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| View over Sha Tin from Maclehose Trail |
Most places we've been here have been very crowded and very often we've had to queue for some time to get there, get in or get back. Today we thought it would be nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and go for a hike in the countryside. Laura found a trail in a tourist guide that she'd not yet done called the Maclehose Trail, which would take us past the the Kowloon Reservoirs to Lion Rock - in theory.
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| Kowloon from Maclehose Trail |
In practice, we did have a few problems. Firstly, we struggled to find a taxi driver that knew enough english to understand where we wanted to go, or knew where it was. Laura did manage to find a helpful shop assistant that acted as a translater for us and she spoke to a taxi driver that did appear to know where we wanted to go, by pointing up. We set off in the cab which went uphill for a long time, until we came to a very windy one-way road and started to see some fantastic views. He dropped us off in a very pretty spot and we looked around to get our bearings - unfortunately we couldn't see any sign of the trail.
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| The Outdoor Life |
Luckily, a group of hikers came along and their guide could speak english very well. He explained how to get to the trail by following the road until it came to a junction, and then turning right - so we set off. We immediately started going uphill along the road, taking photos of the marvellous views as we went, until we came to the Hong Kong Meteorological Observatory where a helicopter was making repeated deliveries from the city below. The road just kept on going and going for a very long way with no sign of the trail, but eventually we did come to a junction, where we did find the trail heading up a steep hill which we took for some time - until we realised it was headed back the way we'd come.
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| Don't feed the Monkeys |
So we doubled back again and carried on down the road for a long way; it began to look like it was headed down into the city when we came across a 'proper' trail signposted to Lion Rock, with a sign warning about the dangers of Macaque monkeys (this worried Laura as she is convinced they are evil).
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| Lion Rock |
Time was getting on but we took the steps up the trail, and up, and before heading into the jungle. We walked for a long way as the sun got lower and lower. Then there was a loud noise and I looked down the hill to see a large grey monkey running along the ground about 30 feet away - Laura said there were a few of them. This did put the wind up us a bit and we picked up the pace!
Just before the sun set we reached a sign that pointed down the hill toward the city - 1.3km away, and we started the walk down the steep hill. By the time we got there it was completely dark and we got a cab and the MTR back to the apartment.
We spent a lovely evening at Laura and Scott's for dinner.
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