One of the aspects about Hong Kong that surprised us the most was the amount of wilderness that surrounds the city. There are many hiking trails and national parks within a relative short distance of downtown, so we decided to spend a good chunk of our time in HK exploring a couple of these areas.
Hike 1: Dragons’s Back and Big Wave Bay
Our first foray into the natural beauty of HK took us to what is probably the most popular day hike in the city: the Dragon’s Back. This hike is on Hong Kong Island and is easily accessible by public transportation. We opted to do the longer version of the hike which ends at Big Wave Bay (rather than the loop that goes back to the trailhead). The hike gets its name from the rolling hills that the trail follows, resembling the back of a dragon or serpent. It was a gorgeous hike, but we did on a weekend (and a beautiful day), so it was quite crowded. We even came to a standstill a few times. The masses of people all going different speeds on this narrow trail did detract some from the experience, but hey, what can you do. The last part of the hike to Big Wave Bay was flatter, in better condition, and less crowded. When we arrived at Big Wave Bay, we had a nice lunch at a cafe and then spent the afternoon watching surfers and reading our kindles on rocks overlooking the beach. There was a bit of confusion figuring out where the bus stop was to get back to the city, but without much delay we were on the quick trip back. Overall, this was a great way to spend a day in HK, but I would recommend going on a weekday to hopefully avoid some crowds if you’re able!
Hike 2: Sai Kung Country Park and Tai Long Wan Beach
This hike was a bit more adventurous than the Dragon’s Back. Taking public transportation, the start of this hike was about 2.5 hours away from our hotel (would have been about an hour by car). We had to take three different buses, which we hadn’t done yet in Hong Kong. The bus rides were a fun way to see some of the city and surrounds that we hadn’t experienced yet.
The major draw of this hike was a trio of remote beaches at the end of it. These beaches are accessible only by boat or by foot, so they are sparsely populated. We set out on our journey, which ended up being relatively uncomplicated. After arriving at our trailhead in Sai Kung Country Park, we embarked on the 90 minute hike to get to the beaches. This was a moderate hike with views of a beautiful bay and modest elevation changes. It was not even close to as crowded as Dragon’s Back, which was very nice.
When we arrived at the beach, we stopped and got a couple gatorades and a plate of fried rice at one of the two restaurants there. After briefly checking out the first beach, we charged ahead to the second beach. When we got there, we couldn’t believe our eyes. It was a huge beach, and there was literally one tent with two men sitting outside, and not a single other person in sight. We meandered around for a while before changing into our swimsuits and settling in to a relaxing hour of reading on our deserted beach. We didn’t even have to find a rock to change behind because there was NO ONE THERE. It was amazing.
When it came time to head back, we decided to try a different route back into the city. By my research, this route should have been shorter and easier, so we opted for this instead of heading back the way we came or taking a speed boat back (which would have been a bit expensive).
As it turns out, we somehow got a bit lost on the route I was trying to take, and we ended up climbing up and over a rather large hill (Kelly prefers to say small mountain) on the way back. We didn’t really have enough water for that; we were preparing for a 30 minute walk back, and what we got was a 2.5 hour hike straight up. Thus continues our trend of accidentally committing to more vigorous hikes than we intended. Oops. After literally sucking the water out of an apple core to appease our thirst, we finally made it to our destination, which supposedly had frequent cabs to get back to the city.
There was a cab waiting there, and another couple of hikers waiting for someone to split the fare with. We happily agreed and sped off on the 30 minute drive back to the first bus we needed to take to get home. When we arrived and it came time to pay the cab driver, I handed him the correct change and started to get out of the cab when he said “What’s this?” I had given him Taiwanese money. I had looked at that money that morning and thought, “Oh good I have plenty of cash for the day,” except it was the wrong currency. I didn’t have enough HK dollars to cover our portion. The other couple paid the cab driver, and after a flurry of trying to find an ATM and failing to get cash back from a 7-11 with my debit card, we just apologized profusely to the other couple and gave them all of the money we had on us (including HK dollars, Taiwan dollars, and US dollars). It was ultimately more than we owed them, but I wanted to make up for the hassle.
Fresh out of cash, we continued on our way home, thankful that we had fully loaded public transport cards to make the trip back. After about 5h of public transportation and 5.5h of hiking, we got back to our hotel and tried to find a restaurant that would take credit cards near our hotel. We weren’t having any luck; every place only took cash and we didn’t really want to take more out of the ATM because we were leaving the next day. I remembered reading that McDonalds accepts the subway cards as a form of payment, and thus, McDonalds became our dinner for the night. Honestly, after such an (accidentally) aggressive day of hiking, a McFlurry has never tasted so darn good.
So there you have it. Hong Kong is a huge city with a ton going on (we heard some claim “New York meets Las Vegas”), but that doesn’t mean it’s not a dream for the outdoor enthusiast as well!
-Adam
Around the World in 180 Days 
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