Victoria Peak

Our first attempt at climbing Victoria's Peak, the tall mountain reaching right out of the city, was not entirely successful. Well, it wasn't even partially successful. We started the hike by rejoicing that for the first time in our travels we were able to get excellent topographic maps with great detail, so that we could hike independently. In Thailand, there just aren't any such maps. So, we traced out the path from Mt. Davis to Victoria's Peak and set out in the morning. This would be a bit ambitious, since we descend a couple thousand feet and then climb back up again in a very short distance. But the problem wasn't the elevation. It turns out that not very many people hike in Hong Kong. At least, not enough hike this trail to keep it maintained. It was completely overgrown. After spending quite a while blazing trail through dense forest, finding short segments of the trail only to then have to search cross country again, we finally turned back. There just wasn't enough trail still in place to make it through.

Later, on another afternoon, we caught the bus up to Victoria's Peak. We hiked around the top for a couple of hours on well traveled road and trail, and then watched the sunset from the top. The view is impressive. Hong Kong is a beautiful place. The harbor is filled with all manner of ships, ferries, barges and boats, many at anchor and many engaged in a dance as they jockey around. The high-speed ferries (hydroplanes) fly right past the others.

There is a very expensive housing project near the top of the Peak with beautiful views of the harbor. Ah, that wouldn't be a bad life.