Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Hong Kong: The Great Outdoors

You may well have spent every day in Hong Kong drinking and eating rad food, all without leaving a few square kilometers. Namely Central. But Hong Kong is pretty massive, with a bunch of outlying islands and natural areas. Do yourself a favor if you get stuck there for 3 weeks while everyone in Tokyo goes crazy, filling their apartments with bottled water and toilet paper. Do yourself a favor and go see some trees.

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On Lamma Island, you can walk to a few beaches. There are also hella stray animals, but they are all tame.

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The view south is beautiful!

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The view north... not so much. 工場もえ!

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The other island that everyone goes to is Lantau. I wanted to do something that no one does in Hong Kong. Namely hiking. I asked the bus driver if he went to Nam Shan. Jpmey confirmed that destination and I rode. NAM SHAN! Look, I don't speak more than 3 words in Cantonese, and two of those are dirty phrases that my buddies in the projects taught me, and I pronounced Nam Shan like it is spelled in English.

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Then the bus dropped me off at Cheung Sha. How do these words sound alike? Chinese people, please explain.

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Taxis in Hong Kong are straight cheap. $40 in Tokyo cost be about $5 in Hong Kong.

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Nam Shan god dammit.

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Anyways, you can hike over the mountain. There aren't so many people. The two peaks of Nantau is about a 15km hike. There is a bus stop halfway if you want to give up.

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Everyone comes to Lantau to take a ropeway up to a giant Buddha or visit Disneyland. So you could do that as well.

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Actually, Lantau was kind of weak. The trails are all stairs, and the bus drivers take you an hour from where you want to go. Nam Shan dammit!

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Get out to Tai Po and you can rent a bike. And ride by some weird shit.

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The horse tracks are on the other side of the fence.

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Beverly Hills (3rd phase). Most of the houses were empty, and my HK buddy told me they were mostly investment property for rich mainland Chinese. Dudes with mad cash just buy housing, then leave it empty for however long.

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Just past Beverley Hills you can pick some medicinal herbs. She told me that they are organic. No shit, I don't think anyone is fertilizing wild weeds with chemicals.

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Flying high. Sick muffler by the way.

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Flying high. You want some?

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Not really nature, but next to my housing project was was an ill playground.

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Yes, it's a giant dragon. And the entire area was covered with foam flooring. So you could do a backflip off the top of the dragon, upload the fail video of you breaking your neck, but the joke is on the viewers, cause you walk away uninjured.



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Yes, after 3 weeks I was bored. One day I woke up, and with nothing to do, decided to walk up some stairs in the distance. Seriously, my plan for the day was to check out some stairs.

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Awesome! Religious shit on the side of some construction / mountain.

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More religious stuff. Maybe an Asian dude would be fascinated by crosses in random spots, but I dunno.

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From the top of stairs mountain I could see another government housing open pace. The track in the upper right is for racing RC cars. Sick! But I took the wrong path down.

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Check out Nan Lian Gardens at Diamond Hill station. Seriously, it's fresh.

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Rock gardens and bonsai.

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And a Buddhist monastery to boot. Oh, by the way...

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Happy Birthday?!?

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10 comments:

Unknown said...

With all of those beautiful places and peaceful scenery, it wouldn't be surprising that many people are now considering a hong kong relocation, especially if you do most of your business here.

Eric William said...

Getting an education in Hongkong may prove to be an experience of a lifetime. It both offers opportunities for cultural diversity as well as business opportunity right after graduation.

Wes Aaron said...

Hongkong offers great opportunities not just for education but for e-business as well. In fact, it is where most business products congregate to get market from different parts of Asia.

Michael Ryan said...

With such great landscape and diverse culture, this would be a nice place to get some education on this country's language. One gets to know not just the language, but also the culture of the people.

Emily Battles said...

Such sites are good relaxation places after a long day at the office. One would not mind walking barefoot on those sands even after moving office furniture.

Benjamin Gray said...

Looking at these nice landscapes, this would be an awesome inclusion in planning a weekend getaway - well, for those who can afford it. For those who are staying in Hongkong can visit these places especially when are looking for new places to sight see.

Andrei Minzky said...

I think it's kind of disappointing that those houses are bought but not fully occupied. It's kind of pointless to get a house when you don't get to use all the furnishings because you don't actually occupy it in the first place. Maybe they're better off as public housing or something?

John Michael Barquin said...

Those are extremely extravagant I felt like I went to Japan and travel all over the places that they have in the country while unwinding myself to a fresh essence of nature. It so refreshing to go in a place where you freely relax and doesn't think of any dilemmas in the city.

Michael Pugh said...

Just recently, I've got a friend who is really hooked with Japanese culture and decided to do an interior renovation which was wholly-inspired with Japanese stuff and design. She sure invested a whole bunch of money in it and I must say the outcome is really worth it.

Anonymous said...

Getting yourself educated is not a difficult task in a city like hong kong, because with technology breaking physical barriers, you can get yourself an Online Life Experience Degree in your preferred field of study.