Days 42-43: Out in the Wild

I have not been able to update this blog on time over the weekend because I was out camping in Sai Kung. I know, I know... hiking, camping and Justin? It doesn't really sound like an obvious mix, but truth be told, I love camping, but then again, relaxing out in nature is one of my favourite things. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the hiking because a day and a half later, I still can't move without groaning.

The hike, as it turned out, was supposed to be a fairly gentle walk as I had heard. It starts from Pak Tam Au in Sai Kung (route map)and surely, for the first hour or so, the trail seems to be innocent enough with its paved paths with minimum incline leading to Chek Keng (half-way). It is at Chek Keng though that the first stage of hell starts. The path is still paved, but the incline becomes very steep until you reach the top of the hill and then there is an equally steep downhill path that leads straight to an abandoned hamlet. Easy enough for most people, but with the thought of possibly dislocating your kneecap and memories of the pain that it causes pounding in your head, while you carry nearly fifteen pounds of weight on your back, things become a little difficult! But thankfully the path from the hamlet Tai Long to Ham Tin is fairly flat and eventually opens out in an enormous beach with a massive surf, stark blue waters and the finest sand amongst any of Hong Kong's beaches I have visited. It was truly an amazing site!

But this beach, despite its seclusion seems fairly commercial and so with an aching back and legs that felt like they should belong to somebody else, we started looking for the trail that went over a little hill that separates Ham Tin Wan (where we were) from Tai Wan (where we wanted to be). And as it would, with our luck, the trail was steeper than steep, reaching at least a gradient of 60 degrees at it's steepest points... and it was off road... through an overgrown path. But with determination, we managed to cross over and any pain we might have experienced while we made our way up there left immediately because the view was spectacular! I'm not even going to try to describe it. Here is an unedited photo of the beach:

After arriving at the beach and finding that we were unable to move much, we realised that there is an easier, more beaten down trail behind the hill we had just crossed, but like I said, the off-road path was worth it even though we might have broken every bone in our body if we'd fallen off the edge.

So at the beach, we set up our tents and got to making a fire, which was easy enough. From there, my memory's just full of barbecued food, wine, horrible songs and trying to name constellations as they rose over us. Yes, we saw stars... lots of them... in clear light. It was probably the first time in Hong Kong when I've appreciated the night sky! It was simply too beautiful.

And so after a good long rest and catching a very beautiful red sunrise at the beach, we trekked back (over the deadly hill again for some bizarre reason) and got back to Ham Tin Wan where we decided that it would be too boring just to go back the way we had come and so took the way towards Sai Wan, hearing that the path was shorter and easier from there. Oh how very wrong we were. The path (though thankfully paved) started with a billion stairs that crossed two hills, and then flattened out as we walked over some cliffs and finally rose and dropped again into a smaller, but equally beautiful Sai Wan beach. We thought that we had reached a bus stop by this point, but again, as our luck would have it, we found out that it was a long walk back to civilisation. And so we walked. And walked... over a mainly uphill path that never seemed to want to end until we reached a junction. Here the option was to either walk along the foot of the hill (fairly level walk with slight incline), or to take a steep off-road walk that makes a short cut from one side of the hill to the other. Now, any sensible person would have said "look, there's many people here at the junction, but no one is using that path; the foliage is so overgrown that it would hinder visibility and the fact that it looks so steep is probably just the least of our problems...plus, if there's anything you learn from watching films about people taking short-cuts, it's that you should never take them...so lets take the flatter road." As it turns out, we were not like these sensible people and decided to take that path anyway because...well because we could and if I would have had the energy to hold my 5000 pound camera at this point, I would have taken photos, but I was on my last energy bar and no water, so I left it in my bag. But I have to say that I am so glad we walked up that trail because the views from there were again...dare I use this word I overuse now, beautiful. The hike looked over the High Island Reservoir and the islands that rest within it. But with determination and an increasing need for water and clean clothes, we made it to the other side in no time from where we took a bus to Sai Kung Town for some fresh seafood and ended the day there.

All in all, the hike and camp was so much fun that I think I can officially say that it was one of my favourite weekends in Hong Kong, and that Tai Wan beach is one of the most amazing places I have seen here. I'd really like to do it again!

Oh and here's a photo of Sharp Peak that was behind the beach we stayed at.