Today I indulged in another passion of mine: hiking. I took the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) to Chai Wan, the last stop on the Island Line. From there, I walked up the hill to the trailhead. The way up just happens to pass several cemeteries, so I stopped briefly there to take some photos.
In the following photo, which I took from a pavilion at the top of the road, four cemeteries are visible. The fifth, Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, is hidden behind the green hill (the closer one) to the right.
Up the road, I came to a T-junction, and turned left. At the corner, by the entrance to a road leading to a prison, is an entrance to Shek O Country Park:
As you can see, it's of the stairway to heaven form that's common in the Chinese-speaking world. Fortunately, this stairway was relatively short. It brought me to a road, which I followed past a barrier blocking motorized traffic from entering. Soon after that, I arrived at the true trailhead of the Dragon Back Trail. There were garbage cans and port-a-potties there, as well as a detailed map.
The first minute or so of the walk is on a paved path, but then we reach a dirt path, and the trek into Hong Kong's wilderness begins.
The trail is not difficult. It's relatively wide and even, with few serious ups or downs. For the most part, it resembles the above photo. In fact, it reminds me a lot of hiking in the San Francisco Bay Area.
After about 45 minutes I arrived at a junction. The Dragon Back Trail went up to the left. Finally, there was some climbing to do. The trail passes through thickets of Gordonia (a relative of the tea plant).
Soon I encountered a group of locals who were paragliding:
Ten minutes later, I reached the top of Shek O Peak:
...where I was afforded a commanding view of the southern side of Hong Kong Island. Unfortunately, the afternoon sun made picture taking impossible.
It only took me an hour to complete the trek (from the place with the port-a-potties). Going back took 45 minutes. It was much shorter than I had imagined, but it was a great way to spend an afternoon.
After getting back to Causeway Bay, I indulged in yet another passion of mine:
