Pictures on the hiking page.

It’s not often that I’ve seen the HK weather forecast go completely wrong but today was certainly one of those days! What was supposed to be a day fraught with heavy winds and rains turned out to be an overcast/partially sunny and hot day! As much as I love hiking in the rain, today’s weather was a good enough incentive to do a solo Sharp peak hike.

Due to a knee injury, I started the slow hike from Pak Tam Au at 11.35AM and I reached the Sharp peak summit at 1.20PM where I enjoyed reading a great business book until this gentleman started to annoy me.

Here’s him in action making that annoying sound:

Tags: Rain, Sharp peak

Going back to the China walk report published a few days back, here’s a video from the trip.

Initially, I thought I heard a child weeping but it turned out to be a baby lamb.

Amateur video taken on Cameron Road, TST, HK. The dude on the upper floor is dropping bamboo sticks used for scaffolding to the dude at the bottom! Traffic is flowing as usual and people are walking on the road!

Eventually they got busted by the two policemen who were equally astonished at the act as several of the onlookers!

Pictures here.

The piercing rays of the fiery sun might have dissuaded many potential trampers from joining today’s Alex-led three-booter walk but eleven courageous trampers challenged the sun by showing up at Tai Po market for a 950M Tai Mo Shaan hike. Alex had to do a special water-capacity check to ensure that all eleven trampers were sufficiently armed to win the battle against the sun. At 11.10AM, we departed on taxis to Yuen Ton Ha village to begin the hike.

We officially took off at 11.45AM from Yuen Ton Ha, quickly gaining altitude. The trail felt like a real forest; it was overgrown, mosquito infested and highly slippery. It had evidently rained the previous night but the mighty sun seemed to have returned with a vengeance today. The trail soon led to a beautiful and natural bamboo forest. It was surprising that such places actually exist in Hong Kong!

As we were discussing the beauty of the trail, a thunder from up above announced its presence with a mighty roar. A few of us wished for rain but realistically, in spite of the thunder, we weren’t quite expecting it. As we continued hiking, we soon approached another glorious bamboo tunnel. Looking past the breathtaking view of the bamboo canopy above, we saw a dark cloud cover approaching. It was a relief to see the sun rays waning in the presence of this thick cloud cover. As the sun hid behind the clouds, Fabio seemed to have discovered plenty of underlying stored energy and started to charge up the trail to Tai Mo Shaan at the speed of lightening.

We had lunch at 12.30PM on a peak which was a few kilometers from Tai Mo Shaan. The view was absolutely gorgeous. We could see the whole Tai Po landscape – Tai Po Market, Pat Sin Leng, Tai Mei Tuk, Cloudy hill, plove cove, the whole nine Tai Po yards! What was also getting increasingly obvious was a darkening cloud cover. This time, we were expecting drizzle and so we started to hike a little faster towards Tai Mo Shaan. Alex instructed the fast ones to hit for a shelter just before Tai Mo Shaan in order to wait till the rain clouds cleared.

Luckily, the eleven of us hit the shelter completely dry when the first raindrops hit the ground. Seconds later, drizzle turned to downpour and breeze turned to lashing winds! The rain and wind combination multiplied in strength and hit us from all directions. The eleven of us started scrambling for raingear. Many of us tried to seek shelter under one umbrella (Liz’s)! As the saying goes, “when it rains, it pours” and this time it was literal! The rain drops resembled missiles thrashing the umbrella with full vigor producing a sound similar to the rotors of a chopper as it’s trying to take off.

Alex thought that waiting for the rain to subside was pointless since we would get too cold just waiting. So, he instructed us to battle the rain and continue to hike on the quickest “exit” trail (The “Waterfall” trail). The heavy rain also brought out the entrepreneurs in the group. Liz took out two big garbage bags from her rucksack (not sure what she was doing with it). Where the ten of us saw simple garbage bags, Ringo visualized a poncho somewhere in the garbage! Two swift cuts where the arms and head should be and he transformed two black garbage bags to elegantly fitting and fashionable ponchos for Lisa and Alex!

After many “slips between the legs and the trail” we arrived at a stream. Rain water was gushing through the stream at max throttle. Alex felt it was unsafe for us to continue on the trail and ordered us to retreat. I suggested that a group photo at this point would be appropriate. My suggestion was taken and we managed to take a “wet” group photo!

At this point, a fit gentleman wearing a “Hong Kong Marathon” tee shirt swiftly came down the trail, made two quick monkey jumps and was well on his way across the stream! As we looked in awe, Liz figured that if he could do it, SO COULD WE! Inspired by Mr. Marathon and unwilling to lose face, the eleven of us embarked on a stream crossing adventure. I was happy I was wearing hiking sandals and I looked at Ringo’s shoes with curiosity.

“Are those water proof?” I asked.
“Yes, they are. They are not letting the water out!!” Ringo replied.

Such was the wet condition that prevailed today!

Eventually, we reached a highly slippery concrete path where I slipped thrice, Liz slipped twice and Ringo slipped once. The path obviously had some design problems. The foot of the railing was so slippery that anybody seeking support from the railing would slip!

Those who had to answer nature’s call were happy to reach a toilet at the end of the hike, except for one person who thought it was so sticky that it was not possible for her to “pull her pants down!”

We reached the bus stop at 4.30PM where we posed for one more group picture. The eleven of us were then getting ready to face the next and probably, the biggest challenge for the day – staying warm wearing wet tee shirts in a freezing cold KCR train.

Facts and trivia:
Starting time: 11AM
Finish time: 4.30PM
Highest altitude: 950M
Weather: A+ (and as unpredictable as Britney Spears’ moves)
Distance covered: Around 15KMS

Videos:

(1) 4.5MB: The waterfall, how it was!

Watch Waterfall

(2) 1.5MB: The gorgeous cloud cover

Watch cloud cover

Tags: Rain, Stream, Tai Po