From the Twisk Country Park Management Centre to Lin Fa Shan (Photo-essay)

A friend recently asked me if I thought the day would come when I would have covered every meter of hiking trail in Hong Kong. My answer was that I sincerely doubted it. For one thing, Hong Kong has hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails. For another, there are some hikes that I just don't think I ever will be capable of going on and successfully completing. And for a third, I've taken to happily revisiting hiking trails I enjoyed going on the first time -- this not least since I've found that going on them during different times of the year can give one a different feeling and experience from the previous time that one had ventured along the same route.

As an example, the first time I went on the trail that takes one from the Twisk Country Park Management Centre to the Tsuen Wan end of the Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail via Lin Fa Shan was on a super hot summer's day, among whose chief consolations were the grand vistas that stretched for miles, particularly visible during the latter part of the hike. In contrast, the second time I hiked this trail was on a cool November day -- one which did offer up some beautiful views too but also got me focusing more on my surroundings and engaging in such activities as insect spotting and exploring ruined buildings...

The first of many grasshoppers my regular
hiking companion and I spotted along this trail

One of many views we got of Tai Mo Shan --
Hong Kong's highest mountain at 957 meters above sea level

A way bigger and greener grasshopper
than the first one we spotted on this hike

What used to be a school at Lin Fa Shan are
now just evocative ruins in the middle of
Hong Kong's second largest country park

I'm not sure when the school was abandoned but
its buildings and grounds sure look like they are
well on their way to being reclaimed by nature

A tree has sprouted up in the middle of
what used to be the school's outhouse!

Almost every step we took in the area, we would cause
some grasshopper to jump up and out of our way!

Still my favorite of the grasshopper photos I've snapped :)