Last Tuesday, I put up my first photo-essay of an 11 kilometer Hong Kong Island hike I went on last spring that conveniently began at the junction of the busy thoroughfare that is King's Road and the uphill bound Mount Parker Road halfway between two MTR stations. This evening, I'm continuing the documenting where I left off the last time: at the top of 436-meter-high Mount Butler.
But while I did feel a sense of satisfaction upon having reached the summit of Hong Kong Island's 6th highest peak even though it is only the 72nd highest mountain or hill in Hong Kong as a whole, the fact of the matter is that the hike was far from over -- and there truly were a number of other cool views to be had before the hike's official end inside Tai Tam Country Park (Quarry Bay Extension) as well as the unofficial one near a stop for buses heading down the hill to Wan Chai, Siu Sai Wan and other points on Hong Kong Island...
A view of the urban jungle from deep withinthe Hong Kong Island countryside
The peak with the visible trail is Mount Butler --and yes, I came down that very trail
to the point where I stood to take this photo :)
Some people don't like seeing urban structures when hikingbut I reckon it adds to the overall Hong Kong hiking
experience to view them in the distance
This particular trail takes hikers close by the Mount Butler HF Radio Receiving Station
It also overlaps in parts with Wilson Trail Stage 2 and Hong Kong Trail Stage 5
Help with ID-ing this flower would be appreciated!(In the meantime, I'll just describe it as a pretty
pink flower spotted on Braemar Hill!!)
Natural rock formation or artificial sculptural arrangement?Either way, one has to weave past them to get to the hike's end!
A scenic rest spot on the edge of the country parkthat marks the official end of the hike
2 comments:
hi ytsl,
I think the urban structures in your photos help to establish as sense of place. Hong Kong. Otherwise you could be anywhere, not really anywhere, but you could be in many many many other locations around the world.
How long did the steps in the 3rd photo from the top continue? Upward steps don't bother me but downward steps...my knees ached while looking at that photo.
How many times did you go through the rock formations? They look like something to walk through then go back and run through without bouncing off the sides.....
Hi sbk --
The longer I live in Hong Kong, the more certain natural formations become recognizable, familiar and very Hong Kong to me -- not just Lion Rock and Amah Rock but also such as the Pat Sin Leng Range and Ma On Shan. Still, I do take your point about urban structures in the photos helping to establish a sense of Hong Kong place for people.
Re the steps in the 3rd photo: it's not continuously down all the way but it still takes several minutes to go down (as well as up) Mount Butler from both directions.
And re that rock formation: I resist walking through more than once... after all, I *was* on an 11 kilometer hike and still had some kilometers to go at that stage! ;b
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