Hong Kong is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for urban hiking. That doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to try and do any type of walking in the urban areas seeing as its also one of the most densely populated areas in the world, but that you can access awesome trails really close to the main city.
The New Territories in Hong Kong is an area where there are some great walks and it’s one of my favorite areas. It’s not that the scenery is particularly stunning, it’s just so different from what most people think Hong Kong is like (huge, dense, sky scraper ridden areas such as Central and Mong Kok). When your in the New Territories it’s a different world, there are areas where no one speaks English and it’s much more rural and slow paced. When we were walking one day we ran into a man in a village cooking outside his house in an open fire pit and he said he was preparing food for Chinese New Years. People are much friendlier and even if they can’t speak english they’ll go out of their way to help you and try and explain things…not that I could understand, but it’s the sentiment that counts!
One of the most popular hikes is called Dragons Back, you walk along the top of a mountain and have spectacular views of the water, golf courses, Stanley and little villages that looked to me like they were straight out the Greek seaside. There also happens to be a youth prison near by and the day we went walking we heard alarms going off but luckily if any young offenders had managed to escape they steered clear of us!
One weekend about 20 City U students decided to go camping for the evening on the beach. You hike for a few hours up and down hills and end up at one of many beaches where you can rent pretty much everything you need including tents and sleeping bags. We started a fire and with some success and managed to grill some hot dogs and hamburgers- even if they did end up a bit sandy! I was in a tent of 7, which you think would have meant there would be plenty of body heat to keep warm but no, it was freezing and I slept in every layer I brought. In the morning I was the first awake, just in time to see all the local dogs marking their territories on the tents and backpacks, yuuuum! We spent the day laying on the beach and some brave souls went swimming even thought it was freezing. Unfortunately, I forgot to put sunblock on a tiny sliver of my leg and ended up with an awful sun burn…the life of a pale person!
