Hiking? More like Climbing!

EDIT: The pics are in!

Wow.  Sorry this post is late, but wow.

Before you read this, Gloria and Antonia, (if you read this), don't worry.  Our hike(s?) will be nothing like this one.

And I don't have all the pictures, as I was not the one taking most of them (I was too busy trying to keep myself alive!)

Hiking, in Hong Kong, is known as 行山, or "walking mountain(s)".  It's a popular weekend pastime for workers and businessmen here, some of the hardest worked in the world.  It's considered a healthy, active form of relaxing and separating yourself from the "real world", a sort of mini-vacation.

One of my mom's friends here in Hong Kong goes hiking every week with a group of his friends, mostly a bunch of middle-aged, working men and women.  Since I had expressed some interest in trying some 行山, he told me to come along this Sunday, as the route they would be taking would be relatively easier and suitable for first-timers.

I met him at Leung King (良景) in Tuen Mun, where we first had a short, carbohydrate-filled breakfast:

 Century egg and pork congee again, this time with zhaliang (炸兩), rice noodles wrapped around a dough fritter known as youtiao (油條) or colloquially, yau ja gwei (油炸鬼).

And a fellow hiker had a Hong Kong-style hot dog.

Now, having been told that this would be an easy hike, I assumed that the whole way through, we would be walking along nice, smooth mountain paths.  Instead, this is how we started:

 Climbing over a fence to reach a creek.

Just outside of the urban area, the creek had a nice, concrete channel, but further on, it turned into this:

 And we were climbing up the mountain this way!

A seasoned hiker showing me the way up.

Midway up the creek, just resting for a bit.

Cooling off under the waterfall, before going further up.

Reaching the top of the creek, this is the view that awaited:

All of Tuen Mun below us, with Lantau Island and the airport to the far right, and mainland China to the far left.  I wish I had a wider angle lens...

 We're still not at the top yet, though, and at this point, I'm ready to give up... but there's no way back but up!

 Once we reach the top, however, the going gets considerably easier.  Amazing views, flat, easy terrain, these make it worth the climb.

 Looking on the other side of the mountain, we can see the downtown and the port of Shenzhen.

At this point, it appears to be all downhill...

"Almost there!"

Castle Peak again.

 Every so often, we pass and stop by a rest stop that the countless others before us on these mountains have set up, complete with traditional Chinese icons:

This particular one has a source of sediment-filtered water!

Some people actually live in the mountains (legally or not, I have no idea), and they seem to be self-sustaining, growing their own crops:

The group decides to take a detour, and go to another creek with deeper pools:

... but to get down, we have to climb down a steep gradient, holding on to a rope the whole way...

I tripped and rolled over at one point...

Going down...

And coming back up!

We then had to climb back up the same mountainside.

and this is me after all that.

At this point, its noon.  The sun is at it's highest point, with the temperature reaching 34 degrees and the humidity somewhere between 80 and 100 percent.

Many of these regulars also run half or full marathons in this heat... =.=

From here, it's a straight walk down a rather smooth mountain road back to Tuen Mun. I get a bit dizzy halfway on the walk, owing to some heat exhaustion.

Finally back on flat ground!

 Afterwards, we all head to one of the hikers' home:

This is a public housing estate, one of many in the New Territories' "New Towns" (planned communities) such as Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, and Sha Tin (沙田).  Government subsidized housing here is essential for many working to middle class families who simply can't afford to buy condominiums at their regular, ridiculous market price.  These estates are generally located in relatively nice areas,with good transit and local amenities, often side-by-side with comparable private residences, and have none of the societal problems or stigma that subsidized housing in North America have.

We have a siu mei (燒味) (Chinese barbecue) lunch and some beer, and then these older farts start karaokeing...

I do have to admit, these are some of the funniest lyrics I've ever seen...

 It being someone's birthday, they all proceed to sing "Happy Birthday"...

Now, I don't know if you realize this, but those bottles there are 640 mL each.  I did not know that beer bottles came in sizes that big (they look like wine bottles!) but apparently, it's the normal size over here.

Afterward, I went to my mom's friend's apartment, as he had a piano and I hadn't practiced at all since I got here!

One thing you might notice about this view from his window is those strangely green buildings to the right.  In Hong Kong, even in today's rather technologically advanced society, workers still build skyscrapers using traditional bamboo scaffolding, as bamboo is strong and light, able to withstand most typhoons that hit the city.