To Pineapple Mountain

On this yet another regular Saturday afternoon, I was bored out of my ass and didn’t know what to do. 

I wanted to do something instead of rotting my time away in Hong Kong. Unfortunately for me, the weather forecast predicts rain in the later half of the day so I couldn’t go for any of the island trips that I had in mind.

A quick search in Google led me to Pineapple Mountain – a recently popularised mountain in Hong Kong due to a TV broadcast on it. I chose Pineapple Mountain because it’s the closest mountain to my house and according to other travel blogs, the hike isn’t exactly too strenuous nor long. Perfect for my first solo hike!

The hike started off pretty steep. Within minutes I was like omg did I just make a horrible mistake ? But no, I came all the way here, came too far to give up at a 5 minute mark.

It eventually got better. The hike consists of numerous routes leading away from the main route. Luckily for me, I went there on a Saturday so it was pretty crowded with locals and it’s practically impossible to get lost there.

I know it doesn’t look like it from here but trust me, it was SO crowded.

The main attraction of this trail would have to be the mini Grand Canyon of Hong Kong.

It’s nowhere as grand as the real Grand Canyon in Arizona but for me, this is more than sufficient for a random Saturday afternoon hike.

After spending a good amount of time moping over the fact that I don’t have someone to take pretentious shots of me, I headed down via the less popular path which led me to Ha Pak Nai.

Right after I took this shot, my phone died lol and I was pretty lost for a while, manoeuvring my way through the village.

Eventually I found a group of locals and followed them out of the maze. 

At Ha Pak Nai village, you can take the Minibus 33 back to civilisation. Just tell the driver that you’ll like to get off at the West Rail stop and you’re good to go! 

Peng Chau Island

My friends from Singapore, Lim Ting and Pearlyn, are here in Hong Kong for the launch of their art exhibition.

When they mentioned that they love visiting non-touristy attractions, I thought it was a good idea to bring them to Peng Chau island – a tiny outlying island in Hong Kong that tourists are virtually non-existent.

To get there: it is extremely easy to get to Peng Chau island. You can pay using your Octopus card for the return journey which will add up to approximately $30 HKD. To get to the island, just take a ferry from Central pier 6 and return via the same terminal whereby you alighted from, on the island itself.

Peng Chau island is really a tiny island that’s accessible by foot. As a matter of fact, we did not see any vehicles on the island itself. The people there get around by foot or bicycle and you’ll see many bicycles being parked alongside the ferry terminal when you arrive.

Our main purpose for visiting the island was to visit the Finger Hill and perhaps, hike a little here and there to beautiful beaches. 

The journey took about 30 mins. The thing about Peng Chau is that it’s so small, you don’t actually NEED to spend the whole day here. My friends and I stayed for merely 2-3 hours and it was good enough. 

When you arrive in Peng Chau, you’ll notice that unlike cramped Hong Kong, Peng Chua’s houses are mostly spread out nicely. It looks a little more like Japan rather than the conventional Hong Kong landscapes.

Signs are available everywhere for you to navigate the island with relative ease so you don’t have to worry about getting lost. At the very most, just ask the friendly locals who are often more than willing to lead you back to the pier.

On our way to Finger Hill, we walked up the wrong intersection. But luckily for us, there were 2 friendly local women who kindly led us to the right way and even showed us some of the offbeaten paths that proved to be so beautiful. Much more beautiful than what Finger Hill had to offer.

When you see this sign, walk towards this pathway instead of going up the steep slope (it leads you back to the pier!).

And at the next intersection, head towards this route instead of the sign pointing to Finger Hill. Why? The route here has fewer steps (100+ as compared to the other path’s 300+) and it will lead you to another intersection and a detour where you’ll get to see a really nice, empty beach and a pavilion. 

The women then led us to the path further down which turned out to be a small but empty beach. 

(You can see them in the background picking up trash from the beach)

From the beach, retrace your steps back to before the detour, and continue your journey up Finger Hill. 

Finger Hill was a little of a disappointment because of the shrubs that blocked the panoramic view of the island.

So yeah. I don’t know if they’re going to clear the shrubs but as of today, 6/10/2016, this is how the panoramic view looks like.

After you felt like you’ve got enough of this view, head back down using the other path and you’ll arrive at the intersection at the picture that shows the “to Tai Wo” sign in no time.

From there, just retrace your steps back or if you’re feeling more adventurous, use the local way of getting back to the pier by heading up the steep slope I mentioned previously.

All in all, Peng Chau is a really nice side trip from Hong Kong if you want to take a look at the slower-paced lifestyle of unconventional Hong Kongers. 

While I did not eat anything there, there are many small shops available that sells food near the pier. There’s also a supermarket where you can get some beers to simply chill by the pier.

Hope this post entices more people to visit Peng Chau! Cheers! 

High Junk Peak

If you follow my personal blog, you will know that I am currently on an exchange program in Hong Kong. What is one of the more underrated activities in Hong Kong? That’s right, hiking!

Hong Kong is home to a great number of urban hikes and trails, including the most popular Dragon’s Back hike. My friends and I decide to leave the Dragon’s Back for the other day as we chose to conquer our first peak in Hong Kong together on the 24th Sept – the High Junk Peak.

A brief introduction to the High Junk Peak: It is one of the 3 treacherous peaks in Hong Kong according to Wikipedia with the other 2 being Sharp Peak and Castle Peak. It is also one of the main attractions of the Clear Water Bay Country Park here in Hong Kong.

Getting to High Junk Peak is slightly problematic. You’ll have to take the train to Choi Hung MTR station before taking a 30 minutes bus ride (bus 91) to reach the start of the trail.

Frankly speaking, I did not have much expectations of this trail because it was almost unheard of for a foreigner like me and the prospects of a long bus ride put me off a little (because I have motion sickness). However, I was surprised with the sheer beauty and the ease of this hike. The hike mostly consists of 2 peaks. Getting up the first peak is easy enough but as you go on, getting up the next peak is slightly difficult.

(I blame it on my poor health and lack of exercise too)

This is the earliest view you can get after walking up flights of stone steps:

I apologise for the poor photo quality because it was taken on my iPhone instead of the normal DSLR camera that I usually use.

After hiking for a while, you’ll get to see the Clear Water Bay.

We did not go down to look at the bay from the bottom but hey, the top view is better right? Plus the breeze felt heavenly from up there.

Near the end of the route, you’ll get to see settlements on the bay and a country club that is exclusive for members only.

There is also a small temple to the right of this view where they’ll sell cold drinks, perfect after a great hike. Do note that you’ll have to walk down flights of steps before you reach the temple.

All in all, I’m pretty satisfied with the views from this first hike in Hong Kong. Hopefully, I’ll be able to conquer more hikes that will give me views of similar standards or even better!

To the remaining 3 months in Hong Kong, cheers!