Sunset // Twilight
Back in November, I desperately needed to be pulled out of a rut.
Usually going outdoors helps me out in that. So when we were in Hong Kong for 8 days, I decided to push for the climb I had been wishing to do since February. Thanks to Kristine's willingness to go with my crazy plan and the Pandas' support (in spirit), everything was immediately put into action. I narrowed it down to Sunset Peak in Lantau.
I wasn't really confident - to be honest. I didn't know if there was going to be telco signal (what if I didn't have Google to consult and we got lost?) or if there were going to be people I could follow (what if we couldn’t find th ?) or if I really had my bearings enough to get back in one piece (what if I lost Kristine?!).
Although things started quite roughly (we couldn't find the bus, I ran out of data allowance, and no one understood our questions about directions at first), we finally got to the right stop. It was my first cold hike, and it was really, really, really - for the lack of a better word - fun.
Just like it said on the blogs, the bus brought us to Pak Kung Au and it clearly pointed us to where we needed to go. We alighted right by the highway. Just a few steps up, this was already the view that greeted us.
The trail was mainly made up of steps, so it wasn't very hard to climb. The wind was really cold though, and it was my first time to do a cold hike!
It was also at this point that I realized that there would be no sunset for us that day - the day was just too hazy for it. Not really disappointed though, the blueness and calmness of everything was a welcome change from my past climbs back at home.
According to a road sign, it would take the same amount of time to take the remaining trail to Nam Shan and to go back the way we came. We decided on going back because it was getting dark - it was better to go with the more familiar trail.
There was an otherworldy feeling that came with seeing the mountains blanketed in fog. I could feel the dew in my hair and my jacket. I could hear nothing but silence. It was a comforting strangeness.
And it was exactly what I needed.
NOTES ABOUT THIS TRIP!
The bus to the jump off is not exactly at the Tung Chung bus station area. You have to go out of the bus parking lot, and there's another bus station across the street.
I misunderstood all the blogs. I thought Pak Kung Au was the starting point of the trail while Nam Shan was the middle section going to Ngong Ping. Apparently, you could go from Pak Kung Au to Ngong Pin - which is the real trail that I wanted to do. Next time.
The trail is like climbing a never ending set of stairs. The recorded difficulty level is low, but I think it will really depend on how much leg power you have. They said that it takes a little less than 2hrs to midpoint, but it took us around 3 hrs - accounting for photo and rest stops.
All photos of me in this set were taken by Kristine!