we conquered the dragons back

It's true Hong Kong is a world class city and we loved it. Most people, when they visit, probably find leaving a city like that to head into the mountains would be a waste of time--but Bangkok is a concrete jungle with no mountains for hours. When we started researching HK and found there were amazing hikes to do within a quick taxi ride, we planned a whole day in Shek-O national park.

I had a list of hikes we could do but when I showed them to Rocky, he didn't even look at any of the others, he just said, "Let's do the Dragon's Back, it has the coolest name." And this is how we make decisions around here. 

Our research told us it was about 5 kilometers and then we would get to a beach, we could hike another 1-2 kilometers to a bus. We started our hike and planned on reaching the beach in 1 hour and 40 minutes. After 2 hours we found a sign that said the beach was still 3 kilometers away but we made it. We ended up doing a total of 11 kilometers--we guessed E did about 5 on her own. Vi did 0--total slacker.

It was hazy but the views were fantastic. The 80 degree, breezy weather felt so nice. Probably the coolest any of us have been in eleven months.

This was clearly towards the beginning of the hike, as there is still a hint of a smile on her face. Let's just say, hiking is not her favorite thing right now.

Coming from Bangkok, it's refreshing to see there are places like this so close to downtown Hong Kong. I had to stop myself from saying things like, "If I lived in Hong Kong, I would come here once a week."

Vi wasn't so keen at being trapped in the ergo, but we found her secret. Give her a little fruit leather and she falls fast asleep. Or course, all her teeth are rotten now, but she got a couple of good naps.

While we were at Disneyland the day before we saw a lot of butterflies. I, cynically, thought Disney must be pumping them into the park to add to the atmosphere--turns out they are just all over Hong Kong. I counted over 15 in our last kilometer. 

There were a lot of steps. Since we live in an apartment, we don't do a lot of steps on a regular basis. I overheard E telling someone yesterday that when she climbed the dragon, she had to climb A LOT of stairs. Granted, she went up most of those steps like this:

When we finally got to Big Wave Bay, all E's exhaustion immediately evaporated. Her leg's were clearly no longer 'too tired to walk or stand'. She ripped off her dress and ran right straight into the ocean.

Vi's on her way to becoming a beach girl like her sister. She definitely prefers the warm waters of Asia.

Rocky said he couldn't go to a place called Big Wave Bay and not do some surfing. 

He helped E do some body boarding. She wiped out bad one time and he picked her up and asked if she was alright, she whispered, "Daddy, me peed a little on you."

After a few hours it was time to hike back out and catch the bus. 

This is how Eliot felt about leaving. 

And hiking.

We had a blast. It was great to get out in nature--around trees and butterflies.

The next day we told E we were going to to the top of a mountain and she started to cry--luckily we were taking a tram that day.