asia - day 21 - the long hike
the day started out easy peasy. we took the super clean and super empty subway to choi hung station. i had read about the maclehose trail - 100 km of paved trail that is typically completed in 10 stages over 10 days - and i wanted to do at least part of it. based on my "internet research," i thought it would be fun to hike the 13.5 km from stage 3 (pak tam au) to stage 2 (long ke).
at choi hung station, i had to take a pee break so we went into one of the stinkiest markets i've ever visited. it was not fun.
we got outta there immediately afterward and took the bus to the starting point of our hike!
a little hiccup at the very start of our hike was a cow standing in the path. it wouldn't move and we were scared it would kick us as we tried to go around. eventually, we built up our courage and tiptoed around the grazing cow. he ignored us.
we walked and walked and walked and walked. it was beautiful. and tiring.
to be quite honest, i was not really prepared for the hike. i knew it was paved so i didn't take it too seriously but constantly climbing and descending hills took its toll. the icing on the cake was when we saw real hikers all decked out in hiking gear on the trail (they were the only other people we saw doing the hike). vince and i were in converse... jeans and converse + capris and converse. oh man! not only that but we only had mooncakes, some seaweed, and a couple of bottles of iced tea as sustenance. not my smartest moment.
we passed through some towns with no one in them. weird.
i couldn't wait to get to ham tin - we intended to have lunch in the sleepy town. so we followed the signs...
... and walked and walked...
... and eventually got there!
there wasn't much to it - just this charming little foot bridge (LOVE!) and a beautifully deserted beach. if there's one thing that i love, it's having a beach to myself - it doesn't matter too much to me what it looks like. all my favourite beaches have been virtually deserted. we crossed the foot bridge even though it was totally unnecessary. i was inexplicably scared of the cute bridge but i crossed too!
we were actually a little full from the mooncake so we opted to pass on the restaurant - there wasn't anyone eating there anyway. we lay down for a little while and had a little nap. i was a little concerned that we would stay too long because i wasn't entirely sure how much longer we'd have to hike to get back to civilization. we got up and started heading out way too soon for our taste.
for some odd reason, vince chose to put on his shoes where he would get stranded when the tide came in. i think he just wanted to rock climb a little.
we were exhausted but there were still more stairs to climb and descend and climb again.
i thought this was the end of the stage but apparently not.
finally... finally... the town!
we found a kind older gentleman and asked him to point us to the direction of the nearest bus stop. my heart sank when he said we had missed the bus by over an hour - and it was the last one until the next day. this was not your typical resort town and we could not just check into the hilton to spend the night. the man suggested we call a taxi and i was so relieved. he coached me through the call and told me to ask for the cab to arrive in 45 minutes - because we had to hike to the nearest road accessible by taxi. eek! vince was so mad at me.
after a long and hilly 30 minute hike (we really hoofed it because i was so afraid we'd miss the cab), we arrived at a random gazebo, waited, and prayed that the taxi would show up. it did and we left the lovely and sleepy sai wan village behind us. as we sat in the cab, i realized how far from civilization we really were... thus the $10 taxi fare was the best money i ever spent.
we were starving by the time we got back to central so we hightailed it over to an old standby for some great comfort food. made the day all worth it!
