Yuen Tun Country Trail hike sights (Photo-essay)

When many people talk about hiking in Hong Kong, they tend to talk about hiking on Hong Kong Island, Lantau or in the country park sections of the Sai Kung Peninsula.  Despite it being the second largest of Hong Kong's 24 country parks, rarely does Tai Lam Country Park rate a mention.

So it stands to reason that when my hiking companion and I went tramping one beautiful afternoon in late November along a route that consisted of the Yuen Tun Country Trail and another section of trail that took us from Kat Hing Bridge deep inside the country park to the village of Ho Pui outside of it, we didn't see a single other human being for a large part of our trek!  Still, it was a bit surprising since our hike did start really close to 'civilization' in the form of some nice looking apartment complexes and such arrayed on the side of a major highway that is Tuen Mun Road... and all the more so since it's a trail that, to my mind at least, offers up its share of interesting views and sights!

A view from early on in the hike that takes in

multi-storey buildings and the Tsing Ma Bridge

(and -- in the far distance -- a part of Hong Kong Island)

 

 A little bit further along the hike, the Ting Kau Bridge

looms closer -- and Tsuen Wan is visible in the distance

 Soon though, buildings and bridges

vanish from one's sight

I still remember the incredible silence to be found

at this juncture of the hike

View with Tai Lam Chung Reservoir in the distance 

--  and a wooden trail sign in the foreground

 

 I don't know about you but I find the surface 

of this portion of the trail visually interesting :)

Strange bugs stuck behind the glass of an 

information board located near Kat Hing Bridge! :O

What some people might find a more unexpected

sight than the bugs: farm land and farmers in Hong Kong! ;b

Spring day hike up and over Kai Kung Shan :)

View of the final hill to go over in order to get to

the end of Stage 3 of the Maclehose Trail

 Strange but true: I've noticed this particular species of butterfly

posing comfortably atop more than one Hong Kong peak 

Also out this afternoon -- though harder to spot on account 

of its camouflage -- was this mud colored grasshopper! :b

Another Sunday, another hike -- and another Hong Kong peak conquered!  Whereas last week, it was 465 meter high Lo Fu Tau on Lantau Island, this week, it was 399 meter high Kai Kung Shan (Cantonese for Rooster Hill) in Sai Kung West Country Park.  And whereas the maximum temperature last week was around 21 degrees Celsius, today's high has been reported on the Weather Underground of Hong Kong website as a considerably warmer 29.3 degrees Celsius!

Although there's no denying that last week's hike from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo via Lo Fu Tau was more challenging than today's (on account of it involving a steep climb up the 465 meter high hill from sea level Discovery Bay), this afternoon's hike also was no picnic -- this despite our trail having begun in the vicinity of Lady Maclehose Holiday Village rather than further away at the official starting point of Maclehose Trail Stage 3.  One big reason for this was that it's warmed up considerably this week compared to previous weeks -- though, thankfully, it's not become super humid yet. 

Many hikers rue the onset of warm weather and some even stop hiking completely during the hotter months in Hong Kong.  I can understand why they think this way but, at the same time, I've also noticed (as has Hidden Hong Kong (and Macau)'s Phil) that it's when Hong Kong has warmer weather that the sky tends to be noticeably bluer and the air discernibly less polluted.  And for the record: it was indeed the case that this afternoon was considerably brighter as well as warmer than last Sunday's.

Something else to look forward to while out hiking during the warmer months is that the hills and the rest of the countryside once again come alive with all manners of critters.  And this afternoon, I lucked out in that my hiking buddy and I didn't come across any snakes on our trek (and didn't come away with any mosquito bites) but we spotted quite a few butterflies out and about, and I also spotted -- and managed to take photos -- of at least one grasshopper and several spiders that were considerably smaller than the Golden Orb Weaver but whose webs appear to be made out of more reams of spider silk.

I also appreciated that today's hike was generally more colorful than last week's -- and not just because of the different species of beautiful butterflies that were flitting about this afternoon.  For one thing, the sky was so bright blue in places that it seemed as it was sparkling.  For another, the bright sunshine and clear air helped accentuate the green of the leaves and other fauna that covered much of the countryside we passed through today.  For a third, a number of flowers have bloomed in the area.  Add the sightings of birds as well as the sounds of them singing away -- and I have proof and am happy that spring's indeed here! :)     

Monochrome and What Sport Do You Like? (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

For the longest time, when asked "What sport do you like (best)?", my answer would be association football (AKA soccer to American English speakers).  But while I still regularly watch it -- albeit on 'live' on TV or via "livestream" video, rather than live, since my favorite football club (still, after all these sometimes frustrating years...) have their home in North London -- I haven't played it since I left Philadelphia way back in the summer of 2003.

After returning to Penang, my sport of choice to play for a time was tennis.  But my getting a frozen shoulder put paid to my tennis playing days.  So I had to find another exercise activity -- and did so in hiking, an activity and sport that I had occasionally done when I lived in the US and Britain (and also Tanzania) but really only began pursuing in earnest after moving to Hong Kong.

As regular visitors to this blog know, I not only hike a lot but also take a lot of photos when out on Hong Kong's many hiking trails.  Even so, I was surprised to find how large was the number of hike photos in my archive that looked suitable for this week's Photo Hunt themes chosen by Sandi as well as Gattina -- and in many different monochromatic hues too!

In the end, I've restricted myself to just offering up three natural monochrome photos: with the largely gray one being a landscape image that includes a sighting of the iconic Lion Rock; the green image being a close-up shot of interesting, well, greenery; and the final photo being of a brown grasshopper in a largely brown setting. :)

Zanzo - dining as opposed to sake bar

Pretty to look at...

Looks appetizing, right?

 

 Would you eat this?

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to try out a new Japanese eatery in increasingly hip Tai Hang.  Zanzo markets itself as a "contemporary Japanese dining bar" and has also been described on occasion as a sake bar.  

 

So I have to admit to being pretty disappointed upon getting there to discover that its sake selection was on the limited side -- nothing at all like that to be found at the amazing Sasagin in Tokyo or Sake Bar Ginn, the sake bar in Lan Kwai Fong whose owner-manager, the wonderful Ayuchi Momose, is a certified sake sommelier and instructor -- and, worse, that its manager didn't seem to know the difference between junmai and honjozo sakes.

 

Funnily enough, it seemed that while Zanzo's sake selection was more like what you'd expect at an izakaya, its food selection was more like that to be found at a bona fide sake bar.  By this, I mean that the food selection was on the limited side to my mind.

Still, if it was good, I'd be happy.  And my friend and I were pretty impressed when the first dishes we had ordered appeared and were placed on the table... until we began actually tasting them.  For unfortunately, dishes such as spiced Obara konbu and nori (see the upper most photo on this post) and snapper sashimi topped with a spiced radish ponzu vinaigrette (see the middle photo at the top of this post) were far more beautifully presented than they were delicious tasting.

 

Ironically, the tastiest dish we had was actually the one that had looked the least appetizing.  Fortunately, we hadn't realized when ordering it what the "charcoal" vegetables (see this post's third photo) would look like -- and we did go ahead and dig into them when they were placed in front of us.

And to be fair, we did have other delectable dishes at Zanzo that evening.  The thing is that, if our experience was anything to go by, it's better to order the hot entrees on the menu there than cold ones!  (And for the record, another of the better dishes we had there -- and probably also the most filling -- was the grilled wagyu beef with "hot spring" egg on nishiki rice. :b)

Past Chek Lap Kok airport to hike's end in Tai O (Photo-essay)

In my first photo-essay chronicling the second time I hiked from Tung Chung to Tai O, there were images that could get one thinking that a walk along this particular trail could feel like a walk back in time.  In reality though, part of this particular trail that almost entirely is located outside the boundaries of a country park also is not that far away from the very modern as well as large Chek Lap Kok airport designed by Norman Foster.  

So it's also true enough that every once in a while, one would hear the sound of planes flying overhead, coming into land or flying out even while beholding sights like that which are to be seen in this as well as the earlier hike photo-essay... ;b

There's a particular spot along the trail favored by

plane spotters...

Are these diffuse dayflowers (AKA Commelina diffusa)?

In any case, I really am happy to have spotted them :)

And are these montane kudzu 

(AKA Pueraria lobata var. montana)

that the pretty, small butterfly is perched atop?

 On Hong Kong hikes, one sometimes catches sight of dwellings 

that some might consider to be in an idyllic location and 

others reckon are just too remote to be ideal

Did the sign writers goof with the lower sign --

hence there being a need for handwritten corrections?

Especially in the last few kilometers before one gets to Tai O,

the trail offers up some nice coastal views

Go through that "hole" and Tung Chung

would soon be in range and sight...

Going this way along the trail, once you see this photogenic

 Yeung Hau Temple, you know you've made it Tai O :)

Up to Lo Fu Tau at last! :)

See that steep trail leading pretty much straight up 

the hill in the foreground and visible again 

close to the rock face in the distance?

The upper part of the trail in both pictures above 

are one and the same! :)

Guess where two hiking buddies and I trekked up today! :b

One hot July afternoon a couple of years ago, my then regular hiking companion (who -- sadly for me -- moved back to Canada two Februaries ago now) hiked from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo along a route that took us past the Trappist Haven Monastery.  Earlier today, two other hiking buddies and I went on a much more difficult trail that took us from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo via 465 meter high Lo Fu Tau (Tiger Head in Cantonese).

 

Earlier in the week, the daytime temperatures rose as high as 25 degrees Celsius.  So when I saw that the temperatures today were forecast to be only in the upper teens instead, I got to thinking that we might have our last cool weekend for a while -- as in maybe not again until November -- and that we should go for the last hard hike for the season today.

 

After getting okays from two friends (but not a third who decided that the proposed hike would be too much for her), we headed in the early afternoon to Discovery Bay, with the hike proper beginning pretty much at sea level just a few minutes walk away from its ferry pier.  We almost lost one of our party early on when she saw how steep the start of the hike was -- up at least over 600 steps until we got to a level area again.  But after she got her second wind, she ended up leading the way later on in the hike up to that Lantau Island peak!

For my part, I was okay with the early part of the hike but found the climb up Lo Fu Tau to be more challenging!  Heck, I even found some photographs I found of it online to be on the intimidating side!!  But am I glad that I went up it today -- and yes, I do feel quite a sense of achievement from doing so!!  

 

This is not least because many years ago, I had bailed out early on from a Roz's group hike that began in Discovery Bay and I latterly got to realizing was one that went up Lo Fu Tau before descending to Mui Wo.  My needing to abandon the hike early on as we went up a steep trail had filled me with a sense of shame and inadequacy -- at least until I went to see a doctor the next day and was told that I had bronchitis!  Still, it was nice to finally do the hike I had meant done in my first year of living in Hong Kong -- for as the proverbial "they" say, "Better late than never!" :b

Steel and An Action Shot (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

There's no two ways about it: Hong Kong is home to lots of tall buildings, including skyscrapers of steel and glass.  And many visitors to the Big Lychee leave with lots of photographs of them, including ones taken from the northern side of Victoria Peak like the top-most image in this entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts.

I wonder though how many people think to look up once in a while when they're out and about in the highrise sections of Hong Kong to spot and even snap shots of such as window cleaners in action on the sides of those tall buildings? (And yes, I am in awe of those workers, and reckon they need nerves of steel to do the job that they do!)

On the subject of nerves: I have to say that Hong Kong (working) life can sometimes get on one's nerves -- and so people here need to find ways to destress.  As regular visitors to this blog know, one of my favored ways to do so is to go out hiking.  As they also will know, I tend to favor what a hiking buddy described as a "non-competitive style of hiking" in that I hike to see sights as well as for exercise and never to "better times", etc.

Every once in a while, my hiking companion(s) and I find ourselves along trails that others prefer to run.  When we do, we will move to the side and let those budding ironmen and -women pass by first.  Often times, we've noticed, they don't look like they're having much fun -- at least not as much as the slower likes of us!   And they definitely won't have action shots of us the way that the likes of camera-totting moi have of them! ;b