Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Getting away from it all by hiking up to Boa Vista and other beautifully green parts of Hong Kong (Photo-essay)

The pandemic shennanigans continue -- including three more "ambush-style" lockdowns effected in Sham Shui Po, Jordan and Tin Shui Wai this evening despite a total of seven previous "ambush-style" lockdowns, including four lockdowns between Monday evening and Tuesday morning along with that which took place over the weekend at Laguna City and the one which was effected late last week in North Point, not uncovering a single positive case of the Wuhan coronavirus.  And for the record, there were a total of 25 new cases confirmed today; leading to my thinking that there's a noticeable downward trend in terms of infection numbers. 
 
Adding to the craziness that seems to pervade Hong Kong's government ranks: allegations were made today by a pro-Beijing legislator that the anti extradition bill protestors were on drugs; something that even the police chief could not accept, even while agreeing that he thought the protestors had acted strangely.  (After not being able to convince with their arguments re foreign influence(r)s paying protestors, I guess this is the new argument they're trying to make: which goes to show how truly out of touch they are regarding how people feel -- or how deranged they are themselves.)
 
Thankfully, for a few hours this afternoon, I was able to get away from this madness -- and go indulge in some "forest bathing" over in Tai Tam Country Park.  It may seem like small consolation but, truly, I do feel that being able to go hiking in beautifully green sections of the Big Lychee really help me to stay sane as well as physically healthy, and remember how wonderful Hong Kong can be/is...
 
Just half an hour on from the trail head, one already is
pretty high above the city and in green space!

As Mount Parker Road wends up hill, the views and 
surrounding area get greener and greener :)
 
The turning on the right leads to an unpaved trail
that few people (still) seem to know about 
 
The last view on today's hike of the Victoria Harbour
and points north of it
 
Click on the above image to get the panoramic view
of southeastern Hong Kong Island from Boa Vista!

 
View from the dam at Tai Tam Lower Reservoir
that takes in Mount Butler in the distance 

A masonry bridge casts a shadow over
 
Looking out from the edge of Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir
near hike's end back at Boa Vista and its neighboring hills :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

Walked from home (with a short Kai To to Aberdeen) to Shek Tong Tsui along the Cyberport\Sandy Bay\Victoria Road route. When I was in Cyberport, I saw (through my long lens) that it had been very crowded on High West today. Likely one less place to go, I guess.

Still many people walkimng their dogs in Cyberport today. But the lawn there had been deteriorated. Most of the grass were brown and the soil\sand are greyish. Don't know why the estate management did not hire someone to take care of it. I wonder how bad would it be on a windy day.

Too early for a beer or I would have a Kilkeny at Deleany's.

T

YTSL said...

Hi T --

Hope you enjoyed the walk! I love the views from High West but I've not been up it in over a year and have been generally avoiding the Peak area for some months now as the last time I was there, there were too many people out hiking/walking about on the trails for my liking!

Too early for beer: hah! These days, with the restaurants having to close at 6pm, it's more a case of being too late to get one -- though after my most recent hike, I was able to have a beer and cocktail as well as early dinner at Stanley! ;b