Tuesday 17 June 2014

HK Trail - Day 2

Day 2

Didn't wake up as early as yesterday, but early enough to have yummy breakfast! Today's menu, pig blood porridge!! This was once available in Singapore but has been removed ever since, I think due to hygiene reasons. But it's tasty! 




Felt a bit out of sorts this morning, forgot to bring some stuff and had to return to the room to get after breakfast. Getting to the trail start is a journey in itself. MTR-ed down to Admiralty and looked for the bus....which took ages to come. Then I realised....when there is an "X" after the bus number, e.g. 43X, it means the service is only for morning special service, so after around 9+ am the bus is no longer operating. Well my internet info (www.hkwalkers.net) didn't include this important piece of info! So I took another bus which stopped 2 stops away from my destination, and had to take (yet another) bus for the remaining 2 stops. All these took valuable time....by the time I got to the place it was already 11am!! Noon run!!

Quickly backtracked from where I left yesterday. Ok found the (damned!) junction without much difficulty. I realised how I took the wrong route yesterday....one goes uphill, one goes downhill, my mind naturally tells me to take the downhill! Mistake mistake.... And because it's downhill, within a few minutes you're WAY OFF COURSE! And back-tracking uphill is of course exhausting.


One uphill, one downhill, which will you choose? 
 Finally on Section 2 proper. The entire section is in Pokfulam Country Park, lots of greenery. Sometimes you get a breath-taking peeks of HK below! Good thing about noon runs, no misty mornings to block your view haha!

I recognise the Chinese boats with the colourful flags docked in the sea, that should be the Aberdeen Fish Market area which I passed by in the bus.

Iphone panorama function is good

GoPro fisheye function is good too! 
 The later part of Section 2 consists of many steps - steep, tiny steps. One trip and you can potentially tumble many metres down. Run at your own risk. Actually don't even think about it. Just walk.

Over here you may also spot the Hindu Datura. What's that?? Nothing really, just one of HK's 4 most poisonous plants. Hopefully I didn't touch any along the way. 

Found a playground along the trail, looks un-used for very long.

Section 2 is only 4.5km, very soon it's section 3, Peel Rise. 

Section 3 also has a lot of greenery but the path also crosses many streams. The bridges will always have the "flash flood" warning signs, but I doubt anybody will ever turn back. 

There's something interesting about section 3. The first part consists of a big loop of about 2.5km, but there is a short-cut about 200m, which saves you the trouble of going the big loop. 200m to save 2.5km, very tempting!! Just as I was contemplating a group of HK uncles were gesturing me to follow them, saying "shortcut". 

ARGH, DON'T LEAVE WITH REGRETS! 

Ok I went the big loop. It was tough, uphill most of the time. But I found a forest path that led to the stream below and decided to take a look. OMG.... this is the reward for not taking the short-cut! Fresh flowing cold water on a hot afternoon..... Reminds me of days of Gunung Tahan. 

Fresh flowing water 
Underwater with the GoPro 
It was here that I realised my phone was not functioning anymore! Due to the cracked screen, there's no more touch-screen function and I can't even swipe to turn on my phone. Oh man this is bad! Not that I will Watsapp or Facebook people in the trails, but I rely on it to store important trail info like maps, trail info, public bus info etc. ARGH. 

Moving on. 

What can you expect to find along a HK trail? Add foot reflexology to your list. 


By the end of Section 3 I was dead tired. And the afternoon heat took its toll, though still not as hot and humid as Singapore. It's almost 2pm. 

Giving the tired legs some rest 
Food and water. Life-savers. 
Something I really like about HK country parks is the rubbish and recycle bins that are readily available at the start and end of every section, and some along the way. Public toilets are available too. I don't recall seeing any trash along the trails. Will Singapore ever be like that? 


End of another day. At least I didn't get lost, that's an improvement. And clocked more distance than day 1. 

Section 2 completed    Pokfulam Reservoir to Peel Rise   Distance: 4.5km    Difficulty: Fairly difficult
Section 3 completed    Peel Rise to Wan Chai Gap     Distance 7.5km       Difficulty: Fairly difficult
Total distance: 12km 

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