Sea to Summit to Beach

Wednesday late evening Jojo and me went to Maui Wo at Lantau island by MTR and bus. As she had a late shift the next day we decided to do some hiking. We started at the ferry pier of Maui Wo at about 23:30 o’clock. It was still very warm, even there was a thunderstorm some hours ago. We followed the Lantau Trail uphill. This was not hard at all, even during the night. At some small creeks we passed, we got some refreshment. Near the Lantau Mountain Camp, some old abandoned huts, we left the main track and headed to the sunset peak. Yes even as it was dark, as we wanted to have a look at the sunrise. Now the track was hidden by some high grass, but with the headlight we were able to hike up the peak in the darkness. Near the peak we pitched up the tent. Shortly before we wanted to sleep, we heard some animal in the high grass coming up, not sure if it was a wild pig or dog. Nevertheless, both would be bad. But with the strong headlight and pipe we could it scared off.

Unfortunately, the clouds raised higher during the night, and we were not able to see the sunrise. After that short night we hiked down to the Pak Kung Au pass. Jojo took a bus back to the MTR station Tung Chung, whereas I headed on to the Lantau peak. The way up was not difficult at all. On top of the mountain I saw the newly built bridge to Macau and the Big Buddha from top. On the way down I left the Lantau Trail and went south, down to Kau Nga Ling and then further to the Shek Pik reservoir. This track was officially closed but three other hikers went that way uphill. I talked to two of them, and they told me, that going down is way too difficult, so they are going only up. I thought OK I’ll try it anyway…well, honestly, I couldn’t find any place which was really for climbing down. Yes there were some narrow paths, but not really exposed nor to climb. I finally went down to the road and then to the beach, before I headed back to the city by bus and MTR.

The destination of the day (or night) is in view

View over Lantau island during night…with a lot of light pollution and the moon (actually it wasn’t full moon, but I hadn’t a tripod with me)

Finally, that’s the international Hongkong Airport during nightly operation

If the clouds are gone, you even see one of the beaches

Lantau peak with 934 metres, the second highest peak of Hong Kong

Me on top with the Great Buddha and the new bridge in the background

Now it’s getting a bit rougher. But the only thing I finally damaged by the bushes were my legs, as I haven’t worn long trousers.

Getting below the clouds one could even see some smaller islands offshore

See the bushes…but also the tiny spider 😅

Yes, that’s exactly where I want to go to get some real mountaineering feeling while leaving the board walks.

On the reservoir there is a floating PV park

Some cattle at the damn eating the grass.

Hiking MacLehose Trail Section 7 & 8

Tuesday morning I went with the MTR and bus to North of Kowloon in order to hike two sections of the MacLehose trail. The trail itself was not difficult at all from a technical point of view, but as it reached the Tai Mo Shan peak with 957 metres the highest point of Hong Kong, there were a lots of metres in altitude gain. The trail itself is also very popular for Trail runners and there is each year in November a competition to finish the whole trail of about 100 km within less than 48 hours.

From the ridges along the trail you have nice views to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, as well as Sha Tin, Tai Po and Yuen Long. In the far you can also detect Shenzhen in mainland China as my mobile phone did. From a technical point of view the peak of Tai Mo Shan is a restricted area with some radar stations on top of it. From a practical point of view the fence is demolished along a wide side and nobody seem to care about that.

The weather was fine at this day without any rain, needless to say, that I was sweating the whole time, and the wind direction was mainly from the west. Hence all aircraft had their final approach from the east over Kowloon so that they were already pretty close in order to identify the corresponding airline. From the top of the mountain one could see also the airfield of Shek Kong, but operation of GA is only permitted during weekends.

Please note the pipes outside the building…so they don’t need to worry about freezing temperatures

Highway tunnel entrance below the reservoir damn

Crossing the final approach of the aircrafts of Hong Kong International Airport

Sha Tin and in the background Plover Cove Reservoir

Tai Mo Shan from the east without clouds

Please note the sign behind me 🤔…nearly on top of Tai Mo Shan peak

No, it’s not Hong Kong International Airport only Shek Kong Airfield

On the way down I needed to cross some high bushes…

Hong Kong during Sunset

Sunday late afternoon Jojo and me went for a popular walk up to the Kowloon Peak viewing point. From here also the artificial island of the former Kai Tak Airport can be seen clearly. This former international airport was well known for the final approach through the skyscrapers of Kowloon. Nowadays the area is under heavily development and construction works are ongoing. Whereas the international airport moved to another artificial island 20 km away beside Lantau island. At the top we enjoyed the 360 degrees view to all directions and waited until the lights of Hong Kong switched on, before we returned. On the way back we successfully hitch-hiked down in order to avoid walking all the way down at the busy street in the darkness.

The artificial island of the former Kai Tak Airport is clearly evident infront of the Hong Kong Island

Kai Sung and New Territories to the other side

New appartement blocks near Tseung Kwan O

Tai Mo Shan was shortly uncovered by the clouds

Kowloon East

One week ago I had an offer from Jojo a HK based CS member to stay for one night at her place. In the late afternoon I went to East Kowloon and she warmly welcomed me in her small flat where she is living with her parents. She showed me around her district and we exchanged a lot of our experiences about travelling before we headed for a dinner together.

The inner yard of one of the appartement blocks…

…which were built by the government back in the 70’s

It’s raining and the Kowloon Peak is covered by clouds

Bouldering in Hong Kong

Monday one week ago it was pretty rainy. During a short afternoon walk around I discovered a bit the vicinity of my hostel. In the evening I finally headed to the Attic V boulder gym at the south side of the island, not quit in the centre but therefore, quit sheap compared to other alternatives. The bus ride was quit short. The boulder routes are marked mainly by additional coloured stripes but not by the colours of the holds itself. The walls are also pretty packed, so it’s a bit annoying to climb. Because searching for the routes takes some time and even, when you’re in the route climbing it is sometimes a pity to find the next hold for either hand or foot. Nevertheless the routes, once you found them, are pretty nice set up and it made fun to made the moves on it. I was staying for a couple of hours in the late evening until closure.