For a long time now Sabrina and myself have been a bit lazy when it comes to seeing the sights of Hong Kong. The reason? We have been here so long that rather than thinking of this place as a pitstop on our journey of life, it became home.
The winter months made me feel very lazy in terms of being fit and getting motivated. So last Wednesday Sab, myself and our friend Kate decided to take advantage of the public holiday we had and decided to go out into nature and discover some of the natural beauty of Hong Kong.
We decided to do the Dragons Back Walk, which was voted the best walk in Asia in Time Magazine (2004). It was a fine and humid day in town yet the three of us went ahead with our walk and well before we even started we were in trouble. We actually started our walk at the finishing point and after about 30 mins, lost the trail that we were supposed to be on. We found ourselves on the side of a mountain high above the city walking in dense vegetation up the side of a mountain following a dirt trail.
Sabrina purchased herself a video camera for her birthday and we took it its test run and it was fast developing into a “Blair Witch Project’ situation. The humidity made my t-shirt stick to my skin and the hike was fast developing into a comedy of errors. After climbing half and hour up the side of a mountain we came across a path which we found out later was the path we should have taken if we actually started at the start and not the end…confused? So were we.
After another hour we made it to our starting point only to find out that the walk we though we were doing (the Dragons Back) wasn’t that walk at all! We had spent three hours on a walk, getting lost and going the wrong way around only to find out that we weren’t even on the right walk. All of this was captured on Sabrina’s camera too.
After an afternoon down at Stanley Market, it was just the day I needed to feel good again and with our newfound enthusiasm, Sab and I went for another walk yesterday armed with her trusty camera. This time around we stayed in town and decided to do the Hong Kong Heritage trail, which took us to all the older, meaningful buildings that this vibrant city’s past was built on.
Our three hour tour took about four and a half as we decided to amble around the streets and take a quick trip up to Victoria Peak. If you haven’t been to Hong Kong you just have to go to the peak as it is the best view of a city anywhere in the world. The great thing about this the tour is that you really get a sense of the history of this place and we didn’t get lost and also we had another great walk. I picked up an authentic Bruce Lee movie poster from a little back street antique shop as well! With two big walks in half a week Sab and I are determined to walk as much of Hong Kong as possible before we leave.
By the way, Sab and I are off to Malaysia for a week on Friday. Yeppo, we are off to Kuala Lumpur and Penang which is at the north of the country. We are both really looking forward to this trip and if this new found enthusiasm I have continues past Malaysia, its going to be a hectic three months in Hong Kong. It’s nice to get back the feeling that at the end of the day I’m here to take part in new experiences and learn from them.
Sometimes you really do have to stop and smell the roses.
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