found myself in a big park full of basketball, soccer and tennis courts. I have actually been there before, its a concrete oasis near Causeway bay. Anyway, parts of it were very busy, and other parts had no one at all. I used one of these strangely quiet area to take a photo of the buildings in the background, before another security guard comes charging at me and escorts me out of another off limits area. I think it was about to be ripped up and replaced. So that was two times tonight I upset security guards.
The only other news is, I have been attacked by many mosquitoes. Dengue fever signs are everywhere. I have read up on the symptoms, non stop vomiting is one. Sudden onset is also mentioned. Time will tell if it hits just as my 10 hour flight departs tomorrow night.
Tonights photos are not plentiful. Actually I took less photos on this trip than any of my previous few trips. I blame the weather.
Look! The cruise ship terminal really does get used.
Another bonus photo of the water, parts of Kowloon or whatever they call that area. I think I climbed that mountain on the left.
For my last dinner in Hong Kong, the most Hong Kong of all things, BBQ. Featuring chicken annnnnd pork. I did not get what was pictured. The picture had rice with vegetables. Instead I got a soup with vegetables and plain rice. It was bland and boring. Northern Chinese food is better than southern Chinese. Noodles > rice.
Here are the buildings as seen from the off limits sporting area. I took this handheld and got starbeams / sunstars from the lights. 1/13 second handheld, thanks IBIS.
And finally for tonight, some neon back in Causeway bay. My flight tomorrow is not until 19:30, so I have to kill the whole day. No point going to the airport early, I am flying Virgin and they only have 1 flight a day, so I wont be able to check in early, no check in staff will be there. Time for another orange!
There are currently 4 comments - click to add
David on 2019-04-25 said:
There should be a pre flight update
And yes, the further from the equator you are the colder it is
There is a really big mountain in Malaysia, higher than fuji and the Taiwanese one, I don't think it ever gets snow.
The Taiwanese one only gets snow a couple of times per year
jenny on 2019-04-24 said:
maybe it is too cold on fuji to have trees all the way to the top, then again maybe it is to do with the lack of oxygen and cold. I don't know, but I'm sure you will tell me.
Nice handheld shot with the stars. I take it there will be an update tomorrow before your flight.
David on 2019-04-24 said:
You did not disappoint
I knew you would say tree line
There were certainly no trees above a certain point, but it wasn't very high.
However...
Did you know that the highest mountain in Taiwan is higher than fuji and has trees on the summit?
Its almost as if distance from the equator masters.
Tree line on Antarctica, 0m
jenny on 2019-04-24 said:
So how high were you today? There was only grass at the top of your hike, no trees. Does this mean you were above the tree line?
Killing time before heading to Hong Kong airport
I am at the airport. It is time to go home.
I am only taking one photo of the airport, and that is because it is of the mountain I climbed yesterday as seen from the airport.
Right now I am sitting in the Hong Kong Airlines lounge, an airline that is about to go broke. Various board members have taken out legal injunctions on other board members to stop them from entering any office related to the airline. They have run out of money. I am not flying with them today, I did earlier on this trip, but I am flying with them to Japan in November, assuming they are sold by then or the Chinese parent company that also owns more of Virgin than anyone else buys the rest of the company and pays off their debts. That is enough boardroom news.
Here in the airline lounge, the sun is ridiculously bright, so the photos I took today I cannot even really see on my screen, I just hit auto in lightroom and hoped for the best.
This morning I did not do much in Hong Kong, just wandered around the city, stepping into the heat, then back into the air conditioning of a mall, then I had a black sesame and maple latte, then I repeated all of the above. I found out that I can use the in-city check in, which is convenient, and that meant I could go to the airport a little earlier, where I now am.
I only just managed to get to 800 photos on this trip, recent trips of the same length were a thousand or more. Like I said previously, I blame the weather.
I went to 2.5 countries on this trip, Korea (South), Hong Kong (part of China) and mainland China. I think I easily enjoyed the Korea part the most, better hiking, cooler weather. Hong Kong second, because it was not raining as much, and Guangzhou a distant third, due to non stop kill you dead rain and storms and lack of things to climb.
So thats that. I will be back in November for another month of doing the same stuff in Japan. Until then, heres a few more pics of Hong Kong.
My early morning walk around Hong Kong was a battle with everyone out delivering stuff. By far the most space was taken up by water. Every building seems to get a gigalitre of water delivered daily by men without shirts. The Bottles need to be redesigned though, notice how they have to put them inside a square plastic frame so they can stack them on the truck?
Here are some tall buildings. In the foreground is a building that you are not allowed near. Do not stand on the grass signs, and do not linger signs. I do not know what this building is.
The Lippo centre buildings do not look real.
I did not go to Macau on this trip, apparently despite the new bridge being in operation, most people are still taking the ferries.
Just one of many malls I stepped into so that the sweat dripping off me might subside briefly. This one was the IFC mall. $15 for a thimble full of coffee there.
You can get out onto the roof of the IFC mall, here is the view.
And in the midday sun on the roof, no one but me! This is really a rooftop garden. I ran a few laps nude. Every trip I make mention at some point that I ran a few nude laps of something. Interesting.
And here is one last photo of a typical Hong Kong street, featuring guy with delivery trolley. All the guys pushing these aim them at my shins.
Last pic of this trip! The peak on the left is the one I climbed up and over yesterday. When I come back next time, I will do the one on the right.
There are currently 1 comments - click to add
mother on 2019-04-25 said:
I like the Lippo building and the roof garden - must put them on my list. Hope your flight home is germ free and not too adventurous.
The end....really, the end, no more updates on this trip!
There are currently 1 comments - click to add
mother on 2019-04-23 said:
Nice blue sea today. You need to start wearing sun glasses and not squinting into the sun, you are getting wrinkles round your eyes. Maybe some moisturiser as well to keep your skin supple. time to become a metrosexual.