Sunday, January 27, 2019

An enjoyable, even if physically demanding, day out in the Sai Kung Peninsula

I don't want to know how many uphill steps
I went up this afternoon... ;( 
 
These Chinese New Year flowers signal that
Chinese New Year really is not far away!
 
Beautiful day for a hike in the Sai Kung Peninsula :)
  
I spent a good part of last weekend indoors in urban sections of Hong Kong, doing such as having dim sum lunches two days in a row, attending a seasonal sake event at Sake Bar Ginn and attending a screening of a beautifully restored version of Yazujiro Ozu's Floating Weeds (1959).  In contrast, a good part of this weekend's daylight hours have seen me outdoors in the less built up sections of "Asia's World City": on Cheung Chau taking part in one more beach clean-up yesterday; and out hiking in the Sai Kung Peninsula this afternoon.
 
And just like it's not at all usual for me to have dim sum for two days running, I don't usually go hiking two days in a row -- but ended up doing so this weekend!  Granted that the journey to and from Tung Wan Tsai (aka Coral Beach), where the beach clean-ups regularly take place, from Cheung Chau's ferry pier (which I take a ferry to from Central) are not more than one hour long each way -- but they still count as hikes, even if short ones, to me.  At the same time though, I don't think anyone is going to dispute that a trek along the Maclehose Trail's Stage 3 is not a proper hike; and this even if we take detour midway along it to the Lady Maclehose Holiday Village rather than continue up and then down Kai Kung Shan to entirely follow the official route!
 
One reason for this is that this route involves one pretty physically demanding uphill stretch very early on in the hike.  For another, unlike Stages 1 and 2 of the Maclehose Trail, Stage 3 is one of those increasingly rare sections of major Hong Kong trails that's entirely unpaved.  Furthermore, even with the detour, I easily took over 10,000 steps -- and many of them uphill ones too! -- on today's hike (and had over 14,700 steps recorded on my pedometer when I got home this evening).
 
I think one of the three people in my hiking party today was not completely prepared for how tough today's hike would be.  But after seeing the splendid views and other cool sights frequently on offer over the course of today's Hong Kong country park excursion, I trust that she is agreement with everyone else in the group that today's was a really enjoyable hike.
 
Among today's hike highlights: feral cow spottings (including right by the trail head!); seeing a paraglider in glorious flight; and the sight of clump upon clump of beautiful Chinese New Year flowers!  And, of course, there were the views of land, water and sky -- with far more hills than buildings visible for the great bulk of our hike and sections of cloud-filled skies whose sight I enjoyed so much that I ended up gazing skywards more frequently than I regularly do on a hike, never mind while strolling in the more urban parts of the Big Lychee... :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

I once came across a big black bull at the small piece of grass at Mau Ping. It was tramping around seemed to be looking for mates. I had to move very slowly before getting some distance of it and went down to Mui Tze Lam Village. Some hikers coming up that way didn't recognize the danger and try to approach the bull........

Oh dear..... Fortunately they did not. Or it may be in the news.

My second encounter with a big bull was on the high grounds close to the pavilon in the fork of path that go down to Lam Tsun along the Mac. This one was also making lots of noise all around. Had to make a wide birth to go around it.

The third time was on the old trial on Tai Mo Shan. This one was a youngster. Not making any threats.  I just slowly walked by while it was enjoying breakfast within an arm's length.

T

YTSL said...

Hi T --

I've been lucky to generally encounter only placid cows on my Hong Kong hikes. Did have to pass close by to a rather scary bull on the way up to the Ngong Ping plateau a few weeks back though -- and what him even more intimidating was there being a cluster of flies buzzing around him!

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

Bulls are generally not friendly and extremely territorial. The problem with Bulls is that they are unpredictable and easily provoked. The one I met at Mau Ping (close to Ngong Ping) was likely weighing over 1000 Pounds. For animals of this size, even if they are giving you a friendly nudge you could be in big trouble.

I don't want to bump into one again anytime soon.

T

YTSL said...

Hi again T --

Bulls can be scary but I actually am more afraid of encountering wild/feral dogs as well as snakes while hiking in Hong Kong. I also don't care much at all for monkeys. In fact, I'd say they are my least favorite creatures to encounter in the Hong Kong countryside -- and are a major reason why my least favorite sections of Hong Kong to hike in are those in the areas where they are known to roam in large numbers.

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

I have met a small pack of dogs in Coral Beach in Cheung Chau multiple times. They even have puppies. But for this pack they are alert and would stay away from people, which is good.

I have met another pack at the Wilson's close to Ma Yau Tong. This pack was bad (as I suspect some of the villagers may have let them loose). I have to wave my walking stick casually from time to time to discourage them from.

Some village dogs are extremely friendly though. If I encounter these I would usually allow them to sniff me out but I won't usually touch them. They will usually move away when they are done anyway.

For snakes I had only had three close encounters over the decades so far. Two of these with poisonous ones. Lucky me.

T

YTSL said...

Hi once more --

I have come across packs of wild dogs in the vicinity of Coral Beach (Tung Wan Tsai), which I have been organizing beach clean-ups at for some time now. Haven't seen them in recent months though, thank goodness! Still, they actually haven't been as scary as the pack of wild dogs I encountered at Wan Tsai, over in the Sai Kung Peninsula, some years back...

As for snakes: I had a very close encounter with one a couple of years back -- as in, it was lying on the stone next to the one I stepped on along an old stone path. If I had stepped just a few inches to my right... ;(