peak saturday

April and I hiked up to Victoria Peak on Saturday morning, via the Central Green Trail. The weather was nice, though quite smoggy (as you can see from the photo below). In fact, I didn't notice just how hazy it was until looking at this picture now...
We had a great time though! Here we are squinting up at the camera (and sun)!

We had lunch right above the tram rails -- here's the tram making the steep climb up.

If this post seems at all familiar, it's probably because I blogged about the Central Green Trail last year when Daniel visited, here. It's actually worth comparing the photos in the posts -- the skies were much clearer in October (which is surprising considering that fall and winter are the dry season here, and usually much hazier than spring and summer...).

dragon's back

I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks -- time for some catch-up!

After seeing the beauty of Dragon's Back during the Green Power hike, I decided that I needed to go back, and under more relaxing circumstances. It was nice to go with friends, and to take our time enjoying the beauty around us.

Here's everybody with the view of Shek O in the background.

And Maria took this one. It was windy up there -- can you tell?

A slightly hazy view of Big Wave Bay -- our destination.

Simon and Anish tried carb gels for the first time. I tried to warn them about the apricot-banana flavored ones (I believe my exact words were something like "everything unappetizing about bananas distilled into slimy gel form"), but they didn't listen.


We made it to Big Wave Bay a little before noon, and enjoyed lunch at a quaint little cafe right on the beach. Afterwards April and Maria took naps on the sand. (Note all the surfers in the distance -- it's not called Big Wave Bay for nothing!)

Anish, Simon and I walked up to a pagoda with a great view of the bay.

It was a beautiful, very relaxing day. I'm glad not to have anything big to train for (for a while at least), and am looking forward to more fun hikes like this one!

green power completed

I did my first official fund-raising hike yesterday -- the Green Power 50 km! The hike follows the HK trail around and over the mountains of HK island -- starting at the Peak (which still seems a little like cheating to me...) and ending at Big Wave Bay. I'd only hiked part of the trail before, and that was years ago, so most of the sights were new to me... so I decided to bring my camera!

We arrived at the Peak at around 7:00 am and had a 7:30 start.
The starting line up ahead.

Dave and Cindy before the start. Dave hiked with my dad and I, but Cindy ran off ahead, and ended up coming second in the Master Women's category! Go Cindy!
Dad and I at the starting line.

Before the start with Cindy.

And the rest of these photos are pretty random... shots that I took quite haphazardly whenever I got a chance to take out my camera.

I really would've enjoyed riding a horse for at least part of the time, but alas, they were not allowed on this trail. This sign (and the others like it) seemed a bit strange... but their presence makes me think that horseback riding is permitted on some HK island trails. Who would have thought?

Lamma island in the distance.

Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau.

The Daves on the trail. I took this right after dropping my camera -- thankfully it bounced on a patch of grass (absorbing some of the shock) before landing on the stone steps. It decided to take a break for a while afterwards though, which is why I have no pictures of the quarry and Mt. Butler -- the parts of the hike that I found most challenging.

I'd all but given up on taking more photos, but when I got to the top of Dragon's Back (the final 8 km or so) and took in the view, I decided to try my camera one more time -- and it worked!! It was such a beautiful day, and Shek O beach down below was just gorgeous.

And there were people para-gliding -- what I would have given to trade places with one of them! But I had to finish what I'd started. Still, I'd definitely like to try this sometime!

And finally, the hike ended down at Big Wave Bay.

Dave borrowed my camera to take a picture of the winner's board and Cindy's Master Female 2nd place time. The funny thing is, looking at this picture just now, I noticed that my friend Kevin came third for the men! I got a message from him on Facebook telling me that he'd done the hike, but he failed to mention his placing and super-fast time. Congratulations Kevin! And kudos on the modesty! :)

We finished in about 9 and a half hours. Didn't break any records, but had a good time!

green power: 6 days and counting

I picked up my Green Power number today, along with the little chip I have to attach to my shoe. It's the first time I've ever been officially registered for a hike like this, and it all feels so, well, official. Hopefully I'm ready.
Here's a photo I took during last Saturday's 28 km training hike. We walked from the Choi Hung MTR station to Pak Tam Au in Sai Kung. It was MacLehose Stages 3, 4, and part of 5 backwards. I can't remember exactly where I took the photo below... maybe on Stage 3? I think this might be the view from the infamous Rooster Hill, but I'm not sure.
I'm still looking for sponsors for the hike, so if you'd like to support Green Power, let me know! :)

wilson trail -- cloudy hill and the eight fairies

I'd done minimal hiking since the Trail Walker in November, and with the Green Power 50k coming up soon, it was time to get some training in. So yesterday, I followed my dad and Dave (who I will hereafter affectionately refer to as "the Daves") on the last couple stages of the Wilson Trail, which ended up being about 24k, with some pretty intense climbs over Cloudy Hill and the Eight Fairies (Pat Sin Leng). I'd hiked the Eight Fairies last September with my dad (and had had an interesting time with my grass allergy), but had never climbed Cloudy Hill before. It was nice to be out on a relatively unfamiliar trail, and the weather was absolutely perfect for hiking!

The Daves at the top of our first summit, with Cloudy Hill [surprisingly] visible in the background. Apparently, Cloudy Hill is usually, well, cloudy. But not yesterday.
Stairs, stairs, and more stairs going up to Cloudy Hill.

Looking down from Cloudy hill at the path that we'd just come up.

There were more markers along this portion of the Wilson than other stages we'd hiked before. It's a trail that has become notorious (among us at least) for being poorly marked.

Making our way to the Eight Fairies.

The view from the 8th and tallest of the Eight Fairies, with the seven other fairies ahead of us.

An abandoned village near the end of the trail, near Bride's Pool.

Another abandoned building. I'd like to go back to this village and explore further...

More evidence of human habitation.

We passed a number of streams. Flash flood warnings are common, but I'd never seen one of these signs before. Scary.

Giant ferns everywhere.

The Wilson Trail ends at a small village called Nam Chung. Here are some of the village houses next to a mangrove swamp.

Next Saturday we'll be doing another practice hike, this time on the good ol' Maclehose trail.

green power hike

My dad and I are planning to do the Green Power hike on March 1st. It's on the HK trail, which I hear is pretty tame compared to the MacLehose. Anyone else interested? We're hoping to do the 50k hike, but 25k and 10k are also available. Registration ends on January 25th.

I'm excited to have something to train for again! Haven't done much hiking lately, except for my regular route -- the hike mentioned in this ancient post. But, my dad and some others are planning to climb Sharp's peak next Saturday, and I think I'll go along. I've never hiked it, though I've seen it and observed it's steepness many a time. It's in Saikung, near Stage 2 of the MacLehose, and happens to be the mountain I'm always grateful not to have to go over...

trailwalker moments

Some memorable Trailwalker moments:

• cheering on the Gurkhas (and other super (sub 18-hr) teams) as they ran past us (reminder: we started 2.5 hours before the first official start time).
• being offered gummy candies by Mike Harrison at the bottom of Rooster Hill on Stage 3.
• getting a call from Ikea about a shelf I'd ordered while we were stopped at our first support stop. Bizarre...
• having my fill of carb gels (don't even want to look at them for a while...).
• drifting off to sleep while walking... a few times.
• receiving applause from the high school volunteers whose job it was to cheer on hikers entering check point 4.
• getting to the half-way mark and knowing that the hardest climbs were behind us.
• being so tired and unreasonable that I hoped my teammates would actually suggest taking a nap in the middle of the trail. Thankfully Dave was willing to give me some of his Red Bull, which helped get me through...
• getting to the top of Needle Hill (with the help of U2 on my iPod, and super-hiker Cindy walking behind me) on Stage 7.
• wanting to quit in the middle of the night on Stage 8, but then realizing it would be more work to try to find my way home than to continue and finish.
• seeing the sun come up from Tai Mo Shan (Stage 8). What a welcomed dawn!
• looking forward to cinnamon rolls (made and served by my mom) at the bottom of Tai Mo Shan.
• being "towed" by super-hiker Cindy, and then later by my dad (he'd had only 3 hours of sleep the night before, so ended up dropping out after Stage 3, but joined us again for Stages 9 & 10).
• FINISHING!

trailwalker pics

At the start. Did I mention that we started 2.5 hours before the first start time? It was 6:30 and the sun was just coming up.
My team (L-R): Dave, Jacelyn, Dad, me.
Here we are posing with a poster that looks like it's meant to deter people from entering the Trailwalker...
Even though we weren't official entrants in the 2007 Oxfam Trailwalker, we made it into the photo gallery TWICE! The photo below is even the album cover for the album "On the Trail." (Link)
Another photo taken by one of the Trailwalker photographers. Here we are running to cross the finish line. Not sure what was going on with my leg in this photo...
And here's a poster I saw about a week before the hike that almost put me off the whole thing. Once again, were they trying to deter people?
I'm grateful that I came out of the whole thing pretty well. Besides the knee (which I'm hoping to get looked at soon), two blisters were all I got... a little better off than the guy above.

I'm planning to do one more Trailwalker-themed post, on some memorable TW moments. If you're getting tired of hearing about the hike -- only one more post to bear! If you're enjoying reading about the experience -- stay tuned!

trailwalker stats

Some Trailwalker info, courtesy of the Oxfam Trailwalker site.


I think this one is the most insightful -- elevation!!


And according to Mike and Helen, friends and fellow Trailwalkers (official ones at that!), the total elevation gained during the Trailwalker is equivalent to climbing Everest TWICE!! (link) No wonder I'm sore...

trailwalker update

I'm about to head to bed, to get some much needed sleep, but thought I would first give an update on the Trailwalker. We finished it! My team was able to hike the 100 km in 29 hours and 40 minutes, which met our goal of 30 hours. I'm still in a state of disbelief that I actually did it. My problematic left knee was hurting even before we started hiking yesterday, so I really didn't expect to finish. Once I realized that the pain wasn't going to go away, I decided that I would just try to deal with it, but would quit if it got any worse. And it didn't! Granted, the pain killers that I took were partly responsible, but I was very thankful to get through it without any serious injury. Thanks must go to my very patient teammates -- my knee and then later some sickness on the trail held me up quite a few times -- and all the folks that helped us with support. Also, I thank God for his grace in protecting my knee, and for giving me the strength to do something that I didn't think I could do.
Well, it's time to say goodnight. I'll post more about the hike (along with a few photos) when I have a little more energy...

trailwalker eats

This is just some of the food that I'm planning to eat on the Trailwalker. I think I will be breaking a personal record...

ecolips and other purchases

The Trailwalker is on Friday. Though I've been training for it for some months now, it's hard to believe that the day is almost here. I've had a harder time than expected getting excited about the hike, and I think that's mainly because there were some moments over the weekend when I thought that I wouldn't/shouldn't do it. At some point during my packing at school, I did something to my left knee. I bought a really heavy-duty brace though (one that makes me feel like Robocop when I wear it), and I think it has helped. Knee still hurts a little when I go down stairs, but it's bearable.

Though it would be disappointing not to be able to finish the Trailwalker, I think that facing the reality of injury has made me see that there are worse things than not finishing. Like leg amputations, permanent knee damage, or never walking normally again (OK, I'll try to refrain from the melodrama from here on out). Anyway, I'm glad that quitting now seems an acceptable option.

That being said, once I'd decided to attempt the hike, I knew that I needed to get myself psyched up, at least a little bit, about Friday. Even if I don't end up finishing, I need to go into it expecting the best. So what better way to get excited about hiking than a shopping trip to my favorite outdoor supply store, Protrek?!

I got a new dry fit shirt and a whole carton of carb gels. I probably won't use all 24 of them this weekend, but buying in bulk turned out to be a good deal. These gels will probably get their own post at some point... I find them quite fascinating.

And now for my more frivolous purchase (though, in my defense, I did need some new chapstick...): Ecolips. Or is it "Eco Lips"? Anyway, it was a pretty pricey tube of chapstick that I'll admit, I bought mainly because it comes with an Ecolips carribeener/hook thingy with the Ecolips brand name on it. But not to fear, dear reader -- those are HK dollars.

I'm sure there will be more Trailwalker posts to come, regardless of what happens with my knee.

sai kung to tai wai with mike and helen

Yesterday was Chung Yeung festival and a public holiday here in Hong Kong. The festival is also known as "Fall Remembrance Day," sort of the autumn counterpart of Ching Ming -- people clear, maintain, and bring offerings to the graves of their ancestors. And I found out from Sal that it's also traditionally a hiking holiday. No wonder there were so many people up in the hills!

I had the rare privilege of hiking with Mike and Helen, who also happen to be training for the Trailwalker. I don't get to hike with them much, because our days off don't often match up (though I'm still looking into getting Mondays off...;)). Seeing as it was such a special day, I even brought my camera along! Here are the shots I took:

This is the only photo I took on stage 3 (the fun trail I blogged about last week). I heard some rustling in the leaves nearby and saw this beautifully colored lizard. After doing a little research in a HK wildlife book, I now know it's a blue-tailed skink.
Yesterday was the first day I'd attempted stages 3 and 4 together. This is a view of Ma On Shan (beginning of stage 4) after we'd already gained some elevation. It's quite an intimidating mountain... thankfully the trail doesn't go over its peak.

A view of HKUST from Ma On Shan.

The fearless Tozers.

A view of City 1 and Shek Mun (new school location!) from Tait's Cairn. Not a fan of the air quality, but this was pretty clear compared to the view we had of Kowloon and HK island...

We opted not to finish stage 5 because of time constraints. Instead, we took the horrendously marked Wilson Trail down to Tai Wai. Sai Kung to Tai Wai = about 30 km. Not bad!

3 more weeks till the Trailwalker...