So, our original plan was to run the whole of Hong Kong Trail with a target time of 5 hours.
Started at 0742 from the Peak and looked like everything was going great. We seemed to be on track.
Weather was HOT but the clear visibility made Hong Kong look even more beautiful that it already is. Unfortunately, I didn’t carry my camera with me to save on weight. Next time, I am going to take it nonetheless.
After stage 4 (Wanchai Gap I think), teammate Steven’s knee injury resurfaced. So, had to stop at Park Avenue. I think we got there at about 1015 or so and did around 22Km until that point.
I didn’t know the way from there to complete HK trail so decided to change venue and continue trail running at my all time favorite Sharp Peak.
Tried a Garmin reset to make the HK trail and Sharp Peak show up as two separate events but as you will see from the map, that didn’t work! It looks as if I flew from HK trail to Sai Kung!
Reached Pak Tam Au at 1210 and started the engines
Reached that little turn to Sharp Peak at 1239 (target was 1240)
Reached Sharp Peak summit at 1310 (target was 1310 – bull’s eye)
Took a break for 9 minutes and left at 1319 (was allowed to stay there until 1320)
Reached Sai Wan at 1419 (against target of 1420)
Took a break (To Fu Fa, 3 * Tau Cheung) for 10 minutes and left at 1430 (allowed to stay until 1430)
Reached Sai Wan Pavilion at 1450 (against target of 1450 – bull’s eye)
Reached Pak Tam Chung at 1520 (against target of 1520 – bull’s eye)
Precision was impressive despite the heat plus the 22Km already done in the morning.
Problems:
- none really, heat was managed the usual ways (middle eastern hat, water, gels, salt)
- towards the end, the run from Sai Wan Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung was grueling because it was completely exposed – had to do a lot of heat management! Wasn’t easy.
Data:
- consumed almost 6L of water (2L during HK Trail, 2L to Sharp Peak, 2L from Sai Wan to Pak Tam Chung (stream water)
Fabulous hike!! HK showing off its natural beauty. Wonder how many people know that there is a pristine forest right next to Fo Tan KCR (now MTR of course) station. Steven Sparky lead this hike from Fo Tan to Grassy Hill (via a spectacular, pristine route) and then across Needle hill (reverse) to Smuggler’s Ridge. Golden Hill was next and finally the hike ended at Kwai Chung district in a Pakistan Muslim restaurant for a much needed Veg Biryani.
Route overall:
Route from Fo Tan to Grassy Hill:
Maclehose Stage 6 is BORING! This route we took today is nature at its best. Bamboo forests, ivy flowers, orange orchids, chameleons, snakes, cows, beautiful butterflies, cactus trees, palm trees, banana trees make up this trail. The only thing artificial is a plane flying overhead almost every 30 seconds!
Hong Kong has gone on a tree naming spree
Banana trees – so many of them here
Ivy flowers – they are creepers and a tree parasite. They cling onto trees, vie for sunshine and eventually kill the tree
Wildlife – Chameleon. Look how it’s so beautifully camouflaged
A pristine forest welcomes hikers near Fo Tan
This is the summit of Grassy hill
On the way to Needle hill. The weather was super today
Needle hill in all its glory – was an easy reverse climb thanks to our fitness
Needle hill in all its glory – view from the summit. Shing Mung, Wilson 6 are in the pic
As we were walking towards the summit of Grassy Hill (app 540m), we came across an abandoned school. It has a TV from early 1900s! The black board had “2003″ on it.
Abandoned school. You’ll see from a later pick that Ming is in love
Abandoned school. TV from 1930s!
Bamboo forest
Plane flying overhead every 30 secs
Monkey zone
One of these monkeys went about shaking a nearby dustbin vigorously. Unfortunately, there was no garbage that he and his troop could savor.
Smuggler’s ridge is in the pic. Name because this was a smuggling point back in the day. Tsuen Wan is nearby
Lion’s Rock peak and Beacon Hill are seen from Smuggler’s ridge
Golden Hill – GP batteries are got their name because of this hill (Gold Peak)
Finish point – Pakistan Muslim restaurant
Fabulous hike! Would recommend it to anyone who loves nature. We also saw a green snake but it slithered away before my camera could be activated!
Having taken a 2-week break from HK hiking, I was raring to go on a Sharp Peak circuit run today. Mission was simple. Get rid of the cold that’s been bothering me for a while now through sweating and running. Idea was to start at 12PM at Pak Tam Au, reach Pak Tam Chung at 3PM (after a Sharp peak climb in between).
Problems: HK weather observatory issued a “very hot” signal. Also, typhoon Molave was expected to hit HK more or less directly in the evening. I was also far from a 100% fit. Constant cold reduced energy levels.
I started at Pak Tam Au at 12PM, as planned. Maintaining excellent control of the run, I reached the Sharp peak turn at 12.30PM (on schedule). Problems began then. I was getting a bad dehydration reading. Sun was out on full force. Air was 100% humid and hot. I felt like I was cooking in a microwave on ‘High’. Had to slow down big time. Starting losing time but continued to plod on with frequent breaks. There wasn’t a soul on Sharp peak.
Eventually reached Sharp peak at 1.40PM!! (1 hr 40 minutes. It’s supposed to take 1 hr!) Dismal performance. Not sure if to blame my fitness level or the heat.
Disappointed, I decided to redeem myself by doing a run from Sharp peak to Pak Tam Chung in 2 hrs. Left at 2PM.
History repeated itself. The sun rays started stinging and I started slowing down. Reached Ham Tim at 1.15PM (15 mins late). At this point, typhoon Molave introduced himself. Skies turned black and it started pouring down! Good news was that I was no longer a “running duck” for the sun. I had to move on after refueling (ran out of water) at my usual pit-stop.
I didn’t have a raincoat. Continued to run in pouring rain. My clothes got incredibly wet. Reached Sai Wan pavilion and a waiting taxi driver signaled to me, confident that I would use his services. Little did he realize my tenacity and cheapness. I continued to run in pouring rain from the Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung. Speed increased, thanks to no sun. Completed the run in 30 minutes. Reached Pak Tam Chung at 4.30PM (30 mins late).
It was then time to make the travel back home using HK’s freezing public transportation. On top of that, my clothes were wet. I couldn’t be bothered changing into a dry, spare tee shirt I was carrying.
The MTR gave me a near hypothermia. I was still too proud to wear my spare tee shirt (besides people were looking!) Planned to get out 1 station early and walk the distance home instead of freezing in the MTR.
Hot shower, clean clothes after I got back home and my energy returned. As for my cold, not sure what impact hot weather, rainy weather, getting drenched, getting frozen and a hot shower is going to have. We’ll see. Sniffles.
Took a cheap Air India flight (HKD 4,100) to Delhi. They were playing some movie from like 50 years back but luckily I had my Bloomberg magazine for in-flight entertainment. The flight attendants were pretty much old ladies and guys on the fringe of retiring.
Reached New Delhi at 10PM and transferred to the domestic terminal at 1AM.
June 26th 2009:
The flight we were supposed to take to Kulu was called MDLR Airlines. Completely unheard of! I was preparing myself for the strong possibility that the flight may never take off! But, much to my surprise, it took off at 7.10AM (more or less on time) and the economy seats were fantastic! The flight attendants looked as pretty as some Bollywood actresses and they even served a quick in-flight snack! The snack was tasty. At the end, they handed out some leaflet promoting MDLR’s new casino in Goa and a free admission to it! (not for me, I don’t like contributing to casino revenues).
We reached Kulu airport at 10AM and decided to avoid a INR1000 bucker taxi ride to Manali, instead choosing what we thought would be a quick 30-minute bus ride to Manali. The weather was hot (30 degrees) and the bus-stop turned out to be more than 10 minutes away. We eventually boarded a bus that started out empty but soon passengers were packed inside like sardines. I could smell sweaty armpits and a frequent and generous fart every now and then from a passenger with apparent bowel problems. Two grueling hours later, we reached Manali.
Lunch was at Swamiji South Indian restaurant and our bike hunting mission began soon after. Hardev motors, Anu Autoworks and the other bike shops did not have any bikes. Disappointed, we decided to come up with a Plan B and headed over to a juice bar. As we casually asked the “bartender” if he knew a bike shop, he immediately directed us to a buddy and our mission caught traction. We were soon acquainted with a dude called Dev who owned Bajaj Autoworks 50/50 with the mechanic called Ashok. The deal was this:
2 Pulsars @ INR 700 a day
2 Yamahas @ INR 500 a day (1 for a mechanic who was to accompany us all the way. The bike shop guy highly advised this in case we ended up with mechanical faults on the way. Roads are said to be in a very, very bad shape with some snowfall somewhere along the way).
700 a day salary for the mechanic.
The brave ones:
Despite Francis’ deadly threat of stripping down to his underpants for a swim, an unbelievably large number of psychologically strong Trampers (close to 40!) joined today, putting utmost faith in the powers of the Shui Lo Chu waters to cleanse their minds of any lasting impression of that sight.
In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the large turnout that I even forgot the customary check of Lutz’s backpack for explosives (he is known to carry Yau Ma Tei batteries that explode randomly). Winnie who rarely shows up was present, Peter was there carrying a handmade Chinese fan to cope with the heat, Chris who joins about 2 hikes in a year showed up, Wendy joined us sporting a stylish new backpack, heeding Francis’ advice of showing up for hiking with a backpack and not with shopping bags.
How we got there:
Given our large number, we had to take two buses to Tai O; 23 including me in one bus with Ringo, our Senior Vice President for navigation leading us in this bus and about 17 in the other bus with navigation-in-chief Alex in charge of them. Destination was Sham Wat road.
After a nice long 1-hour bus ride to Sham Wat road, we started to climb our first and highest hill for the day – Keung Shaan in Man Cheung Po (550m). Given the scorching heat, the pace of the walk was expectedly slow – in fact, so slow that its pace could be compared to the progress of the ongoing Nina Wang court case.
The waterfalls:
Fast-forward to 2PM and we were ready for our descent to Shui Lo Chu waterfalls. Excitement was building up and cameras started clicking. The path down was so steep that it mandated intermittent rock climbing and boulder hopping.
I could hear Amanda shouting to me from somewhere behind – “[this time] I am behind you Vince!” Of course, she was playing safe after remembering an occasion back in history where I “allegedly” set off a boulder that gathered momentum, sped downhill and hit her legs causing her to collapse to the ground instantly (she hasn’t been able to produce proof of this incident since).
The weather surprisingly turned cloudy in the afternoon providing much needed relief from the stinging rays of the sun. We were all captivated by the sheer beauty of the waterfalls. The climb was well worth the effort and the scenery was an absolute treat to our senses. Several of us couldn’t resist taking a dip in the water and enjoy the natural massaging feeling of mineralized water hitting against our backs from an altitude.
The “aha” moment:
Regular readers should know by now that Francis is pretty popular for his hiking wear. In fact, I have suggested to him several times that he should start his own brand called ‘Nature Wear’ and I am sure his products would sell so fast that shopkeepers in Mong Kok and Wanchai would beg him to manufacture more. Take for example, his ‘khaki’ shirt, the 100% natural cloth for which was bought in India and carefully designed and stitched in the middle of a jungle in Burma by a gifted lady known to live up to 200 years. His hat is nothing short of a true masterpiece. Something I like to call ‘Flap Cap’ (trademark) because of its eerie resemblance to a kangaroo’s long ear tied to a made-in-Bhutan strap and worn along his forehead.
Today, when everyone was wearing the usual boring cotton shorts and conventional swimmers, Francis put on his Indian/Chinese collaboration Green shorts AND a red headscarf (made in India). In fact, Lisa who is already familiar with his idiosyncrasies was more surprised than usual which prompted her to ask a question..
“Why do you have to wear that???!!!” she asked puzzled and chuckling, referring to the headscarf.
All eyes were on Francis as he jumped into the water, enjoyed a swim and climbed out of the water. There was a slight problem though – his trademark Green colored made-by-some-old-lady-in-some-remote-location shorts evidently didn’t do the best job of retaining its opaqueness once it started to absorb water. In fact, it became translucent and even bordered on being transparent. And thus came the headscarf to his rescue. It doubled as a made-in-Malaysia sarong that he spontaneously wore around his shorts to guard his privacy.
The finish:
After soaking up the beauty of the waterfalls, we were off to a nice downhill trek to Tai O where we boarded a speed boat to Tung Chung. Catherine, who lives life to the fullest, grabbed a front row seat on this thrilling high-speed ride back to civilization.
We departed our own ways upon reaching the MTR station, marking the end to another great Tramping weekend adventure to sink into the beginning of yet another long workweek.
Thanks go to Alex, Ringo, Nerissa, Francis, Lisa for all help with navigation.
Also, I can finally tell where we have been, thanks to my state-of-the-art GPS receiver. You can see a map of the route taken today on http://techotek.com.
Started at 10.15AM from Pak Tam Au
Reached Sharp peak at 11.17AM (was the only guy there!!)
Left Sharp peak at 11.35AM
Reached Pak Tam Chung at 1.26PM
Got on the bus at 1.30PM (perfect timing)
Total time: < 3 hrs (record)
Bad visibility. But perfect weather for running – cloudy with some drizzles
Only 6 Trampers showed up at Tai Po station today. Perhaps the cold weather deterred several from joining or perhaps it was Francis’ warning of bushwhacking that scared them away.
Well, if you did not join because of the threat of bushwhacking then congrats – you made the right choice! But if you are a masochist who loves the pain of scars, cuts and bruises or if you love some hardcore military-style bushwhacking training, well then you missed out on a fantastic hike!
The plan:
To take taxis to Sha Lo Tong, find a way up to Pat Sin Leng, walk to Wong Leng and do some stream-walking from Wong Leng to reach Tai Mei Tuk.
The first part of the plan –the take-taxis-to-Sha-Lo-Tong part- was executed without a glitch. But, that’s about all that went according to plan! Francis spotted a new stream trail that we hadn’t tried before and armed with a map and compass, he felt confident that we could reach Pat Sin Leng by taking this newfound path.
10 minutes into the walk and we were in a beautiful stream covered with thick vegetation. Francis thought he had found a path by the side of the stream that was to lead to Pat Sin Leng. Next thing we knew, we are fighting thorny branches with our hands, crushing overgrown shrubs with our feet and carefully watching the uneven terrain below to keep from slipping, as we tried tramping our way up to Pat Sin Leng. Those heeding Francis’ ‘wear trousers’ warning escaped the wrath of the thorny branches but the true heroes like me who were wearing shorts, bore the brunt of nature’s defenses.
Barely 30 minutes had passed before nature had won the battle, forcing us to retreat to the stream with all kinds of battle scars on our hands and legs. We had lunch at the stream while Francis vowed to find the right trail and went off on his own to do some quick exploration.
While we were having lunch, Francis reemerged from the bushes, appearing enthusiastic and claiming to have found the trail.
“As a Chinese, I have to save my face!” he said determined.
Looking at my scarred legs, I was saying to myself – “As an Indian, I have to save my legs!”
Well, off we went again on this “new” trail to fight a renewed battle against nature. Nature gave us more scars and shot splinters into our fingers as we tried desperately to bushwhack our way up to Pat Sin Leng. It was 2PM and history repeated itself as we retreated to the stream, yet again, posing more fresh scars from the battle!! Francis then came up with another new idea. “Let’s source the stream”, he said pointing upwards at the stream.
That set us off climbing on various boulders like animals and grabbing trees for support. At around 3PM, we could see the majestic Pat Sin Leng ridge several 100 meters above us. Then came the hardest bit of exercise for the day – a near vertical climb to the top of the ridge,somehow thrusting ourselves upwards and hanging on to dear life by forcefully grabbing as much loose grass as we could get hold of! Each thrust upward set off muddy soil and dust particles flying into the air, some entering our eyes and mouths. There were a bunch of people on Pat Sin Leng taking pictures of us and wondering why we were where we were!
At around 4PM we finally managed to reach Pat Sin Leng, tired and exhausted. At that point, a visibly worn-out Francis chose to scrap Wong Leng and started leading the group towards Tai Mei Tuk.
I gathered more energy and decided to run back to Tai Mei Tuk to continue with the excellent training while the rest of the group followed at a slower pace.
This hike is definitely a contender for some of the best training on the hills of Hong Kong. Thanks to Francis for organizing this challenging bushwhacking adventure. I think the 6 of us who joined are several notches stronger after the hike!
Pictures are at http://techotek.com/Travel/Hiking. I can’t seem to upload them here.
Who are you and where is Francis?
12 Trampers were waiting at 10.30AM just outside the Tung Chung MTR station to join legendary leader Francis on a Lantau exploration hike.
A gentleman munching on a fruit, wearing an immaculate jumper, sporting a clean haircut and carrying a map in one hand showed up a few minutes later. After staring at this gentleman for a couple of seconds in much disbelief and denial, we realized it was leader Francis!
“Give him a shirt and tie and he’ll look like an Investment Banker!!” Lutz exclaimed.
(for those of you who aren’t too familiar with Francis, us regulars liken him to Clark Kent of Superman –minus Lois Lane, of course- since he is rarely seen eating/drinking/carrying maps on a hike and yet has enormous endurance and strength)
We took the usual bus #11 to Mr. Buddha’s residence at Ngong Ping and began walking from there in the direction of Lantau Peak. We were not really looking forward to taking the series of steep steps up to Lantau Peak which is when Alex came up with a pleasant New Year surprise for all of us – a beautiful boulder trail that would elevate us right to the majestically standing 918M peak.
Mission briefing
Fortunately, the Francis we knew emerged from the back of the group for his usual mission briefing, having changed into his usual outfit – tee-shirtless and wearing his trademark Flap Cap (see previous walk report) and a Little-Red-Riding-Hood style red scarf draped around his head. He gave us a How-To-Use-Ropes 101 lesson, which I doubt anyone really paid attention to. He warned us that he was not to be charged any money or blamed, if we hurt ourselves using the ropes wrongly because of ignorance.
“We have insurance”, I said to Francis to appease him. “And I have a DISCLAIMER”, retorted Francis, quickly remembering that his walk proposal came with some generous disclaimers.
He finally issued his ‘go’ command, setting all of us climbing the 918M hill on 4 limbs along the boulder trail.
The trail was certainly among one of the most beautiful ones I have been on. We were admiring the beauty of the surroundings from time to time while focusing on climbing using all our 4 limbs slowly, but steadily. The giant Mr. Buddha appeared smaller and smaller as we were gaining elevation.
The scenery was, to say the least, spectacular. Pictures do speak a thousand words and you should check them out. The challenging and sometimes dangerous boulder climbing exercise also highlighted the way some smart people think.
For example, there is this one tremendously strong, almost Terminator like Tramper that everyone has to be wary of. I can’t name him for privacy reasons but I’ll give you a hint – his name begins with a ‘L’, ends with a ‘Z’ and there’s a ‘U’ and a ‘T’ in between). I’ll call him ‘Tramper T’ (T for Terminator) for purposes of this report. Tramper T doesn’t like to be in pictures and there was even an incident where he was once spotted carrying hardcore explosives in his back pack! Yes, there was an occasion where the contents of his backpack suddenly exploded during a hike leaving a cloud of stinky smoke behind and completely traumatizing the Tramper who was innocently walking behind him. Rumor has it that this innocent Tramper still hasn’t recovered from the shock! When confronted, Tramper T, who nobody usually dares to question, attributed the explosion to faulty Yau Ma Tei batteries. (You decide whether you are going to believe him or not!) Now, on this occasion, Tramper T wanted to climb ahead in front of everyone else because then there would be no way for a boulder that has been set rolling down accidentally to hit him. (Based on this thinking and his modus operandi, I suspect he must have received military training somewhere).
Anyway, so we continued on the boulder trail and eventually walked along another captivating path.
“I never knew there was a trail here”, I said surprised.
“Actually, I think we are making one!” said Hiroko, correcting me, as we trudged past the overgrown trees.
The trail was fantastic. We saw some beautiful rocks and there was even one with a pair of real, black hiking shoes strategically stuck in the middle of it. I really don’t know what a pair of hiking shoes was doing there. I think it was probably some “cool” act of vandalism. Alex told us that the shoes had been there for 2+ years and were brown in color the last time he saw them!
We eventually reached a steep section that was impossible to climb without the help of ropes. Francis harbored no grudge against us for booing his previous Rope 101 lesson and even offered to re-demonstrate the correct usage of ropes.
“Hold the rope like this. Put your foot over here and climb up.
When you reach the tree (the tree was on top of this steep section), hug her like your mother or throw your arms around her and kiss her like she’s your girlfriend”, he explained as he demonstrated with passion.
Lutz and Alex’s helping hands, as well as the tree’s love made the climbing matter rather easy. We left the pampered tree behind and carried on traversing along the trail to reach the Lantau Trail intersection.
The many challenges of the day left the group zapped of energy and we voted unanimously to take the proper Lantau trail back to Pak Kung Au/Tung Chung.
Nerissa correctly read my mind and announced “On your marks, get set” and I ran off back to civilization to Tung Chung. The rest of the group had plans to walk up to Tung Chung at a slower pace on the Lantau Country Trail.
Thanks to Francis and Alex for organizing this beautiful hike. My pictures are at the usual link.
Mission: To save RMB 150 each by infiltrating into the paid area of Dan Ha Saan National Park through a top secret, dangerous trail known only to a surviving few.
—————————————————————
The final squad carrying out this mission consisted of four elite Trampers only:
Fashionable leader Francis Lee who puts the likes of Giorgio Armani and Vivienne Westwood to shame through his fashion innovations,
Francis modeling in his new flexible flap cap
the clever Carrie Lok who has a knack for solving complex problems using simple tools,
(she is known for discovering another great use for the hiking stick – to rise again easily from using a squat toilet)
debutante Lisa Alvino joining the ranks of the elite for the first time
and yours truly, who needs no introduction.
–
Typical HK-GZ travel
We followed the usual China mission protocol by assembling at Sheung Shui KCR station at 1830hrs on Christmas Eve and made our way to the great PRC capital (People’s Republic of Cigarettes capital – Smoky Shenzhen). And from there, we took a bus to the Guangzhou railway station reaching GZ at around 2200hrs.
The last train to depart from Guangzhou to Shaoguan was scheduled for 2300hrs. Unwilling to wait one hour, we rushed from one adjacent station to another in search of an earlier train that was to depart at 2230hrs. Of course, as to be expected, there was that occasion where the boarding gate was suddenly changed to another at the very last moment, causing several hundred passengers to suddenly make a beeline for the new gate. Luckily for those of us scurrying along the station’s low ceilings, the railway authorities had several informative signboards installed in strategic locations. They correctly read “MIND YOUR HERD” warning those of us rearing our sheep, goats and other cattle in the station to tread carefully.
Wo Shi Ouigwo ren – wah! (I am a foreigner – yes!)
We reached the platform seconds before the train was scheduled to depart. The only small problem was that we didn’t have any train tickets, BUT, wait, we had me!! A foreigner! Yes, China is probably the only place where foreigners are treated better than locals and it must have been either that or my charming looks that got us in the train, albeit in the corner of a stand-only, smoking compartment where we had to spend the next 1.5hrs traveling to Shaoguan. Well, out came the wine opener and two wine bottles! We were having a Merry Christmas in the unreserved compartment of a China train traveling to Shaoguan in the middle of the night! Us partying in a smoky unreserved compartment on Christmas eve
The resourceful Carrie wasted no time exploring potential relationships with a Mister Someone; I’ll call him ‘Poser’, yes, Mr. Poser.
Carrie and Mr. Poser
Try, try, try again – till you succeed
We reached a cold, pitch-dark Shaoguan at 1.30hrs on Christmas day and treated ourselves to some excellent Lai Mean (some kind of noodles) at a Muslim restaurant.
Hello Shaoguan at 1.30AM on Christmas day
Excellent noodles available here
At around 2AM, we checked into a hotel and got up at 7AM to enjoy our Christmas present – Yum Cha at a decent restaurant with a good toilet! (the best meal and the best toilet we were forecast to have until the end of the journey). The thought of a clean toilet sent an excited Carrie and Lisa to the bathroom more frequently than ever. Each time they went, they were back a couple of minutes later claiming ‘Mission Accomplished’ but only to return to the loo the next minute, trying to outdo each other’s success in emptying their bowels!
The journey continued with a bus ride from Shaoguan to Yen Fa and another bus ride from Yen Fa to our village called Ha Fu. Mr. Lee, our guide, greeted us there with a great big smile. We then traveled to our host’s house in style – standing powerfully on a tricycle.
Ha Fu, here we come!
Our host, the village head, was also a Mr. Lee. His house was an enormous 3000+ square foot (2-storeys + rooftop + garden + Mahjong room) and appeared to be sparking new. To top it off, he had a dish antenna and two 40” TVs that could get more channels than I knew existed. The neighboring houses in the village were in stark contrast. They were mud houses and looked old, dilapidated and poor. Now, who says China is a communist country??
Wish I had that in Hong Kong The neighboring houses. Who says China is communist?
Mr. Lee’s villa was surrounded by high hills that were home to some majestic rock formations. We spent this Christmas day settling down and going on a stroll to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood.
It’s just your imagination
The next day, we were off to explore some majestic rock formations that Dan Ha Saan is famous for. Now, imagination is a beautiful thing. Much like beauty, it primarily lies in the eyes of the beholder. For instance, first we saw the formidable Bar Castle which definitely did look like an old European castle. Then we saw the 1000-faces rock which was supposed to depict the pain and suffering of many people during war times. Then there was the ‘Teapot’ rock. I thought that looked like the Taj Mahal but Mr. Lee insisted it was a teapot as he pointed to one extreme that was supposed to be the stout of the teapot. And then we saw the Camel-kneeling-down rock (?!) At that point, I realized that the Emperor had no clothes on and my brain started imagining every other rock as the ‘$’ rock. Well, you had to stretch your imagination to see the ‘$’ sign. And then, there’s my favorite rock – Frog-bending-down-trying-to-drink-water-from-the-river rock. Yeah, sure, but Mr. Lee insisted there was one!! Of course, when everyone else was able to “see” it, I had no choice but to be able to see it too which is when I let out the usual “Aaaaah-THERE-IT-IS” sigh of relief and misguided belief!
Bar Castle rock Teapot rock 1000-faces rock
But then again, sometimes there is no need or no room for imagination.
Francis “imagining” at the site of the ‘Female’ rock
The whole day was spent navigating around beautiful trails and exploring different rock formations. Our guide was as enthusiastic about rock formations as he was about his international clientele. He greeted every other villager in town with a ‘I-got-one-Indian-dude-and-a-Filipino-chick-with-me’ message. We were his prized booty. In fact, he even impressed me by singing an Indian song in his version of Hindi (‘ah’ would become ‘lah’ and ‘ra’ would become ‘lah’ and ‘hoon’ would become ‘Fu’). The song in Hindi is called ‘Aa Va Ra Hoon’ and in his ‘Hindi’ it translates to ‘Lah Pa Lah Fu’. Here it is:
Mission Dan Ha Saan
December 27th 2008 was the D-Day. It was time for Operation Dan Ha Saan. On this drizzly Saturday morning, we set off on a lonely trail fraught with thorny trees and unexplored caves to the ‘backdoor’ entrance of Dan Ha Saan.
The dangerous backdoor trail to Dan Ha Saan
Smiling in the face of danger
We were ordered by our Commander Lee to walk quietly. Pin drop silence. Carrie slipped a few times but recovered quickly enough to carry out the mission. After around 2 hours of surreptitious hiking, we were inside the Dan Ha Saan territory and we hadn’t paid a dime. Woohoo! Mission Accomplished! (and that’s the real ‘Mission Accomplished’ NOT the George Bush version!)
The paid area of Dan Ha Saan had an international touch to it. The Government encourages every visitor to take utmost care around the park. You have to eat with care, walk with care and if you happen to slip, you’ve certainly gotta “Slip With Care!” And that’s what the signboards said!
If you want to slip, you’ve gotta slip with care
We explored more rock formations and temples and eventually treated ourselves to an excellent, well deserved dinner at a classy restaurant in Yen Fa.
Great dinner after accomplishing our mission
On the 28th of December, 3 members of the hiking squad – Carrie, Lisa and I returned to Hong Kong while squad leader Francis decided to stay on to pursue further adventures (I have a feeling he wanted to go back to Dan Ha Saan to rekindle his imagination).
Great trip! Thanks to Francis for organizing it and for any mainland Chinese Government official reading this, we did *not* get into Dan Ha Saan illegally. I repeat – we did *not* get into Dan Ha Saan illegally. It was just our imagination.
Warning: The geographical names and locations mentioned in this report may not be accurate. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll probably get lost if you use this as reference to duplicate the hike!
16 of us met at 11AM in Tsuen Wan MTR station for an Alex-led hike that promised a spectacular view of the largest waterfalls in Hong Kong.
After the 10-minute wait period, we took off in our chauffeur-driven vehicles (they were called ‘taxis’) to the starting point of our walk – the Shing Mung Country Trail.
After plenty of socializing in the cabs, we got off at Shing Mung trail and discovered even better company – monkeys! Abundant feral monkeys were cleverly demonstrating their monkey-business in the tall trees that surrounded the trail. One of the cleverer monkeys desperately tried to drink some juice from a bottle with the cap still screwed on. Lisa passed by this monkey but cruelly refused to help him despite pleas from other Trampers. She soon learnt the hard way that failing to help a monkey is indeed bad karma. As she continued on the trail, much to her shock, a snake with a yellow head suddenly slithered across her path! In fact, later on, we learnt that the snake was poisonous!
The trail eventually led to a stream where we stopped for lunch. It was a scenic spot and we immersed our feet in the gentle stream to cool off. Ringo, Vivian and Alex took turns at attracting a dragonfly that flew around landing on different hands for a moment’s rest.
Eventually, we crossed Tai Mo Shaan to arrive at the highlight of the day – the highest waterfalls in Hong Kong. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. The water was quite cold but that didn’t stop us macho men (Ringo, Alex and yours truly) from taking a dip and enjoying a soothing water massage. It was a nice ‘acupuncture’ feeling – heavy water dropping intermittently on our backs from a height of over 50M! We did some muscle flexing for the cameras and also took our group picture here. (you should check it out – the backdrop is enthralling).
We departed at around 4PM along a slippery yet beautiful trail with remnants of many landslides from the past. The vegetation and greenery was a treat to the senses. We eventually reached Tai Po at around 5.30PM.
This was a fantastic hike and the waterfalls is certainly going to be a contender for the best scenic-spot award in Hong Kong. Do check out the pictures! Thank you, Alex, for leading it.
Today’s hot and humid day didn’t keep 17 trampers from joining leader Francis on a hike from Fo Tan to Tai Po. Gathering at 10.45AM at Fo Tan station, we walked to the starting point of the walk where Francis engaged us in his usual mission-briefing.
Mission-briefing
Pointing at the map, he explained that we were to hike up to Kau To Shan and then to Ho Lek Pui on trails that “were not on the map”. Philip, who was one among the few paying attention to the briefing, thought this was “very promising”. After the mission-briefing, Francis got into his usual hiking outfit with the exception of wearing a new custom made all-cotton cap bought from Burma and tailor made to perfection in China.
Hike to the summit
Lots of bushwhacking and steep climbs awaited us at the start of the hike. The humid weather sent sweat pouring down from everybody’s faces. It took us around an hour to reach the Kau To Shan summit. When we eventually did, Francis assured us worn-out bunch that that was the hardest part of the hike. However, Kathy was incredulous and dismissed this as “leader-speak”.
Moonwalking descend
The descend from Kau To Shan was quite a slippery experience. The recent rainfall rejuvenated the soil, giving it a coating of silky, smooth mud and making some parts feel like ice on a skating rink! Nearly every single one of us had an involuntary shot at moonwalking on the trail and some of us perfected the move, putting legendary singer Michael Jackson’s dancing prowess to shame! The only difference was that our moonwalking invariably resulted in our rears crash-landing on the muddy slope leaving a big patch of brown stain you-know-where. Sounds effects, namely “ouches”, accompanied the falls, leading invariably to grumbling soon after recovery.
To Ho Lek Pui and somewhere-in- the-new-territories
We continued the adventure to Ho Lek Pui on a trail that, again, was not on the map. The trail was completely forest-like. Different shades of green gave it a rainforest-like feeling. The natural light from up above was shattered by the canopy of large trees and landed scattered on the muddy terrain, giving the whole atmosphere a spooky setting. Twigs, dry leaves and branches crackled under our feet as we inched forward. The forest was also home to plenty of large and hungry mosquitoes and I am sure they had the feast of their lives on this day! They probably sent invites to their cousins, neighbors, distant relatives and every other Tom, Dick and Harry mosquito around! Scratching our bodies on one side and admiring the scenery on the other, we plodded on and eventually reached the summit of somewhere-in-the-new-territories (Ringo’s apt description of the place), thankfully leaving mosquito-land.
The summit was home to plenty of interesting rock formations. We took an extended “scratching” break here and also our “mission-accomplished” group picture. A few curious local inhabitants -the new territories cows- came to pay us a visit to see what all the fuss was about.
From the somewhere-in-new-territories place, we took another trail to Lead Mine pass and eventually to Tai Po Kauh where the hike ended.
Francis’ hike finished on time at 6.30PM (surprisingly) but there was a reason for this – he had a flight to catch sometime soon and had the walk end near his home in Tai Po. That’s what I call careful planning!
Thanks to Francis for organizing this beautiful walk.
Had a fantastic Trailwalker experience. Our team completed the 100KM hike in 24hrs and 34 minutes. Of course, this would not have been the case had it not been for our fantastic support team!
Here are some videos of the start of the hike.
The start of the trail was like nothing I’ve ever seen before! There were more heads than you’d find on a Sunday evening in the Mong Kok night market! The atmosphere was buzzing with activity.
Our target was 24hrs. Three of my time members (that’s pretty much everybody except me) were experienced and had done the Trailwalker before. This was our battle plan.
It was a clear day, so the views were terrific. (Check out the pictures). During the night time, there were lights all over the trail as though the whole trail was invaded by aliens!
Needle hill was the big killer and Stage 10 was ridiculously boring.
Tips:
1) Make sure you’re wearing good footwear. My shoes were a little tight since my feet had swollen a little after 10hrs.
2) Enjoy the hike!
3) Make sure you have a good support team. We would not have completed in time had it not been for them.
4) Donate to charity!
