The Villagers do not like Purple Speedos.

Fall in Hong Kong is an amazing time to get outside of the city and do some hiking. At first glance, one might think that Hong Kong is nothing but a bunch of skyscrapers and tenement buildings. However there are tons of easily accessible hiking trails all over Hong Kong!

One of the most popular, easiest and most accessible is the Dragon’s Back which ends/starts in Big Wave Bay. There are also some stunning walks along the mountains with views of the sea on the Machelose Trail- particularly the section that brings you down into Tai Long Wan where you can camp overnight.

Here’s a few good links on hiking in Hong Kong:
http://www.hkwalkers.net/longtrail/eng/mtrail/mtrail.html
http://www.hkcrystal.com/hiking/recommendedhikes.htm
http://www.hkcrystal.com/hiking/OtherWalks.htm
http://www.hktrampers.com/Mambo/

Though I’ve been burdened down with tons of work recently, I jumped on a chance to go on an early morning hike with some friends who suggested checking out these waterfalls in the New Territories. You have to take the KCR to Tai Po market. We had to switch trains 3 times but it was easy and it only takes about an hour to get to the beginning of the hike from Central. Get out of the train station, go to the taxi stand and tell the taxi driver to go to Ng Tung Chai. This is how to say it:

When we arrived at the sleepy village, this construction worker scolded one of our group for showing us his D-squared designer purple Speedo that he personally got from Dean and Dan (the designers). The construction worker was like “Don’t do that here! The old people will be so mad if they see that. This is not Europe. The villagers are very old fashioned!”

Anyway… it was such a fun-filled day! I was with three crazy boys- a model, a dancer and an actor/singer. They were bundles of high energy! We were running, singing, climbing, racing, dancing, swimming, skipping, jumping and pretending to be cavemen and women. It was hilarious. I’ve been on plenty of hikes before but it was a very entertaining group.

There are three waterfalls. We didn’t bother to stop at the bottom waterfall but the middle waterfall was stunning! It took us about 35 minutes to trek up there. It was very shallow so you could just walk over to the waterfall (no need to swim), get under it and have a waterfall massage on your back! The weather was slightly cool and the water was cold but refreshing! We took load of photos in ‘natural’ poses and decided to get a self-timer photo of all of us together. That was a bit of a challenge and poor Felix almost bruised his legs scrambling over the slippery rocks to get back in the photo.

We decided to clamor up to the top waterfall as well. The trail to the top was and additional 40 minutes and it was really steep! There was definitely some butt-blasting going on. Especially since the boys decided they wanted to run to the top while singing along to the IPod which was plugged into the mini-speakers.

On the way down, we listened to minimal electro, gangster rap, and Marvin Gaye. The boys climbed some trees, snakes crawled in front of our feet, and we rapped to some local hikers and made a wish on a wishing tree.

It was such a perfect day. We walked back through the bucolic village and there was not a sound to be heard except the sound of barking dogs, wind and crickets. It was a golden afternoon and the villagers were lazing around in the middle of the mountains and farmlands, sitting doing nothing. We marveled at how simple their lives must be.

We caught the mini-bus back to Tai Po and we were STARVING after all the singing and silliness. The first thing we saw on approach to the train station was the Big Golden Arches of McDonalds! We heard angel’s voices- It was like we reached the Promised Land! On any other occasion, the mere thought of McDonalds gives me indigestion, but at that point, I was ready to eat anything- I was that hungry and tired. We woofed down double cheeseburgers, fries and coke and it was the best meal I’ve had in ages!

On the MTR on the way back from the hike, I thought the singing and dancing would stop, but it didn’t. The boys continued to dance, sing and enjoy life in general while all the locals stood stony-faced, rolling their eyes, and nodding their heads in disapproval at the crazy gweilos. Oh well, there’s only one life and you have to enjoy it to the fullest while you can! Don’t be jealous cause we know how to have fun!

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