The plan was to recci the Sowers route (essentially the Wilson trail from Yau Tong to Tai Po) with teammate Steven in a solo format at a super fast pace.

The race is called “Challenging 12 hours” but I think even my grandma can complete the route well within that. The weather was perfect and I was running quite fast. I made a mistake while coming down from Devil’s Peak – ended up wasting about 8 minutes by going down a steep road that ended up being a dead end. Had to run back up and met a few runners who guided me.

There are two REALLY boring 5k runs in Hong Kong. Sowers has them both. The first runs along Stage 5 of the Maclehose (but below) and the second one goes around Shing Mun reservoir.

I cleared the first boring run but went the wrong way on the exit from the trail as it enters Shing Mun. Somehow, I found myself doing Mac 6! I continued on Mac 6 and finished it at Shing Mun. Knowing I was already “disqualified” from the race, I couldn’t be bothered going around that boring Shing Mun reservoir. Instead thought of doing Mac 7 but didn’t have enough time to complete it and head back home.

So, I just left at Shing Mung!

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	25 m	-	-	-	-
5.018 km	38m 48s	218 m	7.76 km/h	20.68 km/h	358 m	165 m
4.984 km	31m 57s	170 m	8.48 km/h	20.68 km/h	484 m	339 m
5.001 km	44m 21s	466 m	7.82 km/h	20.68 km/h	935 m	494 m
5.011 km	36m 24s	148 m	7.93 km/h	23.89 km/h	955 m	832 m
4.987 km	26m 05s	151 m	8.45 km/h	23.89 km/h	1026 m	900 m
4.400 km	38m 45s	218 m	8.15 km/h	23.89 km/h	1245 m	1052 m

Total: 29.401 km in 3h 36m 20s at an average of 8.15 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Sowers, Wilson

It was back to old times today. I bought the bulky (and increasingly expensive) South China Morning Post and decided to pay a visit to my mansion on Sharp Peak to read it.

I started the run right at Pak Tam Chung as that’s the furthest you can park motorbikes in Sai Kung. I took the Pak Tam Trail and ran to Pak Tam Au and then did the usual Sharp Peak circuit.

Ran into friends from the Hong Kong Trampers on Mac 2 and had a great catch up session! Unloaded my cargo (SCMP) on the peak and was irked (as usual) to see Classified Post 1, 2, 3, 4 .. (kind of like CCTV 1, CCTV 2, CCTV 3..) occupy the bulk of the reading material (who reads that anyway?)

HK Trampers

If you feel depressed or negative, you have to go to the peak of Sharp Peak and take a deep breath. It will fill you up with immense positive energy that will last for days! You should then pay the toll tax to me for visiting my premises and that will fill me up with positive energy for days.

Stats:
Pak Tam Chung to Pam Tam Au: 23 mins 52 secs
Pak Tam Au to Sharp Peak: 1 hour (including a 8-10 minute chatting break with the HK Trampers)
Newspaper reading time: 44 mins
Sharp Peak to Sai Wan village: 46 mins 32 secs
To Fu in Sai Wan village: 10 mins 12 secs
Sai Wan village to Sai Wan Pavilion: 18 mins 7 secs
Sai Wan Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung (motorbike parking): 33 mins 17 secs

Summary
Distance: 24.94 km
Time: 3:58:21
Avg Pace: 9:33 min/km
Elevation Gain: 1,003 m

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	18 m	-	-	-	-
5.007 km	31m 33s	107 m	9.52 km/h	17.91 km/h	161 m	72 m
4.994 km	1h 38m 38s	447 m	4.61 km/h	17.91 km/h	652 m	223 m
5.007 km	39m 52s	57 m	5.30 km/h	17.91 km/h	764 m	725 m
5.002 km	44m 40s	155 m	5.59 km/h	21.98 km/h	967 m	830 m
4.597 km	23m 38s	21 m	6.19 km/h	21.98 km/h	991 m	988 m

Total: 24.607 km in 3h 58m 21s at an average of 6.19 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Sharp Peak Circuit

How do you measure the passage of time without using a clock or a watch?
Depends on who you ask.

For instance, a farmer, back in the day, might have used church bells to tell time.

The US Government can now tell time by the volume of debt they have. The greater the passage of time, the GREATER their debt.

The Chinese Government can tell time by the amount of foreign exchange reserves they have. The greater the passage of time, the GREATER their reserves.

Long Hair can measure time by the length of his hair. The longer his hair, the greater the passage of time (and his fight for democracy in Hong Kong).

A hiker can tell time by the number of Protrek shoes he has bought.

2nd pair of shoes for the year.

After 8 months, 2500kms and enough elevation to reach heaven, a new era begins…

Before and After

Tags: Shoes

As far as waterfalls in Hong Kong go, my top three favorites are (a) Wong Lung Hang (b) Shui Lo Chu (c) Nam Chung pools/Double Deer stream in Sai Kung.

We had some good rain yesterday, so it was time to do a leisurely waterfalls hike today. The route we chose was awesome:

(A) Tung Chung to Ngong Ping via the King of the Hills route: From the MTR, we had to go in the direction of the Donkey Trail. We went past the Donkey Trail to a village and eventually took a hard left. From there, there was a 500m climb to Ngong Ping

(B) From Ngong Ping, we took Lantau Stage 5 to Man Cheung Po. After crossing the first two hills, there was a fork in the road or should I say ‘fork in the trail’. We took the trail on the right, kept following the track all the way until we reached a small bridge. We jumped over this bridge, then took a narrow trail up a hill which led to the waterfalls

(C) After the first two pools, a trail on the right eventually led to Tai O where we finished

If the directions above make no sense, don’t worry! They are meant exclusively for me so I can sort of remember where I went for next time! But the Garmin record is below!

We saw a snake slithering away near Man Chung Po. Actually, Jinwah saw it first and screamed like a little girl. For a second, I thought she got bitten! The snake was brown in color and slithering away quite fast. Also, learnt from Jinwa that snakes that have forked tongues are poisonous, those that don’t aren’t.

The pools (as usual) were blissful!

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	0 m	-	-	-	-
5.009 km	33m 48s	2 m	8.89 km/h	55.02 km/h	328 m	326 m
5.006 km	1h 42m 20s	447 m	4.41 km/h	55.02 km/h	975 m	528 m
4.986 km	1h 37m 04s	454 m	3.86 km/h	55.02 km/h	1280 m	826 m
5.000 km	2h 17m 35s	120 m	3.24 km/h	61.45 km/h	1585 m	1465 m
3.347 km	27m 48s	-18 m	3.51 km/h	61.45 km/h	1624 m	1642 m

Total: 23.348 km in 6h 38m 35s at an average of 3.51 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Rain, Shui Lo Chu, Stream, Waterfalls

It finally came to this! Here I am standing in front of Cheung Kong Center holding a placard saying “I want to have lunch with Li Ka Shing”. Actually, inspired by the guy next to me (Brian Chau) who wants Mr. Li to invest in his company!! I told him that if he’s successful in securing funding, Mr. Li can expect me to be standing there next!