Best.Hiking.Trip....EVER

Before I start on this blog post, I just wanted to show you guys my chronological weight-loss.

vs vs
Winter 2007 and Summer 2008 and Present

haha, pretty cool, huh? A result of more exercise, a better diet, and maturing (getting older)

ON TO THE BLOG ABOUT MY AMAZING HIKING TRIP!

So. My friend Alice has a really cool Hong Kong hiking book (HK is one of the best Hiking cities in Asia) which tells you all the trails. So we decided to take one in Sai Kung, which would take us through the North-Eastern coast of Kowloon, including several beaches. Too bad the weather wasn't the best for tanning, but it was definitely breezy for the hike.

9:45AM Vinci and I decided to meet up at Choi Hung MTR station so we could Mini-bus to Sai Kung. We took exit C2 and took Mini-bus 1A to Sai Kung.

I just had to take a picture of this...rather...festive MTR column.... Choi Hung means "Rainbow." hahaha it's the only MTR station that has random art.
This is one of the art displays at Rainbow Station. It's three fat ballerinas. hahahah. RAnnnndooom

The Hiking Team:

Alice Ng--- my dance class friend!!

Vinci Lee- My friend from Virginia Tech

We have become a hiking trio.

10:30AM This is apparently NOT the best thing to eat before you go hiking (or in the morning), but Vinci couldn't resist buying them once we got to Sai Kung. They are sticky flat noodles marinaded in a heavy red syrup sauce. Fatty goodness...

The line for the mini-bus we were taking was quite long with a group of young hikers. We waited for 30 minutes before realizing it wasn't the right mini-bus -___-

11:10 AM After much waiting and figuring out what bus to take, we finally got to a park.....and then realized we had taken the wrong bus to the wrong part of the trail....

Luckily, a group of ladies told us silly kids where to go. Vinci started laughing at their English and the fact that we were lost without even beginning the hike. At least Alice was actually listening to the directions. Vinci later laughed at the ladies accent. "There are lots of bitches [beaches] here" RUDE.

After departing with the nice ladies, we took a taxi ride to the Long Ket East Dam: the start of our soon to be 6.5 hour adventure

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11:30AM We are ready to hike! This is the beginning of our desired hiking trip on MacLehose Trail. Weather is nice. We are energized. LET'S GO!!

The MacLehose Trail (the bold red line) is one of the longest hiking trails that expands throughout Kowloon and touches the New Territories. Our planned trip for this time goes from hiking post 20 to 49.....

These are the mile posts along the trail telling you how far you've gone (and letting you know you're on the right track) Some mile posts seemed closer than others and I'm not too sure what the distance was in-between, but I was definitely glad to see us getting closer to 49.

Found a random hand print engraved in the cement. Same size as my hand. I was wearing long sleeves because we started getting attacked by mosquitos. I luckily got away with only about 7 or so bites by the end of the day. Not too bad for me.

These are shots taken at the Dam. The water is surprisingly clean. I didn't realize Hong Kong had such clean water.

Walking along the trail, we came across some parts of the bay which were simply breath-taking. The water was really clean, and clear enough to see the bottom at certain parts. Notice all the "caves" along the shore? It would be cool to explore those. In the middle of this body of water, there was a unique part where there was a cross-section where waves were forming going in all four directions. Not sure why that happens, any ideas?

This was a tiny beach along the path which had the finest sand I've ever walked on. I would totally come back here to camp one day if given the chance. It's kept relatively clean. The little "town" seen in the first picture on the left is not a residential town, but it's instead a Christian-run Drug Rehabilitation Center. With a view like the one in the middle shot, it almost makes you want to start doing drugs just so you can come here! hahah......not...really.

Taking a shot of Vinci taking a shot....of logs

This says "Jesus" in Chinese. A sign for the Drug Rehabilitation Center.

~1:00PM (Hike Post 26) After some uphill climbing, Vinci started feeling a bit under the weather. We soon found out before he engulfed the snacks mentioned earlier, he had breakfast in the morning already which included fried rice and 1.5 egg yolks since his dad ate all the egg whites. Needless to say, Vinci felt sick after hiking a bit. We had to take a rest at the pavilion. If only we had known how much longer our hike was..... we probably would have turned around gone back to the dam. haha. I like this shot of Alice in the center. The shot of me has Tai Long Wan and Ham Tim beaches in the background.

Most people, when they get sick, get yellow in the face. Vinci gets yellow in the neck. I took a picture to show him. I seriously thought he was dying. Glad he didn't though!

Certain sections had some unique bits laying around. The pic on the top is of a random part of the trail that abnormally orange dirt and the pic of the right is unknown animal droppings that were all over the trail, and are in pellets. hahahah appetizing...

Just some narcissistic moments.

This girl wouldn't move to side for us to get by her, which really annoyed the shit out of me. She walked like a crab with two fingers up and was listening to weird music and going down the steps in a "both feet must come together on a step before I reach the next one and I won't care that it's taking forever even though there are people behind us" manner. Vinci and I called her "crab girl" and laughed until she finally decided to move. Later we rested at the same pavilion for lunch....awkkkwwarddd

LUNCH BREAK! Eating some bread I bought earlier.

Below are some beautiful shots along the trail.

Amazingly blue water.

Shot of Sai Wan beach. The sharp mountain is known as Sharp Peak, where MacLehose (whoever he is) use to go via private helicopter for swims to escape work. If you want to know who he is (doubt it) you can look it up on wikipedia.

Vinci offered me a Pork jerky to snack on, and I, of course, was glad to do so until I noticed there was a fine, COARSE, black hair inside the jerky. So gross. I kept the jerky so I can blackmail the company later. MWAHAHAH

3:00PM (Hike Post 32) We reach Sai Wan Village, just moments away from the beach. This village consists of several small buildings (emphasis on "small") that all serve tofu desserts and simple noodle/rice meals to hungry hikers. What I don't understand is, why they all serve the same thing. Isn't it better for competition if they all sold different foods? Also, I wondered how they got their supplies and ingredients. They are miles away from the closest supermarket.

Path to Sai Wan village


Some buildings in the village. Look at that creepy hand print on the red door.

I don't know what the "JEN" shot is. Some girl just wrote her name by a weird contraption on the beach.

3:00PM-4:00PM We laid on the beach for an hour and passed the **** out. Although the sun wasn't always there, we still managed to tan a little bit. Can't wait to come back here when the weather's even nicer. Looking forward to that trip. Anyone want to come along?



Along the beach were a lot of little holes with beads of sand in weird patterns all around. Later, I noticed things scurrying across the sand and entering the holes as we approached. Getting a closer look, you can see the sand-camouflaged mini-crabs in the picture on the left. These crabs dig out holes so they can use them for hiding.

Vinci, resting on the rocks. Alice looking at some abnormally green algae.

4:30PM Continuing our hike, we reach the last of the three beaches on our trail. These are shots of Ham Tim Beach (Salty Beach). We regretted resting at Sai Wan after seeing Ham Tim, but we'll know next time. The water is amazing, isn't it? Never knew Hong Kong had beaches like this.

At the bottom of the trail, we landed on the sands of Ham Tim beach. Here we had a choice to follow the MacLehose trail, which would take us through a swamp, or we could walk across the sand and take another route to join up with the MacLehose trail later. I told Vinci to choose, and he decided to take the swamp way.... Never again. Why, you may ask? Let's see:

1) mosquitos orgyfest. you could stand there for 2 seconds and have 20 on your. Vinci killed 20 in 1 minute.

2) Cow dung everywhere, had to avoid your every step

3) stinkiness- swamp. period.

Random boat and cow poop

4:45PM (Hike post 38) After scurrying through the swamplands, we reached the Village of Tai Long. Only during weekends, people that live here sell refreshments. There are more wild dogs here than people. You can store your surfboards here for a storage fee. They sure do know how to make their money.

Cows live here too..

Haha..have their own website...

The next section was a long hike uphill. It was hell. The path here is all concrete and as the hiking book calls it "an urban jungle" since the path is like one straight out of the city and does not even try to corporate itself among the natural surroundings.

5:30PM (Hike Post 42) We reach what became my favorite part of the hike. The abandoned village of Chek Keng. There are some people living in one of the buildings, but the village for the most part is a ghost town.

This arrow, made of stones, is indicating a path for those that want to end their hike earlier and take a ferry at Chek Keng and return to Sai Kung. We decided since we were only 7 hike posts away, we could make it to the end. WE DON"T QUIT! QUITTERS NEVER WIN!!!

The "Wussy Escape" ferries on the cobblestone beach of Chek King. Look at those wusses.

The first picture is a Youth Hostel run single-handed by a man who's been there for 14 years or so. I only know this because the hiking book told me so in case you're wondering about my omniscient knowledge. The shot in the middle is an abandoned Chek Keng House. If you look close enough on the roof, there was a cow eating the plants there. Of all the random things I've seen in my life, cow on a roof is checked on my check list.

Some more abandoned buildings. The one in the middle use to be convenient store. This part of the hike was so cool. The place had so much history. If you looked inside the windows, you can see proof of living from the past. I'm glad they didn't demolish everything and kept it aging in a "natural" way because it didn't made the long-ass hike even more worth-while.

The shot of the inside of a building.

At this point, it was starting to get dark and we had to get through 6 or more hiking posts. I didn't take anymore pictures because I was more worried about not hiking in the darkness. We finally made it to the end literally minutes before it got pitch dark. It was 6:45PM and we were all tired, hungry, and smelly. I rewarded myself with a Hamburger at Ruby Tuesdays to regain all the calories I lost on the 7 hour long hike.

I regret nothing