Sai Kung

Our original hiking destination on my first day back in Hong Kong was supposed to be Sai Kung, but due to the MTR delay, we had our impromptu hike to Stanley instead. For the entire trip, my friends had been telling me about the beauty of Sai Kung, and I was raring to go.

The area was rather difficult to get to; we took the subway to Hang Hau Station, and then a minibus to the town, and finally a taxi to the start of the hike at the High Island Reservoir West Dam. I was standing on the edge of the sidewalk, waiting for the other half of our group, and almost got run over by the taxi as he zoomed up to us a little too quickly.

After walking around the damn, we started on the MacLehose Trail up into the mountains. It was a warm day for late October, and but thankfully the sun was slightly hidden behind some wispy clouds. It came out occasionally, dancing along the water and making my camera's focus go crazy.






As we ascended up the mountain, we started to see glimpses of the white sandy beaches turquoise water of Long Ke Wan below.






As we descended down towards the beach area, we passed by this gated area; a drug and addiction rehabilitation centre. There were also a few tents set up as you entered the beach area, as the whole MacLehose Trail is 100 km long - we were only doing the 17 km portion.






The sun hid away by the time we got down to the beach, and the effects of the past month's typhoon were clear. Trees were still strewn around, and the nearby village that used to serve small bites for hikers had disappeared. This meant the remainder of the hike would go without fuel - though I'm not sure if my cousin just remembered wrong. Either way, we were to subside on granola bars for the remaining majority of our hike.




We continued upwards to the other side of the beach, and found a little pavilion, which offered a beautiful view of the arduous hike before us.





When we finally got to the top, we could see all around us, and the view was truly breathtaking. This is definitely the most rewarding part of hiking; standing at the top of the mountain and seeing how far and high you have climbed. It is also my gripe with Ontario trails, which rarely offer this kind of reward at the end of their hiking trails, due its lack of a mountainous landscape.





I was tired, hungry, and sweaty at this point, and decided to put away my camera. But of course, the sun decided to come out shortly after, so my phone ended up capturing these moments.




Trying to find the road home proved to be a difficult task; we were in an area without cellular service, and unable to all a taxi to bring us back into town. We ran into some city workers from the parks department, and they advised us to go down to the road to call before continuing on our way, or to take the local minibus at the bottom.

The taxi company told us it would take over an hour to arrive, so we decided to try our luck for the bus. While waiting, I turned and suddenly saw what appeared to be a headless dog walking towards us... I blinked my eyes and realized it was a monkey! Something I definitely didn't see back home, this impish fellow goaded us to give him food, snarled at us, and then promptly climbed a tree and peed towards us.




Quite a line started to form, but we thankfully got onto the minibus back into town. We had a late afternoon meal at a local cafe, and then some twist cones from McDonald's. On our way back to the bus station, I was tempted by more snacks. We passed by the harbour where the boats of the floating seafood market were selling their catch, and then made our way back home.