Friday 13 April – A MIGHTY TREK AROUND HONG KONG, LOVED IT - VIDEOS INCLUDED!
Today’s blog is mostly about a 2.5hr long trek we did outside of Hong
Kong. It is something VERY different than the usual Hong Kong experience. I
hope I have been able to capture the effort, sweat, the views and ultimate joy
that came when we completed it...
11.00am: David and I are on the taxi to meet Steve, Claire and
Avril to do this trek, “The Twin Peaks”.
The driver has some sort of nervous tic and slaps himself on his right leg at
every opportunity whilst shaking his head. After what we’ve seen this is perfectly
normal – and at least he is not driving a scooter in Saigon.
‘It should be a nice trek’ I tell
David. ‘Steve says it’ll be around an hour, all very nice and green’.
‘Sounds good to me’ responds David,
who is also wearing his new trekking trainers.
11.15am: David and I meet Steve, Claire and Avril at the Shangrila hotel just as they are having
their petit dejeneur (excuse my French). Thing is, this is the lobby of this 5
star hotel and we are all wearing shorts,
trainers, gym tshirts and rucksacks – surrounded by executives in suits and
all smart wealthy hotel guests; as I say, perfectly normal. At this point all
of us but Steve believe ‘the twins’ means two peaks: one and two, the twins,
easy. How wrong we were we only found out one way...
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| View of Hong Kong as we start our way up... to hell |
11.45am: the taxi drops us somewhere East of HK and Steve goes:
‘Ok guys listen up, so this is
what we are going to do [reminding me of the guide on that boat day in Vietnam a
few weeks back, see blog entry 01 April]: we
are going to go up this one hill, which should be easy no more than 15 minutes,
we’ll take some photos. Then we’ll go down the hill and up another hill at the
other side and that should be it’.
Easy enough. Sweet.
Liar.
11.55am: we are sort of half way up this first peak. It is a hot day, in its high 20s. It is humid too but thankfully, and
crucially, it is cloudy but not
threatening rain. All in all decent conditions. We are walking up these
concrete steps that have been there for a while but look in good condition –
surrounded by bushes and low trees of not more than 3-4 metres tall. It is all
very green around us and it already seems incredible we were in a jungle of
skyscrapers, towers and traffic just 15 minutes ago. That is nice.
12.05pm: we reach the peak of the first of the two hills of the
day. It was about 25 minutes, it was
not super difficult but since it is hot and humid, good sweat has broken across
the board.
 |
| Sweat is just starting a we reach Peak 1. Great view around. |
‘Right that was just the warm up’
says Steve, all relaxed ‘Now we are going down this hill, up that one, and then
up another one’. Here is the moment on camera:
Hhhhmmmm... that doesn’t quite sound what we had agreed to – that is
not what our Vietnam ‘listen everybody’ tour guide did either.
But well, it is all new for us, it
is a Friday morning, we are not in an office; we can either go ahead, or go
back and miss out. We go ahead. Still easy, ok it is three and not two hills –
can handle that.
At the top of this first hill the
view is all green and a number of hills around us. In the distance we can see
some of Hong Kong towers, the sea, a big lake and more hills.
12.20pm: we have gone down one hill and are going up the second. Steve
and Macca –both kind of fitness freaks, in a nice way- start to slowly break
away and Avril, David and I drop a few metres back at a slightly more leisure
pace. At one turn there is a great view
as all we see is downhill and everything is super green. No people, no buildings,
all green – and all downhill, yay!
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| All the view is green - and downhill, yay! |
Mother Nature... GREAT to see you again.
12.45pm: we have completed a third peak and still feel strong and
excited. It is definitely not our average Friday morning.
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| We have reached Peak 3 - Avril, Macca, Steve and I (David the photographer) |
‘They are competing to see who
gets there first’ says Avril.
‘Absolutely, always so competitive’ I agree. They can run as much
as they want I will not be chasing them.
 |
| Steve and Macca off they go in this amazing place |
David’s new trainers prove to be a little too new and he has some blisters which he is taking care of. I would not want to be in his situation right now.
 |
| David fixing his feet |
Best thing is that the view really is impressive, everything so untouched and preserved; we can see water at both our right and left, a big water reserve, a beach in the distance.
And whilst all that is well and
good, what we are really thinking is that ‘these are not twins... these are
more like quadruplets’.
1.00pm: THIS IS IT.
Steve: ‘OK guys, now, we have done
three warm up peaks. Here is when the real trek starts’ he announces, just as
we stop at some junction at the bottom of the third hill of the day.
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| Junction before going right or left - Steve usually doesn't look that big, sorry pal. |
‘If you are really tired, you can follow this 3-4km flat path around the next two peaks [aka “The Twins”] or you can go up with me. The first peak is 1,000 steps; actually some people have taken the effort to mark some of the steps as you go up to have some references, which makes it easier’ he explains, all cool and relaxed. ‘The second one is about a third of that, but the first one is the tricky one’.
Everyone looks at each other.
Hhhmmm.
Macca spots a sign that reads “1hr and 3/4 up”.
‘Don’t worry, I have done it in 17
minutes’ says Steve, proud. We didn’t know at the time that he was lying,
blatantly.
David and Avril decide to go
around the twins.
Macca decides to follow Steve,
which really is no surprise to me.
 |
| We are here in that box in soft orange-pink. Basically the middle of nowhere. |
I have been working out pretty much daily in the month before this trip, I think I am in a reasonable fit condition despite the beers and little exercise of the past two weeks. I take everything into account, being in Hong Kong, on a Friday morning, out in the middle of nowhere, with a good couple of mates, sweating like I’ve just had a shower of sweat and realising I have not done this before.
Crucially and more importantly, I
cannot consider myself any less fit than Steve and I will not give him a chance
to think that.
What the hell, LET’S DO THIS.
At this moment however you do not stop to make
numbers. You do not stop to think it is 1,000 steps, one after another, which
after around the 2,000 we’ve just done in the past three hills, is actually a
lot – but that subtle message Steve has just delivered of ‘I have done it in 17
minutes’ helps you think ‘it will not be that tough if he’s done it that quick’.
A lie that helps is a sweet lie,
in a way.
The following times are really a
guess but I have scientifically worked out that it takes on average about one
second per step. Excluding any unforeseen stops to rest, of which there will be
many, it should be:
1 step x second = 60 steps per minute
60 steps per minute = 600 steps per ten minutes
1000 steps = 16.67 minutes approximately.
But as I said, you do not stop then
to think about this when you start.
You do not go and say it is just
under 20 minutes, easy.
You do not think you will need ten
or more breaks.
You do not think you will lose
Steve and Macca for most of it.
You do this a few weeks later,
back home, when you look back and remember EVERY SINGLE BLOODY STEP
... and HOW GREAT IT WAS.
Circa 1.10pm: About 200
steps in Steve and Macca are starting to pull away. I
AM SWEATING. A LOT. Here is a video so you can understand better what we were going through - excuse some of the language:
We see a sign reading “200”.’Ok
this is a fifth of the distance, come on Alfonso!’ shouts Macca, all
encouraging.
And a few steps up we see another
sign “200”.
‘Huh?’
And another one.
‘Ok, if they don’t agree on the
first 200 how are they going to by the time we reach 1,000...’ I ask myself.
By the way, we have only seen two
people all morning. It is Friday after all.
 |
| On the way up - steps and more steps, for the fourth time today |
Circa 1.23pm: Somewhere between 500 and 700 steps. Some
of them are really steep. You are surrounded by low trees, you can hear
crickets and other noisy tiny insects but you cannot see them.
My breathing and heartbeat
have stabilised by now but remain slow and fast respectively. The drops of
sweat cover my forehead and fall all over my clothes like rain – my clothes are
drenched in sweat, literally.
The uncertainty of what lies
ahead, how far, how steep, how challenging... mixes up with the adrenaline and
thrill of doing this trek in the middle of Hong Kong, in April, on a Friday
morning...
... and I AM LOVING THIS MOMENT
VERY MUCH. I FEEL 100% ALIVE.
And that is fantastic.
I can feel tired, I can feel heavy
legs, I can feel the sweat down my neck, my arms or legs, I can hear my body
saying ‘give me a break’ but my brain decides to ignore him because I CAN FEEL
IT.
I have become two in one, my body,
my brain; or even three, my soul, as I take all the scenery in. ‘I should this
way more often’ I tell myself.
By now I have lost Steve and Macca
and I am talking to myself.
I am cheering for myself ‘come on
you lazy arse, get on with it you muppet’.
Circa 1.30pm: Somewhere between 700 and 800 steps. I can see Macca
who says we have reached the 700
mark. She waits as I walk up and I cannot see the bloody number. I literally cannot see it. ‘It is in front of you,
there!’ she tells me – and I can’t see it. All I can see are steps and more
steps. There are some openings on the trees and the clouds have thinned, which
means the slight direct sunlight feels really hot.
Circa 1.36pm: I do not know how long I have left. We have been on
this trek for nearly two hours and I am pouring down with sweat like never
before.
I have a feeling I must be close.
I keep walking up, it is flattening down... and there we are.I can see both
Macca and Steve at the top of the peak cheering for me.
‘YESSSSS!!! MADE IT!!! YESSSS!!! BLOODY HELL!!!! YESSSS!!!’
We all high five each other.
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| "Steve you are a great mate but I'll get you back later".... and smile! |
‘Bloody hell! That was some walk!’ I shout excited for having completed it. ‘But mate, where the hell does the Twins thing come from?! You blatantly lied!!” I accuse Steve. ‘Just exactly what we need the day before your wedding!’
I was accusing him as much as
thanking him. The feeling of accomplishment could not be any greater. The moments
where you were on your own, really thinking ‘what the hell am I doing here’, ‘how
much is left’, ‘where is the swimming pool’... are all left behind in an
instant.
You have made it, you are there
with your two friends who have just done the same thing. You feel great.
We take a short break of not more
than a couple of minutes so that the legs do not relax too much and start our
way down before going up the final hill of the day.
Circa 1.50pm: we are on the way up this final peak of the day. It
is by no measures any easier than the previous one however knowing it is about
a third of that should help.
Well, it didn’t really.
And, for the record, it wasn’t a
third of that but more like about half of it. Thanks Steve, really. THANKS.
 |
| Final way up of the day - had its own moments |
Circa 1.58pm: I have again lost Macca and Steve but I am ok. I am always comfortable in my own company so this is no different. Though this time it really is.
We have just gone up and down four
great peaks and this is, really, the final one. In a way it feels like a good book that you don’t want to finish, or a
good cake that only has a few mouthfuls left.
Yes, this has been tiring, painful and at times lonely.
But it has also felt great. In a twisted way you do not want it to finish
because you know finishing means it is back to the ‘real world’ out there with
its concrete and traffic.
I am taking these final 500 steps
very slowly, enjoying them as much as hating them. Your brain says ‘do it’
whilst your body says ‘get me home’ and you are the referee between the two. Your
soul by now is up there somewhere having a time of his own.
Circa 2.06pm: We have reached the peak. And this really is the
final peak of the day – a feeling which is a first all morning. All we have to
do now is GO DOWN, YAY!!! No more
way up, just down, down, down... BRING IT ON.
Thing is, we are late for lunch
with one of Steve’s friends. And we also do not know how Avril and David got
on.
What do you do? The most obvious
thing in the world: YOU RUN
DOWNHILL.
Yes, you read correctly. We ran
down all the way. Not only had we just gone up some 3,500 steps and down
another 3,500 in the past two hours. We have another 1,000 steps down left and
we are running them. Here is the clip - excuse the language:
ABSOLUTELY BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!
The scenery is more of the same,
and as beautiful as the rest, but you see more and more buildings, hear more
human noises and schools and road works and traffic...
Mother Nature, we leave you in
peace. Thank you again.
Circa 2.20pm: We meet Avril and David at the base of the final
peak. They are ok and enjoyed their walk too. Everyone is feeling great and
cannot wait to get our hands on some cold drinks and some food.
It has been a FANTASTIC TREK. I am
so pleased I went the 1,000 steps up and did that. I was always the last of us
three but it was such a great effort. All those days in the gym, particularly
doing the staircase machine, paid off despite not having done much in the last
two weeks.
I am not thinking how my legs will feel tomorrow. I am incredibly delighted for having done this TODAY and
enjoying every single drop of sweat that comes down my body. I FEEL ALIVE.
2.30pm: As we jump on a taxi to go for lunch, it becomes some sort
of mini steam room but we don’t care. We
are not walking anymore. Food and drinks are near. We can feel that too
We arrive to a small port where a
typical Chinese festival is taking place with some dragons and big flags. It
seems a welcome prepared for us as if they knew we where coming.
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| Dragon welcome party - for us! |
I buy a new t-shirt for $3 as mine
is completely and literally drenched in sweat – that will take some washing. My
shorts are also completely drenched but they’ll survive.
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| Tshirt and trousers completely drenched in sweat - sweet. |
I then spend some ten minutes
stretching my legs and back by the waterfront. I am normally really bad at
stretching but I can feel this is doing me good. As I stretch I look back at
what we just did and some of the sensations I had at times. It was much longer
journey on a personal level than what it actually was in distance. And I loved
it.
Steve, thank you for that. It really was a great experience and I look
forward to doing another one another day with you wherever it is.
The rest of the day was very quiet
and relaxed, as you can imagine, preparing for the BIG WEDDING DAY ON SATURDAY.
More on that in the next entry.
For now, it is all about feeling
great and lucky to be healthy and able to do these things from time to time.
THANK YOU WORLD.
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