Week Six: National Day of the PRC and Night Hiking on Lantau Island

I really, really like fireworks.

Apparently, so does the People's Republic of China.

This past Thursday (October 1) was the PRC National Day, and a celebratory fireworks show was scheduled for that night at the harbor. My friends and I, of course, didn't hesitate to hop on the MTR and join the mass of people at the Tsim Sha Tsui exit to witness the impressive display of fire and color set against the gorgeous skyline. Unfortunately, my camera couldn't quite capture any quality images, but here's a short video of what we saw. The show was absolutely incredible; it put the annual fireworks show at The Jacksonville Landing to shame.

Victoria Harbor, after the PRC National Day fireworks show

Photo credit: Jemelyn Yadao

After the show, we proceeded to celebrate with other exchange students and locals alike at Lan Kwai Fong, which is always a popular Thursday night hot spot for its ladies night specials. Rest assured, a great night was had by all (especially your humble narrator).

Since most weekends start off with the aforementioned debauchery in LKF, I suspected that the rest of the weekend would follow in suit: a nice, easy, class-free Friday that would include happy hour in SoHo, maybe some more socializing on Saturday night, and perhaps a trip to the beach or a part of the city that I hadn't seen yet on Sunday. I couldn't have been more wrong.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago..."

-Jack Kerouac, from The Dharma Bums

Photo credit: Victor Lcte

Here, I feel the need to give you some personal context, just so you can appreciate the rest of this story. I like the feeling of being outside and getting in touch with nature, but I'm not exactly what you would call an overly outdoors-y person. I was in Girl Scouts for all of two weeks when I was younger, so it's not like I'm particularly knowledgeable about trekking into the wilderness. 'Camping' in my family meant setting up shop at a KOA (and 'roughing it' entailed renting an RV if all of the Kamping Kabins were already booked). When I was four, I was interviewed during one of our many KOA trips by a local newscaster, and I told her that my favorite part of camping was 'swimming and playing basketball and s'mores.' The last time I went hiking was two years ago in New Mexico, and one wrong choice at a path turned into a 12-mile journey that spanned over 8 hours. My brushes with nature tend to be few and far between.

That being said, though, I felt the need to break out of the concrete jungle on Saturday. I decided to go hiking with my friends Gabriela, Victor, Aymeric, and Robert. We decided to check out a trail in Lantau Island that Aymeric had researched. It seemed tame enough; however, the boys wanted to make a 3-day trip out of completing it. Gabriela and I decided that we'd go for the day, but then come back that night.

Unfortunately, we didn't start our journey until about 3:30 PM. By the time we walked to the MTR station, unloaded at Central piers, hopped on a ferry, and landed at the island, it was already 5:30. With only an hour of daylight ahead of us, we were forced to change our plan (which didn't really exist).

Our first idea was to rent a hotel room, sleep for a few hours, then get up around 2:00 AM to start hiking, putting us at the top of Lantau Peak just in time for the sunrise. Unfortunately, we had forgotten that the Mid-Autumn Festival was taking place, and there wasn't a single spare room on the island. After a few minutes of discussing our options, we decided to just start hiking anyway- after all, that night happened to have the brightest full moon of the year, and several locals reassured us that we didn't need to worry about any dangerous animals attacking us in the woods. Our plan having been decided, we stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some provisions- more water, granola bars for breakfast, and bread, cheese, grapes, and wine for our dinner (I should probably mention that Victor and Aymeric are French). Having packed our bags, we asked a local resident to take our picture before we departed for the trail's beginning.

Me, Robert, Gabriela, Victor, and Aymeric at the start of our adventure

Photo credit: Aymeric De Guerre

The walk to the trail afforded us the opportunity to witness what the locals do to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. We noticed a music festival taking place on one of the beaches, and several people were relaxing on the beach, lighting traditional candles and enjoying the company of friends and family as the sounds of Chinese music and Red Hot Chili Peppers cover songs alike filled the air.

Local residents lit candles in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Photo credit: Aymeric De Guerre

After walking through several villages, we finally found the start of the trail. To be honest, my nerves were already on edge; as we embarked deeper and deeper into the darkness of the island, away from all the lights and music and candles (and people), I felt a relentless twinge of panic that I tried (unsuccessfully) to repress. I was convinced that we were setting ourselves up for a low-budget horror film fate. Surely, our story of naive adventure and untimely death by ravenous Asian beasts and/or gangsters would make its way into the hands of some indie-film director and we'd be the subjects of next year's Sundance Film Festival 'Grand Jury Prize: Documentary' award.

We were standing at the edge of the trail, and Aymeric couldn't contain his excitement. 'This is going to be legendary!'

I really wanted to believe him, but then I saw this guy. I wasn't so sure.

I told the boys that if they saw anything scary (like spiders) to either kill them or don't tell me. Of course, they disregarded my request within the first five minutes.

Photo credit: Victor Lcte

It was too late to turn back now, though. I kept telling myself that there was no reason to be afraid. After all, the earth is exactly the same at night as it is during the day; it's just darker (and scarier, and more foreboding, and slightly apocalyptic-looking...). With each step forward, though, I began to relax. We all did. The miles and hours passed in no time, as we shared stories about our childhoods, our families, our first drinking experiences, our first kisses, and other such necessary bonding tales. Despite how different our backgrounds and cultures were, we found that we had more in common than the breathtaking views of the island that we were seeing together in the light of the full moon.

Around 1 AM or so, we stumbled upon some seemingly abandoned houses on the side of the mountain. A couple was camped out on one of the porches, and greeted us as we passed by. We stopped to chat with them for a few minutes, and they told us that the houses were all locked, but that we were welcome to sleep on one of the other porches. The house we ended up finding didn't have a porch, but it at least offered a wall that would 'protect' us from the wind.

To put it lightly, we were miserably underprepared for the next several hours. Luckily, we had brought our ponchos that HKBU provided us with, so we unsnapped them and laid them out as a barrier between us and the ground, broke out the food and wine, and proceeded to eat while we continued to laugh and enjoy each other's company and the view. Our plan was to then get a few hours of sleep, wake up for the sunrise, and trek down the mountain in the morning.

Unfortunately, that 'few hours of sleep' idea never came to fruition. None of us had considered how cold and windy it would be. Between the five of us, we had three full size towels and a hand towel. After a few minutes, we added one of the ponchos to our meager excuses for blankets, though it did little besides block the wind. We huddled together for warmth, but it didn't help much. Aymeric kept saying things like "If you fall asleep, it means you're dying, and you're getting hypothermia, and remember in Titanic? Everyone fell asleep before they died." I don't think his logic was quite on par with the reality of the situation, but nonetheless, no one really slept for more than fifteen or twenty minutes at a time.

I made the observation that we looked like refugees. Notice the poncho blanket, backpack pillow, and hand towel leg warmers.

Photo credit: Aymeric De Guerre

Around 6:30 AM, the first rays of sun begin to form on the horizon, and we all more-or-less shook ourselves into some semblance of alertness in hopes that the rising sun would bring some relief from the bitter cold.

The first trace of sunlight rising over Lantau Peak

Photo credit: Aymeric De Guerre

The sunrise was absolutely stunning. Despite my stiff limbs, fatigue, and general disdain for the ungodly hour we were currently awake for, I felt incredibly happy. Watching the sun rise over the mountains of Lantau Island was a sight I'll never forget.

Packed and ready to hike down the mountain, circa 7:00 AM

We packed up our makeshift camp and started down the mountain towards the main road, where we caught a bus to the MTR station. After feasting on a nice, hot breakfast, Gabriela, Robert and I headed back to HKBU while Aymeric and Victor stayed behind, insistent on finishing the trail we started.

I came back to my room and slept in my nice, warm bed, with my nice, soft pillows, in my nice, warm room. I'd successfully managed to see the other side of the concrete jungle, and lived to tell the story. And I'd actually enjoyed every second of it- even the ones spent shivering under a poncho.

Maybe there's hope for me becoming an outdoors-y person, yet.