Life in Hong Kong: November 2013

There are many exciting aspects to living abroad. Seeing new places. Learning about new cultures. Trying new foods. Those are just a few. However, some days it’s the little things that excite you. Like finding the one store out of five that carries dill pickles. Finding the store with El Pato and Dunkin Donuts coffee. Locating a pizza place that is as good as Philly (very difficult to do). Managing to drive the mile to the school fields. Driving the five miles down to Stanley.

Today, it was the little things that excited me. I drove to Stanley by myself and parked in the “car park” (parking garage for you Americans). I needed a couple of bulky items and Dave is out of town, so I figured I would give it a shot. There’s an “American” store in Stanley that I don’t usually venture into for two reasons: it is very expensive and I typically don’t mind buying whatever is available locally. There are a couple of food items about which we are very particular though, one of them being peanut butter. We only like “natural” peanut butter, no sugar added. The Costco brand is our favorite. My day was made when I found just that in the “American” store! As Dave says, “There are certain things that are worth the extra cost.” In this house, peanut butter is one of those things! It was probably double the cost it is in the U.S., but it was less than the small jars of reduced sugar peanut butter that we don’t really like.

So here’s to the “little things” today. They brought a smile to my face on a rainy, windy, dreary dayJ

Hong Kong has some absolutely beautiful hikes! Many of the hikes are similar to hikes in Hawaii, beautiful spots of greenery, some dryer spots and incredible views. Unlike Hawaii, you don't have too many perfectly clear days. Some days the air quality creates a haze and some days it's just normal cloud cover. With the temperatures finally coming down a little bit, the weather is perfect for hiking. Dave and I are trying to do one more challenging hike every weekend as well as one that we do with the dogs. In an effort to hike as many of the trails as possible while we live here we are attempting to try a new one almost every weekend.

The hiking trails here are amazingly well maintained. Many of them have concrete or stone steps on a lot of the uphill sections. While these steps have been in good condition on all of the hikes I have completed so far, they are all a little different. Some are very narrow and steep, some are much deeper. It is difficult to get into a good rhythm. Both of my hiking partners, Dave and my friend Mary, have much longer legs than me that make the steep steps a little easier for them. On most of the hikes you gain quite a bit of elevation. There are some serious mountains in Hong Kong; not hills, mountains!

The following are some pictures from two of the most recent hikes we have enjoyed. The first hike is called Jardine's Lookout and Mt. Butler. On this particular hike you go over two peaks. This hike we start from the entrance to the middle school and hike up a paved path (2.5 mi) to an apartment complex, Parkview, in the middle of the island. Many trails begin here. From here you turn onto a dirt path (with cement steps) and head towards the northeast. Eventually you curve back around to the south (Tai Tam, where we live). After traversing the second peak you end up back on a paved path that eventually meets up with the path on which we began. Rather than following our original path all the way back to the start we veered off onto another dirt path that met up with the main road and then walked down along the bottom of the reservoir through a little village, Tai Tam Tuk, and back up to the middle school. The total distance according to my Garmin watch was 8 miles.

Beginning of the hike, Tai Tam Reservoir

Looking downtown from one of the peaks

Downtown and Kowloon

Dave was not happy with me at this point

Tai Tam Reservoir

The next hike is called Violet Hill. Again we start from the middle school, but veer off before getting to Parkview. The initial dirt trail my friend calls "snake alley" all though I have not seen any snakes on it yet. Then we head up the mountain. Certain times of the year this mountainside is covered in flowers. On this hike we have a better view of the west side of the island and then eventually Causeway Bay (north central part of the island). Eventually we make it to the Parkview and then come back down the paved path to the middle school. This hike measured about 6.75 miles on my Garmin.