Aileen in Hong Kong: Guide to Hong Kong Hiking

These past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of having some very adventures guys with me here in Hong Kong, who have all but been more ready and eager to hike and explore the “wilderness,” instead of staying in the air-conditioned malls to shop. As one of our mentors explained to us interns, many people are surprised to fly over Hong Kong, whether by plane or helicopter, and see that most of the land is green. Granted, the residential areas are incredibly dense and vertical. Housing projects give birth to clusters of cloned, cement blocks with black holes as windows. My friend’s dad enlightened me by revealing one could tell the rich houses from the poor by one single factor: laundry on the balcony. Those buildings with hanging laundry from the windows most likely do not have in-house washing machines, hence, the poorer. However, I digress, because besides the popular belief that Hong Kong is very much akin to New York, it has a thriving hiking community. There are annual hikes across Hong Kong Island and across Kowloon that take days to finish. These are mostly held in the winter to avoid the hot, humid summer months. After many mosquito bites and bottles of Procari Sweat (the Asian Gatorade), I have conquered four different hikes.

1) Lamma Island: This is a small fishing island off the East coast of Hong Kong Island. It really wasn’t much of a hike than it was a walk around the south part of the island. Sadly, David, Yipeng, Amina and I decided to go during a typhoon warning, which ended up into a very soggy, drippy, cold trip. It seemed more like an abandoned town, with all the townspeople hiding in doors. Quite a few gave us a stare as we trudged through the small villages. The highlight of the hike was probably our fresh seafood meal at one of the many touristy restaurants lined near the ferry dock.

2) Lantau Island: Continuing with the typhoon theme, a few of us went to Lantau Island after a visit to the Hutchison Container Port. Lantau Island is to the East of Hong Kong Island and is the largest of all the outer islands. It houses the new airport and Disneyland Hong Kong. What is most famous about Lantau is the Big Buddha. Sadly, due to the strong winds of the incoming typhoon, we were unable to take the cable cars. However, the bus ride provided a wonderful tour around the island. When we reached Ngong Ping Plateau, we quickly visited the Big Buddha and set out to hike some of Lantau. One of the girls was deterred by the large number of enormous snails crawling around and opted to explore Po Lin Monastery and the small strip of shops instead.

Wisdom Path

Buddha!

Although the guys and I had originally planned to hike along one of the trails and return to the Big Buddha in time for the last bus back to the MTR station, we discovered that there was an overgrown, closed off trail that led to one of the peaks. Boys being boys, Yipeng, David, and Eugenio OBVIOUSLY decided to hop over the gate bearing the sign “CLOSED PERMENANTLY DUE TO LANDSLIDE.” The trail actually turned out to be quite safe and offered gorgeous views of the island. The trail was of moderate difficulty, and we caught a clearing just before the sun was beginning to set, making for beautiful photos. I strongly recommend Lantau for anyone who wishes to venture off the paved path and seek a moderate climb. Lantau contains some of the tallest peaks in Hong Kong and offer dazzling views. It’s also convenient for those in the party who wish to opt out of the hike and leisurely enjoy the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. I hope to go back again just to take the cable cars.

3) Ma On Shan: One Sunday, I decided to call up David and drag him out of bed to go hike Dragon’s Back Trail to end up at Shek O beach. Having already done the hike, David suggested another hike, Ma On Shan on the Maclehose trail. It was rated as a rather difficult hike, but Yipeng and I were up for it. We set out to the village of Sai Kung, full of yachts in the marina with many expats and some sort of carnival going on. After walking around the main road for a while, we finally discovered the entrance to Stage 4 of the Maclehose trail. Unbeknownst to us, Stage 4 of the Maclehose trail is the most difficult section of the entire 100km trail. One could complain about the heat and humidity, but the sun was a welcome sight and illuminated the coast and the mountains. In the distance, we could see Sai Kung and the neighboring villages as well as paragliders on a nearby mountain. We first reached a fire watchpoint, assumedly a place to watch for forest fires, and met a photographer. We explained to him that we wanted to scale Ma On Shan; he gave us a stare and said, “Do you even know where it is?” Following that he said, “You want to do the whole mountain? It’s straight up stairs to the top.” How do we get down? “Just follow the sun, go West,” he replied. Boy, how descriptive. He looked at us incredulously after helping us snap a picture and wished us luck on getting out before sun down.

We headed out and, true to the photographer’s words, they were straight up steps. For those of you who’ve been to Hawaii and seen Kokohead, this is the equivalent, but for an extended period of time. The hard work paid off once we reached the highest part that the trail took us. I stayed back while the boys attempted a small trail to the very peak of Ma On Shan. As they ascended, I found it very curious while waiting at the bottom that I could clearly hear their conversations discussing the best way to go about reaching the top. Because of the arrangement of the mountains, we also discovered that there was a lovely echo effect if you yelled toward the mountainside.

The boys ended up giving up on the climb to the top. As the sun was soon setting, the clouds were condensing and lowering, covering the tip of the mountain in a shroud of mystery, making the trek very difficult. They were unable to see the trail in front of them or the trail behind them, and, with both sides dropping off into a sheer cliff, they decided to turn back.

Sunset on the ridge, those clouds rained on us...

As we walked along the ridge, looking at the sunset, the clouds glided past us and delivered a surprise rain shower. Of course, from all those science classes, we had somehow failed to remember that when clouds reach the mountain, they usually condense and release moisture. Added on the fact that the air was cooling down in the evening, we were served by a 10-min buffet of torrential rain.

We safely emerged from the slippery slopes into a small village circa 7:30pm, just as twilight started and the sun had given away. Luckily, at the bottom of the hill, outside the main entrance of the village, a green minibus perchance was passing in the direction of Sai Kung. It was by far the most rewarding, both visually and physically, of all the hikes so far. It’s not for the faint of heart, and I did manage to finish 2L of water.

4) Tai Mo Shan: Epic failure. We first spent 1.5 hours just trying to find the correct bus terminal and bus number, which ended up taking us back the way we came to the dorm, and then to Tai Po Market. From there, we then had to navigate our way to the correct path. After first discovering we had taken the hardest part of the Wilson Trail due to heading in the wrong direction, we missed the turn to reach the peak of Tai Mo Shan, the highest point in all of Kowloon. Then, because it was getting late, we took a trail marked “dangerous” and for “experienced hikers only.” This consisted of steep, rocky, patches paired with slick mud/clay areas that were more dangerous due to the recent typhoon that passed through and delivered tons of rain. We finally emerged from the trails to the paved road path around the reservoir and ended up face to face with a troop of monkeys. (Yes, the correct collective noun for monkeys is troop!) Tired, muddy, sweaty, and hungry, we braced ourselves and trudged on until we found the bus stop.