Today's Tai Lam Country Park hike and post-hike bonuses :)

A clump of Chinese New Year flowers spotted while out

hiking on the 17th day of this new year of the horse :)

The day was on the misty side but we still managed 

to have a pretty enjoyable hike this afternoon

Trust me when I state that our post-hike meal at

Sham Tseng's Yue Kee Roasted Goose Restaurant

tasted so much better than it looks... ;b

There are many people who don't hike in summer in Hong Kong because they feel it's too hot to do so.  My hiking buddies and I, on the other hand, are fine doing so because we've found that the summer is the Hong Kong season with the most blue sky and clear air days.  And while I am okay to hike on summer days where "rain patches" are included in the weather forecast, I tend to be less enthusiastic about hiking on rainy days when the temperatures are on the cold (or even cool) side.

 

But even though today's forecast included rain patches, a hiking buddy and I decided to go ahead and head out to Tai Lam Country Park this afternoon.  One factor that made us more inclined to do so was that the temperature had risen to a more comfortable level than it has been at for the past two weeks or so.  In addition, we figured that it'd be nice to get some exercise -- and our usual interesting conversation along the hike -- even if we couldn't count on getting many nice views along the way as a result of the day being on the misty side.    

 

As it turned out, we ended up having a couple of bonus elements to our excursion today.  The first came from our spotting a couple of clumps of Chinese New Year flowers on a hillside -- the first time I had come across this rare sight this new Chinese New Year, in fact!   (In contrast, last year, we spotted Chinese New Year flowers up on Sunset Peak on the first day of Chinese New Year!)

 

The second came by way of our post-hike meal in Sham Tseng having been a really tasty one. In my first year of hiking in Hong Kong, I had gone on a Tai Lam Country Park hike with Roz's Group that, like today's, had ended up in Sham Tseng and was followed by a meal in an area restaurant that had included some of the famous Sham Tseng roast goose. 

 

I have to honest though: I don't recall the roast goose we ate back in 2007 being near as delicious as the one that my hiking buddy and I had at Yue Kee earlier today. Otherwise, I'd have wanted to go back way sooner to Sham Tseng than I did!  Put another way: I think the roast goose I had for dinner today may be even better than the ones I've had at Yat Lok over in Tai Po, being a fair bit meatier and also possibly less greasy!  

 

And although, if memory serves me right, the roast goose at Yue Kee is pricier than that Yat Lok, the Sham Tseng eatery also has the bonus of having an English menu with many enticing dishes besides the roast goose, very complementary thousand year old eggs and ginger, and "country style" tofu dish that we had today.  Put another way: I think I need to return to Yue Kee soon -- and with a larger group too -- in order to try some of those other dishes, which include different goose parts prepared Chiu Chow style (since the residents of Sham Tseng are historically Chiu Chow)!;b