I had to be at the airport at 1130HKT to pick up a passenger (my mom) but I wanted a novel way of getting to the airport. So, decided on one of my usual precision hikes this Saturday morning.
Mission was to get up at 0545, get a ferry to Central Star Ferry at 0630, take the 0650 ferry from Central to Mui Wo. Do, Sunset Peak, Lantau peak and reach Ngong Ping in 2.5hrs (1010), take a bus to Tung Chung (1040) and take another bus to the airport (1115). The 15 mins buffer was for wait time, photo time, etc.
Execution was as per plan, precise to the minute until near the top of Sunset Peak. Then I received some important intelligence from the Command Center (i.e. SMS from my dad) letting me know that the flight was about an hour earlier than originally thought. (Is THIS much punctuality necessary?!)
I then had to make an executive decision – continue on course and make the passenger (my mom) wait another hour at the airport or somehow do a curtailed hike that would end at the airport. After a fierce internal debate that lasted a good 5 minutes, I decided to go pick up my mom on time! Took a right cut from near Sunset – a beautiful trail that leads to Wong Lung Hang.
I was the only soul to be seen. It was misty, visibility was bad and the strong wind produced a ghostly noise! It was quite spectacular yet very spooky!
I slowed down just to be extra safe, didn’t want to fall anywhere and only be noticed the next day when more people would hike that trail! Also, reports said that illegal immigrant activity in that area would increase as we get close to the Chinese New Year. I wanted some extra energy to burn in order to outrun any II I would meet!
As I was doing some serious, yet controlled downhill trail running, the mist started giving way to some sunshine and I eventually found myself on Wong Lung Hang road at 0900. I had to be at the airport at 1030 now and decided to run to the airport! I thought to myself – if the bus can do it, so can I!
That enthusiasm was great but the sense of direction was not! I paused at the end of Wong Lung Hang not knowing which way to turn. I gazed up. I saw a plane with landing gear down at about 2500m. Would that mean that it just took off or is going to be landing soon or what?! More importantly, what was that telling me about the direction of the airport? Less than a second later, I realized that such serious effort at deduction was for Sherlock Holmes or Dr. House, not me!! (I have been watching too much of Gregory House lately).
Looked straight ahead and saw the Ngong Ping cable car. Had to be that way. I started running. 10 minutes into the run I saw a bus heading in the opposite direction headed for the Airport. Doh! I crossed the road and ran in the opposite direction. I made numerous mistakes. Eventually, used my broken Cantonese to ask some jogging dude if he knew how to get to the airport running. He gave me a weird look but knew the way!
At about 1035 I made it to the airport, running all the way from Mui Wo! Trail was Mui Wo to Sunset to Wong Lung Hang to the Airport (20km). The number of wrong turns I made is just amazing! I was circling the Cathay Pacific building 2-3 times instead of heading towards the terminal!
Pics here.
Tags: Airport, Hiking in Hong Kong, Sunset Peak, Wong Lung Hang
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Tags: Airport, Sunset Peak, Wong Lung Hang