Hong Kong: The Dragon’s Back

Almost from the very beginning of our trip, Karl and I fell in love with Hong Kong.  We loved the unique feel of the city.  The international feel, the amalgamation of cultures, the size of the city.  We are used to Tokyo-home to approximately 13,000,000 people.  The vast megalopolis is amazing, but it can get tiresome. 

Hong Kong is home to more than 7,000,000 people.  Compared to Tokyo, Hong Kong seemed like a small city.  Not because of the population, but because of the physical size.  It is not that large.  The metro is itty bitty compared to the intricate maze of trains and metro lines we are used to dealing with in Japan. 

One of the other reasons we loved Hong Kong was because of how easy it was to get out of the city and into the mountains.  And how quickly you can get there.  When researching our trip before we left, we decided we would try to fit in some hiking.  We found one hike-the Dragon’s Back-in the southern district of Hong Kong Island.  In 2004, it was voted the number one urban hike in Asia by Time Magazine. 

We had to check it out. 

It took us only about thirty minutes to get to the trailhead from Kowloon.  We loved the hike.  It was not difficult at all.  We reached Shek O Peak with no trouble at all.  Our little guidebook told us that the hike would take about six hours.  It took us two and a half.  

At the end of the hike we walked along the beach and checked out this incredible ancient stone carving.  Definitely worth seeing if you do this hike.  We then caught the shuttle back to the metropolis.  

Back at the metro station, we spied an outdoor market and couldn’t resist walking through and looking at all the amazing food stuffs.  I would love to shop at one of these places for my groceries.