April 27 – May 9, 2023
Kong Kong is so tiny, yet made of roughly 263 islands! Although it is a highly developed city, many areas and smaller islands are still uninhabited or used for agricultural or conservation purposes.
This is one big advantage of Hong Kong. I could reach many different areas or islands of Hong Kong in no more than 1-2 hours. In 1-2 hour distance, the scenery could change dramatically. In 1-2 hour distance, I could travel from center of city to summit of mountain or fishermen port or white sand beach!
I did a total of 10 events in Hong Kong in less than 2 weeks, because many of my events were short, took no more than a few hours or half-day! All these events can be done by day trips. Sometimes, I could even do 2 events in a day.
(Event #6) Mount Parker
From Quarry Bay, I hiked up the Mount Parker Road. It could connect to many other trails, such as Sir Ciecil’s Ride, Braemar Hill Peak, Choi Sai Woo Park, Mount Butler, Tai Tam Reservoir…
I merged to Hong Pak Country Trail with the help of a regular hiker. She led me to some small trails and interesting spots, such as the Dinosaur Monolith and a cave. We could exit at Kornville.
(Event #7) Former Sai Wan Battery
I ran from Quarry Bay to Chai Wan, went up Chai Wan Road until Island Garden. The entrance to the trail is a stairway right behind Island Garden, which is quite easy to recognize. After walking up some narrow trail and stairs, across the mesh fence wall, you will merge into much wide paved trail of Lei Yue Mun Park. If you keep going uphill, it will lead to Former Sai Wan Battery, which is hard to miss.
The Former Sai Wan Battery is only a short and easy hike, but it was my favorite place. The doors were locked, impossible to visit the interior now, but the external structures are still impressive.
(Event #8) Ap Lei Chau & Ap Lei Pai
We started from Lei Tong MTR station. It was close to the restaurant street and market, so I had some great lunch and bought some traditional Chinese snacks. The entrance to climb up Mount Johnston (Yuk Kwai Shan) was hidden behind the yellow booths next to a bus stop. After that, it was very steep climb up some sandy route in the grass brushes. It was almost vertical that I had to take break in between to catch my breath.
The view from Ap Lei Chau to Ap Lei Pai was unique and impressive. Also, there is actually a small clean beach hidden between Ap Lei Chau and Ap Lei Pai. The sea over there was calm and shallow, so it would be nice to carry a swimsuit, and have a drip and swim in the sea.
We hiked over Yuk Kwai Shan & Ap Lei Pai to Mount Johnston Lighthouse. On the return way, we took the west shore of Ap Lei Chau, back to South Horizons MTR station. There were mostly large stones along the shore, required some climbing up or down, but it was really fun, and the view was magnificant.
(Event #9) Kowloon Walled City Park & Mei Ho House
Kowloon Walled City Park was built after the legendary Kowloon Walled City was demolished after 1997. It has now became an elegant Chinese garden. I was hoping to see some exhibitions about the Kowloon Walled City that it once was, but did not have much luck… The exhibitions were temporarily closed for repair works. However, we got to enjoy great English Breakfast at Stone House Cafe.
Mei Ho House is not only a youth hostel remodeled from a former public housing building, Heritage of Mei Ho House (HMHH) museum is also the first privately-run museum of Hong Kong Housing established and operated by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association. The exhibition was really interesting, to see how Hong Kong people’s living style in 1970’s and 1980’s.
(Event #10) Island East Swimming Pool
Island East Swimming Pool is just one of the many public swimming pools in Hong Kong, which are well-equipped and well-located. Anybody with an Octopus Card can enter, no ID required, so even tourist can use it.
They have long opening hours (6:30AM – 10:00PM). As long as you pay the one-time entrance fee (at this time HKD 17/weekday or HKD 19/weekend, per 4-hour session), you can enjoy free locker, free hot shower and free water drinking/refilling machine.
