CITY LIFE CAN TAKE A HIKE: DRAGON'S BACK

With Hong Kong being the crazy, bustling metropolis it is, and pretty much the city that never sleeps (Literally. I have friends who work from 8am to 8pm, go out for a quick dinner with other friends, and then head back to the office to work till past midnight.), it's sometimes surprising that a whole new different world exists when you get out of the city center. 

Daddy Wong was in town last week and what better way to show him this other side of my favorite city that I now call home than with an easy hike up Dragon's Back? You know, because Mommy Wong might actually disown me if she found out I made my dad trudge up one of those killer 80%-uphill trails the +852 has plenty of...

I took a day off from work on Friday for the hike and it proved to be a great decision, because Dragon's Back on weekends is not. at. all. fun. It's crammed full of tourists, some of whom prove to be way more annoying than the average homosapien because they think it appropriate to stop every 7.5 steps to take a selfie of themselves and their 5 other friends. Even if there's no view yet and nothing but shrubbery to photograph. 

Well, there was a LITTLE, TINY bit of stairclimbing, but that was pretty much within the first 10 minutes of the hike. Everything else was pretty much done on flat terrain even as we were scaling the mountain, so don't you worry, Momster, I didn't attempt to assassinate pop's "old joints and bones", as you like to call them, much to his chagrin. 

It was also fairly easy to get to the start of the Dragon's Back trail. We took the MTR to Shau Kei Wan station, took exit A3 and found ourselves at the bus terminal. There are signs for the #9 bus — direction: Shek-O — so it's really simple to get there. The stop you want is To Tei Wan. Or just follow everyone and their mom off the bus; you'll know instantly when you get there.

The easy trail also made for some amazing daddy-daughter bonding time and really awesome conversation since we weren't wheezing for air half the time. I really loved being able to catch up with dear ol' dad and having some solid H2H along the way. It also helped that we lucked out with wonderful sunshine (after it poured the previous day) that really made the hike that much more enjoyable.

When the husband and I last did the hike in November 2016, we took 1.5 hours and pretty much blazed through it (mostly because we were so annoyed with the crowds, so we made it our life's goal to speed-walk around them. Never said so many continuous Excuse-Mes in Cantonese in my life.). 

This time though, it took us a full 3.5 hours to reach Big Wave Beach (follow the signs for Tai Tam or Shek-O Road) because Daddy Wong was having a field day photographing everything! From the amazing view to the flowers we saw along the way, to stray butterflies and rock formations that greeted us - he was so much like a kid in a candy store. And without any crowds, that field day was definitely had and indulged in by him. 

It really filled me with joy to see how much he was enjoying himself and all the fun he was having, looking at this different slice of Hong Kong paradise through his micro lenses and capturing portraits of these wonderful moments. 

And of course, how can anyone say no to an end-point reward like being able to look out at the  pristine waters at Big Wave Bay? (And a piping hot bowl of instant ramen/公仔面 with spam and fried eggs for Daddy Wong and errr.... cold caulirice with garlic tofu for me)

Such a wonderful, wonderful day!