A free Sunday in HK turned into a full day hike and beach adventure! With the mountains surrounding the city, there is an unreal amount of hiking and day-trip type excursions at our fingertips. We planned to do Dragon’s Back, one of the more famous hikes since it’s so close and so scenic. We met up with Abbie’s friend of a friend of a friend who is from HK, Charlotte, to do the hike. After navigating the confusing bus station at Hung Hom, we went over towards Quarry Bay and caught another bus up to the trailhead. The buses were wayyy to big to be going on the small windy streets that they were. We started up on the hike and almost immediately had great views. Water and islands and mountains everywhere!

We stopped frequently along the way to take photos and drink water. The hike itself was actually not that brutal compared to hikes in New Hampshire or things, but I can’t think of the last time I have sweat that much (if ever). Entirely covered in a layer of moisture after very little exertion. It was a tradeoff because the sunnier it was, the clearer views there were into the surrounding islands, but also the more treacherous the heat. It was overall quite a sunny and hot day. It didn’t take long to realize why the hike was called “Dragon’s Back”- the whole path was along a ridge with bumpy spiny looking subparts.

The trail ultimately led to Big Wave Beach, after we had views of the Shek O beach during the hike. It was an absurd and amazing beach town. It felt like Hong Kong, LA, Bermuda, and a dash of Greece (haven’t even been, but it’s what I envision). There were lots of beachy little vendors selling soda and flip flops and things. We got a bite to eat at the one main restaurant and got these (terrible) drinks per Charlotte’s recommendation. It was like salty pickled lime soda. When I say this drink was salty, that is an understatement. But alas I was dehydrated enough that I still drank it. But would not recommend getting again. There were clearly lots of rentals for surfboards and things that we walked by on the short path to the beach. It was a lovely little alcove with nice sand, protected water, and overall just a really nice beach. We schemed to go back in the near future for a proper full beach day, since we just waded post-hike.

I think the best part of going to new places is the inspiration to do new activities! Rather than a lazy Sunday (which is still a great thing), there is inspiration to go out and explore and take advantage of being here! Came back and had my favorite meal, the sizzle rice from Pepper Lunch in the mall food court. Mmm! It was pretty crazy on our way back as we took the MTR from the hike to the hotel. We took it through Wan Chai and Admiralty where there were protests occuring. This ended up being one that continued through to Sheung Wan and escalated. It was wild to see that almost everyone getting on and off the subway was wearing black, very clearly going to participate. We’ve been avoiding them but things have definitely seemed to escalate even since being here.