Traversing the Dragons Back!!!

 Hello Everyone.  I hope this blog finds many of you resting during the Memorial Day holiday.  This last weekend we did anything but rest.  We had an outstanding adventure in Hong Kong.  So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or a cold drink and enjoy our latest Indiana Jones like, excursion!!!

SCHOOL:  Not much to report here, except counting down the days until we are done.  32 DAYS and counting.

ADVENTURE:  This weekend found us heading off to Hong Kong once again.  We weren't going there again because it is one of our favorite places, but we were going because it is the easiest way to send money home.  If I haven't mentioned it before, sending money home from China is very difficult.  The process works like this:  1.  I have money automatically deposited into my bank account here.  No problems so far, but when we get to step 2 this is when the issues begin.  At step 2, I have to take my Chinese money out of my account.  Step 3, I then have to have a Chinese friend come to the bank and change the money over to US dollars.  Step 4, I then have to send two separate Western Union checks if the amount is too much.  By the way, Western Union is a total rip off for us over here.  They gouge the hell out of us in fees.  Step 5 I have to make sure the forms are filled out exactly correct or I have to start them over again.  Finally, Step 6 the teller has to type all of the information into the computer.  The process usually takes about 2 to 3 hours at the bank.  That includes the 30 to 45 minute wait before I even get to see a teller.  I have tried everything to make the process faster, but this is China.  Somethings just take as long as their history as a culture.  So the reason we go to Hong Kong is because all I have to do is take the cash to the Western Union and then send the money.

Flaming Ummyness!!!

 So with that on our agenda, we decided to kill two birds with one stone.  Instead of just passing through, like it seems we usually do, we decided to stay a couple of days in Hong Kong.  Usually we don't stay in Hong Kong because it is so expensive.  A stay in a bad hotel is about $1000 Hong Kong dollars.  This time we did a bit of research about hostels and found a decent one in a place called Causeway Bay for $800 Hong Kong dollars for two days.  That is about $100 US for the two days.  Causeway Bay is on Hong Kong island.  Now, understand until this weekend I have not been a big fan of Hong Kong.  My family enjoys it, because it is definitely a break from the subtleties of living in the area in which we live.  It is very much westernized, but has always seemed too crowded with not enough character for me.  The reason I say I don't feel like it has much character, is because it just seems like any other crowded cosmopolotine city with some cool architecture.  It just seems like San Francisco, Bangkok or Guangzhou, but more crowded.
  Anyway, as of now I take it back.  Hong Kong is really cool.  After doing the Western Union stuff, we hopped on the Metro and headed for Temple Street.  We had a number of friends tell us how cool Temple Street was, so we wanted to check it out.  We arrived at Temple Street and were immediately swept up in the low key atmosphere.  There were street vendors selling all kinds of different things from knockoff Polo shirts to cloths from Thailand.  The smells on the street were intoxicating as well. 

Some of the awe inspiring weather we live with here in Southeast China.

  We sat down at a restaurant that had outdoor seating that covered one lane of the road.  I was sold immediately when they showed me a picture of an entire plate of fried oyster cake.  Yum!!!!!!  Between the four of us, we had a delicious meal.  With full bellies, we proceeded to wander the shopping area, picking up nic naks here and there.  We ended our fantastic experience by stopping by a dessert shop.  This wasn't just a simple ice cream and cake shop.  This shop had these amazing desserts called Flaming Snow Mountains.  They consisted of cake on the bottom, topped with ice cream and then completely covered with a thick cream.  Finally, it was topped off with a flaming sauce poured over it.  This was the type of Fantastical Dessert that should be on some Food Network show.
  After our decadent dessert experience we made our way to Causeway Bay and found our hostel.  We were a little apprehensive about getting the hostel, because we have heard mixed reviews about them.  Neither Cecelia or I had ever stayed in a hostel.  We were pleasantly surprised to get a private room with a bathroom.  It was clean and had great air conditioning.  The beds were moderately comfortable and had clean linens.  We settled in and went to bed early.  The next day we needed to leave early to head for the Dragon's Back.
  The next morning we woke up early and headed out to have breakfast.  The girls made us go to Starbucks again!!  They have become such coffee and breakfast snobs.
  Anyway, we jumped on the metro and took it to the stop we needed to catch the bus that would take us to The Dragon's Back trail head.  It took us about half an hour to get to the trail head.  Along the way, we got to see a part of Hong Kong that was really different from what we experienced previously.  The feet of the mountains come directly down to the city, so when we started heading out of the city on the double decker bus the grade was rather severe.  We were sitting on the top deck and the bus was wacking branches all along the way.  The road also twisted all around through the mountains.  It was like being on a giant roller coaster.

View of Bay at Bottom of the Dragon's Back

  The scenery was extremely different as well.  The highrise apartments began to disappear and were replaced by hardwood and bamboo forests.  We also saw the beach and a beautiful bay ringed by homes.  There were yahts and pleasure boats moored in a small cove as well.  It actually reminded me of some of the small bays we had scene in southern France and Italy.
  The bus then rolled up to a remote stop facing the bay and the driver let us know that we had arrived.  We hopped off and found ourselves at the base of a trail that ventured into the jungle to the left of two porta potties.  At least there was a big map telling us where we were and showing us how far we had to go.
 

The Start!

The Dragon's Back is an 8 km trail that begins midway down the mountain and faces the bay.  The beginning of the trail doesn't waste any time.  It begins by going straight up the hill into the jungle.  Once you make the climb to the top, the hike has you traverse the spine of two mountain tops with views on both sides of the mountain.  You end the hike by reaching the sandy beach of Big Wave Bay and the warm waters of the South China Sea.  So, this is what you are supposed to experience, but we are the O's and it doesn't always work out that way.
  When we began the hike, it was a misty, drizzly kind of morning.  Cecelia had checked the weather and it stated that there was only a 50% chance of rain so we felt pretty good about our chances.  As we progressed up the side of the mountain it began to get more and more misty.  It reminded us of some of the scenes from the movie Gorillas in The Mist.  It got to the point where Cecelia and the girls literally disappeared as they hiked the steps in front of me.  One of the girls commented that they felt like they were hiking into a cloud.  The great thing about it being misty and cloudy was that it kept the temperature down to a comfortable 85 degrees.  Some of our friends did the same hike a few weeks previously and they said it was very hot.  They had run out of water and had to abandon the hike early.  With that information, we all carried a one liter bottle of water.
 

When we arrived at the top of the first peak, we were above the cloud.  The only problem with this, is that we couldn't see any of the amazing views.  All we saw were clouds skittering along the valleys and felt the cool breeze blowing up from below.  We were hiking along the spine of the Dragon's Back when we started hearing rumbling noises.  I thought it sounded like a cargo ship being loaded.  Taylor thought it was some ship in the harbor below us and Claire and Cecelia thought it was thunder.  The sound just didn't sound right, it was too consistent.  But as we began to descend back into the cloud, a flash of lightening blazed across the sky and a clap of thunder echoed off the surrounding mountains. 

View from the top, isn't it Spectacular!!!

With that, it began to rain.  But, it wasn't the slight rain that progressed into a hard rain.  It began to rain like standing under a shower head with hard water pressure.  Not only was it a shower, but it was a warm shower.  The amazing thing is that when it starts to rain, the temperature doesn't change.  At this point in our hike we had about 3 km left before we reached any civilization.  As the rain continued to pour down on us, the trail then became a walking stream.  It wasn't a matter at this point of trying to avoid the puddles, but avoid the deepest parts of the puddles.  With the jungle around us and the water streaming off the mountain in rivlets and waterfalls, Cecelia and I were reminded of the scene in Romancing the Stone when Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are swept off the trail in a mud slide.  We kept telling the girls to stay away from the edge of the trail.

That drain is about a foot deep

  Despite the rain, all of us had a wonderful time hiking.  There were plenty of puddles to jump in and numerous places in which to have water fights.  All along the way, the thunder and lightening continued to bellow.  We finally made it to Big Wave Bay.  At Big Wave Bay, I just continued to walk into the ocean with all of my clothes on.  What is the point in taking off your clothes and changing into a swimsuit when you are so wet that your clothes are sticking to you like a second skin anyway.  Cecelia convinced me to at least put our gear on the beach under the tiny umbrella she had packed.  They were all wearing their swimsuits under their cloths, so they stripped down to their suits and ran for the water.  I went ahead and took off everything except my shorts.  The swimsuit in my backpack was soaked anyway.  We then went for a family swim in the ocean while it was raining.  We swam together for about 15 minutes before an announcement came over a loud speaker, that a weather warning had been issued and that all swimmers were to leave the water and seek shelter immediately.
  Believe it or not, we then got out of the water and rinsed off in the shower.  At this point we were all walking prunes.  We then went and sat in an outdoor restaurant that had a covered area.  That way we didn't drip all over the restaurant while we ate our lunch.
  After this adventure we made our way back to the hostel on the bus and the metro.  The rest of the afternoon was spent drying out and trying to find dry clothes.  The girls stayed in the hostel while Cecelia and I walked around looking for some dry shorts.  We didn't end up buying anything, because as we were shopping the rain stopped and the temperature went up and we dried out while we were walking.  We returned to the hostel, collected the girls and went for a walk in a nearby park before dinner.  That evening we had a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant and then finished it off by doing some window shopping.  After enough over stimulation from neon we headed to the hostel and bed.

Foggy view of the bay where we eventually took a swim in the Rain!!!

  The rest of our weekend was a leisurely trip back home.  On our return trip,
 I had a lot of time to sit and think about our trip.  I came to realize that I have grown to enjoy Hong Kong as much as my family.  I thought to myself, I could live here if I could get out of the city regularly to have adventures like the one we just experienced.