Hiking and Hong Kong Sevens

Spring has finally arrived in HK and is the perfect hiking weather--20 degrees and sunny. I spent this Saturday exploring the Bowen Road Fitness Trail, a hiking trail that's often used as the backdrop for local TVB dramas. CharK and I took the electric tram from North Point over to Happy Valley for breakfast, then entered trail from Bowen Road just outside of the Hong Kong Adventis Hospital. This weekend is the Hong Kong Sevens and I was able to catch a glimpse of the practice on the ride over.

A view of the HK Stadium from the Happy Valley Electric Tram (Photo: CharK)

The fitness trail is a pretty easy trail, since it's pretty flat. Lots of people were jogging and walking their dogs. It's nice and cool to hike/run along this trail since there's tree cover along the whole path. I love the view from these mid-level areas. You can see so far across the city and get a full view of the skyline.

You can see the HK Stadium off in the distance (Photo: CharK)

Here's another view of HK Stadium from the fitness trail...

A view of HK Stadium from the Bowen Fitness Trail (Photo: CharK)

The Bowen Road Fitness trail can also lead up to the Peak, just like Old Peak Road on the other side of the mountain. So comparing the two trails, I like Old Peak Road more because there seem to be more views of the city. There's a lot more construction going on--many new condominiums are going up on this side.

Enjoying the sea breeze in Tai Po

Walking along the waterfront promenade has become one of my favourite weekend activities. I find it really relaxing just staring out over the water and catching the sea breeze. Most of the waterfront areas (aside from Victoria Harbor by TST) are surprisingly quiet compared to other attractions in the city.

Now I can add the Tai Po Waterfront Park to my list of favourite areas in HK. The Waterfront Park overlooks Sha Tin Hoi (沙田海) towards Ma On Shan (馬鞍山). One cool thing about this Park is the Lookout Tower which commemorates HK's handover back to China in 1997. From the top of this tower, I could see a 180 degree view of the surrounding area, from Tai Po Industrial area to the HK Science Park. 

Photo (CharK)

Photo (CharK)

Aside from the Waterfront path, there`s also quite a large open area where the locals go to fly their kites. The impressive thing about these kite flyers is that the string is so long that I could see their kites from blocks away. Today I saw a cool kite in the shape of traditional Chinese Opera Mask.

Photo (CharK)

Lots of people rented bikes to ride along the path. The bike rental shop even has three-seater bikes available (one person bikes at the front and 2 others can sit in the cart in the back). Next time CharK and I are back here, it looks like fun to rent a bike to check out the rest of the path.