On one of Hong Kong's super hot and muggy summer days, my regular hiking companion and I decided to go for an easy hike: specifically, the just 2.25 kilometer long Fung Hang Family Walk up in the northern New Territories, near Starling Inlet (AKA Sha Tau Kok Hoi) and the border between the Big Lychee and Mainland China.
As it so happened, we decided at the end of this family friendly hiking trail that we still were game to hike some more. Those photos from our second mini-hike of the day I'll leave putting up for another day. In the meantime, hope you'll enjoy this photo-essay of a hike that was short but still came with its share of cool sights:-
Let the hiking begin -- near the village of Kai Kuk Shue Ha! ;b
The flowers of the plant known as
Wild Bean (Shui Huang Pi in Cantonese)
This being a Hong Kong summer hike, it seemed inevitable
that we would come across some big spiders along the way
(To better see how big this one is, click and enlarge this photo!)
Believe it or not, this Giant Golden Orb Weaver
was bigger than the spider in the previous photo
On a less than super clear day, one still could just about
see Shenzhen over on the other side of Starling Inlet as one
went along the trail that went by the body of water's shore
How green is "my" Hong Kong? Pretty much so! :)
The hike took place inside of Plover Cove Country Park
but bordering rural villages and homes
A picturesque area where people enjoyed themselves
leisure fishing by the side of Bride's Pool Road (near hike's end)
11 comments:
hi ytsl,
Fun photo essay. Am I correct in thinking that from seeing laundry on the roof of one building that people live there? I'm wondering because it looks so clean and I don't see things like bikes or car or even stuff people might leave outside.
The tables with the colorful umbrellas look like a nice place to sit with a cold drink and rest a moment.
Please be careful when it's so hot as I don't want to read about you getting heat stroke!@#@!
blimey! how big was that spider? Looks to be the same size as my head!!
Hi sbk --
Yes, the building in the first photo is still lived in (and so is the building in photo number seven from the top, actually).
And yes, I do/will take care! Among other things, I bring lots of water with me on hikes, wear a cap, put on tons of sunscreen and also choose trails that have plenty of "out" options, etc. during the summer. :)
Hi Phil --
Am not sure how big your head is but yeah, those spiders really were pretty big indeed -- maybe about 1 foot across from the end of one leg to another! ;b
1 foot across? Yes, definitely bigger than my head :-)
Hi again Phil --
Here's the scary thing: that spider's only the second biggest ever that I've seen in Hong Kong. (I saw a still bigger spider on a later hike -- near the disused silver mine on Lantau Island!) :D
Woah... that spider is huge!!!!! I really, really, really don't like spiders... some horrible childhood incident leave me disliking all spiders except for Spiderman. Yikes... glad I'm not close to those things at all.
Hi "just me" --
I never realized how many people didn't like spiders until they conveyed their negative reactions to me after I put up my spider photos! I honestly don't mind too much -- even after I accidentally walked into a spider web earlier today! ;O
Well... when I was about 8 years old, a rather large spider and I kind of ran into each other and I jumped in fright while it dropped this sac it was carrying in fright too, I suppose. Unfortunately, I landed on this sac and out spewed a gabillion baby spiders.
Okay, I exaggerate, it probably wasn't a gabillion, but to me back then, it really looked like that. The baby spiders pretty much died on the spot and I was really traumatized by it. I had nightmares for days.
I suppose it's kind of a funny story now. :) While I don't have a spider phobia, I rather stay a safe distance from them. And if I photograph them, it'll be with a zoom lens.
Hi again "just me" --
What a story! Thanks for sharing it. :D
...Your Orb Weaver photo was of interest to me - I encountered an even larger red & black specimen on an island in the state of Rio de Janeiro several years ago...no camera, no photos sadly =( BUT... apparently the world record web-spinning spider is only around 6.5 inches long (leg tip to leg tip) and found in Mozambique last year!? It would seem that your spider here is larger than that, wouldn't you say? the one i saw in Rio was approximately 12 inches (unless my memory is somehow blowing it waaay out of proportion)
Hi Anonymous --
Yeah, I'd be inclined to think that the spider I saw while going along Fung Hang Family Walk was longer than 6.5 inches from one leg tip to another leg tip! The scary thing is that I've since seen even bigger spider -- with a particular one I saw near Silvermine Cave in Lantau probably being the biggest of the lot!
http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.com/2011/09/northwards-and-upwards-from-silvermine.html
(Should you go to that entry, click on the large spider pic to enlarge and really get a good effect! ;b)
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