Hike in Hong Kong!

I was originally going to simply chill and laze away this rainy day but there is no greater action-inducing driving force than a threat to one of my properties. It’s like the animal kingdom. A hippo, for instance, hates it when another creature encroaches into his territory. He immediately defends what rightfully belongs to him. Similarly, when I learnt that fellow Plover Cove contender Hannes Niggli was in my Tai Po property, I immediately jumped out of my sofa and went to defend my 2nd property on Sharp Peak.

By the time I got there, the rain clouds disappeared and the weather was simply superb. Great trail running. Take a look:

Views from my balcony





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For a change, I went on a hike, yes, not a run, but a hike! Ironically, this is probably one of the very few “hiking” posts published on this hiking domain, www.hikeinhongkong.com.

This was no ordinary hike. I joined the Meetup group on a very special hike to my luxury property in Sai Kung, i.e. Sharp Peak. We took the backdoor entrance to my property, which is a scenic trail called The North Face. No, not because it’s sponsored by the company of the same name but because it connects to the North side of Sharp Peak. (Or so I believe. Anyway, since I am the owner, I can change the name of the trail as I please). This trail is also one of the most scenic trails in Hong Kong. It’s a rather steep trail that connects the summit of my Sharp Peak (400m) to a secluded and pristine beach called Lam Chi Wan which is in one of the remotest parts of Sai Kung.

We took a boat from Wong Shek pier to [xyz] (I don’t remember the name of the place but like Shakespeare says, “what’s in the name?”) This is where we began our walk.

Gathering near Wong Shek Pier

We also met our well educated guide for the day here. He seemed very fit, had immense knowledge of the terrain and was quite eager to please all of us for a biscuit or two. He was none other than THE DOG OF SHARP PEAK. (Imagine super hero music playing in the background).

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s SUPER DOG!

Superdog lead the way and like a true gentleman (or rather, “gentledog”), he waited patiently at various junctions for us slower humans to catch up with him. But then, when Bill, our human leader, wanted to lead us on a well marked downhill stretch to Lam Chi Wan (the start of the uphill climb to Sharp Peak), Superdog refused to follow us. We didn’t know why as he was a dog of few words. He wagged his tail, snarled and simply stopped at the junction just before this downhill stretch. We all thought that Superdog had lost his super powers and had become super tired. So, we left him at this junction and carried on. But, several minutes later, the words “THE DOG IS RIGHT” echoed in the air. We, the poor humans, hit a dead end because our knowledge of the terrain was no match for Superdog! We had to backtrack to the junction where we saw Superdog strutting along the right trail, as though he had anticipated our folly.

Dogging it

Lam Chi Wan

Dog passing through

We then climbed a rather steep and slippery trail all the way to my home on Sharp Peak. It looked like Superdog had arranged to meet his girlfriend there (the dog version of Lois Lane). His girlfriend seemed to have taken the Mac trail to the summit of Sharp Peak. She was the Mac Dog (not Macdonalds but Maclehose).

Superdog’s Lois Lane aka The Mac Dog on the summit of Sharp Peak

After witnessing this doggy reunion, we left Sharp Peak and proceeded straight down to Mac 2 and exited at Pak Tam Au.

The North Face route is one hike that every hiker in Hong Kong ought to do! And, by the way, to all those idiots leaving rubbish on my summit (cigarette butts, etc, etc), your days are numbered. The owner is watching.

As part of my penultimate training for next week’s HK100, I was torn between deciding which of my two luxury homes to visit – Plover Cove or Sharp Peak. After much contemplation, I eventually decided on Sharp Peak.

It was a cold day. It seemed like even the cows in Pak Tam Chung were exercising to stay warm. They were playing some sort of running and catching game. As I watched them in amazement, I noticed something unusual about them. I ran a little closer to examine. Then I noticed something quite bizarre – the cows were all wearing some sort of earrings on one ear! Nope, not the iconic rock star kind of stud earring hanging from the lobe of one ear, but more like an ugly 5cm plastic tag attached firmly to the upper part of their left ears. I zoomed in to read the tag on one such “rock star” cow and observed some random number on it. I was initially a little puzzled, but a moment’s reflection made things clear: our super rich Hong Kong Government is tagging each and every cow in the Sai Kung area! Oh man! Look where my tax money is going! We pay so much money in taxes to the Government so they can attach ugly (and probably irritating) tags to all the cows in Sai Kung?? Wonder what that project cost!

Anyway, I did Mac 1 in 53 minutes and then made my way to my home on Sharp Peak. It took 1 hour and 54 mins. I took a 12 minute break on the summit to chitchat with some of my guests who showed up about the same time as I did. I told them to keep my home clean and to lock the main door on their way out. I then made it back to Pak Tam Au in 49 minutes.

I took bus number 94 back to Pak Tam Chung as I wasn’t that enthusiastic about running on that concrete road back to Pak Tam Chung.

Summary:
Distance: 28.67 km
Time: 3:50:46
Elevation Gain: 1,350 m

Garmin.

GPX.

I usually don’t like to brag about how rich I am but sometimes this kind of bragging boosts my self-esteem. So, today, I’ll publicly show off my wealth.

My home is over 30,000 square feet in size (contrast that to an average HKer who lives in less than 400 sq ft) and I own several beaches and a viewpoint from where I have a 360-degree view of the HK landscape. I am the sole owner of Sharp Peak in Sai Kung and the neighboring mountains and beaches. If you don’t believe me, here’s a legal document to prove it.

Legal ownership document

So, I invited some friends over to my home today to celebrate my birthday. My home is so big that we needed to run 30KM to cover all of it.

The route:
We started in Pak Tam Chung, went the Care Action route to Sharp Peak. Although the Care Action route does not include Sharp Peak, we went up anyway as I wanted to boast about the views from my viewing point. From there, we went to the peninsular and lunched at Ham Tin. Went up to the Sai Wan Pavilion from there and took the Lok Wu trail back to Pak Tam Chung.

Hot day! Probably lost over 2L in sweat! And a fantastic run/company. I intend buying more homes like this to increase my wealth even more.

Stats:
Overall
Time: 06:26:27
Moving Time: 04:10:03
Elapsed Time: 06:26:27
Distance: 30.88 km
Elevation Gain: 1,286 m

Garmin.

GPX.

What could be a better way to start the Year of the Rabbit than to do a Sharp Peak circuit run?

Actually, looks like my fitness took a toll. Energy wasn’t flowing that freely. Maybe the coffee today morning. (Had coffee after a very long time. Still bad for health).

Good to bump into Roz’s group on Sharp Peak! They also believe in starting the year of the rabbit with a hike to Sharp Peak!

Stats:
Start time at Pak Tam Au: 1117 HKT
Time take to reach the summit of Sharp Peak from Pak Tam Au: 55 minutes 52 seconds (prev record 53 mins)
Sharp Peak to Sai Wan shop: 57 minutes 45 seconds (including a 15 minute break and chat on Sharp Peak)
Sai Wan to Sai Wan pavilion: 19 minutes 10 seconds (including a 2 minute chat with some old grandma)

Grandma was speaking to me in Cantonese and she was asking me if I was going to China?! Or maybe my Canto-English translator is erroneous! She also advised me to not hike alone! Anyway, I wished her Kung Hei Fat Choy and hit the accelerator after that conversation.

Sai Wan Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung: 30 minutes 05 seconds

Total (including breaks): 20.46Kms in 2 hrs 42 mins, 859m elevation

Garmin.

GPX.

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)

- 43.11Km in 5 hours 15 minutes

Garmin Link.

A public holiday in Hong Kong can only mean one thing and that’s more hiking! So, today being a public holiday, it was time to hit my holiday home again on Sharp Peak.

It was supposed to be rainy again and the skies did look pretty dark at 0600 in the morning. I took my chances anyway. Plan was to leave the apartment at 0700, reach Pak Tam Au by 0830, reach Sharp Peak by 0930, Sai Wan village by 1030 and Pak Tam Chung by 1130 (finish).

Waterproofed every electronic device worth over 50 bucks by putting them in those zip lock bags. For the first time in several months, I actually got the HK public transportation timing wrong! I just missed the bus to Wong Shek Pier from Sai Kung town and had to wait over 20 minutes for the next bus. Meaning, the start time at Pak Tam Au turned out to be 0838 instead of 0830 (8 minute delay).

Waterproofing turned out to be a needless exercise as the sun started shining intermittently on the way to Sharp Peak. Reached the summit in 57 minutes (3 minutes before target). The wind on the summit was powerful enough to cause me to lose balance. Got the camera out for a couple of great pics including this one and didn’t bother with the waterproofing again. Big mistake. Kind of like my HSBC stock purchases. Stock price falls every time I buy, goes up each time I sell. So, it started pouring down when I was descending from the summit. Talk about isolated showers. Next ridge, it was all clear again.

Reached Sai Wan village in 53 minutes (7 minutes before target). Had the usual Soya milk there and then reached Pak Tam Chung in 49 minutes from Sai Wan village (11 minutes before target). Finished exactly at 1130 including breaks, etc. Right on time.

Summary:
Start time: 0838
Summit time: 57 minutes (0935)
Summit departure: 0941
Sai Wan village arrival: 54 minutes (1035)
Sai Wan village departure: 1041
Arrival at Pak Tam Chung: 49 minutes (1130)

Garmin Link.

GPX

Started very early (0730 HKT) at the Peak. Actually, let me rephrase. Should have started very early (0730 HKT) at the Peak but unfortunately, I overestimated the speed of the minibus (Number 1 from Central). It’s bloody slow and stops at every nuke and corner. So ended up being 7 minutes late. We started at 0737 on a HK Trail stages 1-4 run.

I have a feeling I made a wrong turn somewhere and had to retrace. But, my Garmin lost power (forgot to charge) so can’t really check.

Finished at 1012 HKT (something like 2 hrs 30 mins) stages 1 to 4 (25Km or so).

But, I needed a healthier dose of greenery. The problem with HK trail is that most of it is concrete and you don’t get the feeling of escaping from the city. I needed to escape from the city. I had the usual choices – Plover Cove and Sharp Peak. Not willing to spend 2 hours more on commute, I settled on Sai Kung.

Planned a precision hike/run starting 1235 HKT (Pak Tam Au). 1335 (Sharp Peak). 1340 (depart Sharp Peak). 1440 Sai Wan. 1545 finish in Pak Tam Chung.

Execution was precise. Finished at 1545 at Pak Tam Chung.

Sharp Peak was amazing as usual. There was this point where the clouds covered the body of the mountain and left the summit untouched. It looked like a summit in heaven was popping out of nowhere. No pics I am afraid. Couldn’t fit my bulky camera in my new hiking bag but planning to buy something small and cheap soon.

Total: about 45Kms

No maps or GPS I am afraid.