Hiking Insight: Peak to Chai Wan

Last night, I dreamed I was walking alone on an overgrown path through some nasty woods. It was sunny. It felt like one of the many paths in TorilMud, but the forest looked like HK.

Today, I woke up bored. As always, I try to make up the goals for my day. "OK God, today, I will do something challenging."

But challenge was not found. So I went looking for it.

It started as a short walk. There were many instances where I thought I should stop, but the dream kept me going. Like how I got thirsty, so I bought drinks from kiosks and vending machines. In total, I spent $25 dollars just on drinks, drinking 3L of fluids. I also sampled the various natural water sources, and found the tastes rather strange. Around 5 hours later, I have no negative symptoms.

At one point, I saw a bus I could chase down but decided to forget it and keep walking. After 5 hours, I ended up walking from the Peak to Chai Wan.

The 20km+ (approx.) was one long hike to be completely unprepared for. It's very different from a half-marathon with nearly the same distance - slopes, rough paths, heat. Besides, I didn't explicitly train for this. It turned out surprisingly good and just challenging enough. :)

Things about Nature I learnt:

• Thank humanity for transportation! Without it, it would take me up to 4 hours to get home!
• Thank all the forerunners for creating the paths. One wouldn't get very far bushwhacking!
• Animals are cruel. Along the way, I saw a fly fly straight into a spider web, a spider doing something nasty with its trapped prey, 2 big snakes crossing my path just meters ahead, worms struggling unsuccessfully from ants. Animals will be animals!
• Nature is cruel. The temperature this afternoon was about 32 degrees and quite humid. Everywhere I walked, there was a strong smell of dead vegetation composting. In nature, you die, you get recycled.
• We are born able to take a lot of punishment! We are all capable of walking very long distances, provided some basic necessities.
• There is something about being close to nature that makes one smarter...    Plants are great at being fairly chaotic. I wonder if one get smarter unconsciously attempting to understand the underlying patterns with a clear mind. 
• ... and happier! Plants don't get unhappy! They grow and wilt completely in the moment, according to its nature. There is much humor in stupidity/simple-mindedness! 
• Nature has to first be respected before you can do anything with it. One has to understand soil before he can make paths and roads. A hiker has to understand hydration before he can walk long distances that would cause him to sweat a significant amount of his bodyweight.

Some trivia about part of the trail I took!

• Sir Cecil's Ride is probably the nicest path you can take if you don't like too many Ups and Downs. The only downside is that it's a bit boring! Nevertheless, I can only imagine what it must have been like to ride the trail on a horse back in the 1930s! http://blog.walkthetalk.hk/2005/09/hong-kong-by-sir-cecil-clementi.html