Thing about Hong Kong

There's a little known fact about Hong Kong. Or maybe it's well known and I just think that no one knows about it... But Hong Kong has some stellar hiking treks and campsites. The best part about it is that you only have to take an hour long bus ride to get out to the countryside and have a little adventure in one of the many routes that lead to pretty cool spots.

So Jimbo ,Marcelo, and I got ourselves about 4 gallons of water, some bread, a fifth of rum, and a fifth of scotch, and embarked on what would predictably be an intense bro-down. I seem to find myself in these situations a lot even though I really do try to avoid them... Anyway, the plan was to walk about 3 hours through Saikung, get to the beach, set up camp, maybe explore the waterfalls nearby, and get shitty. Sure, the hike is kind of a pain in the ass, but the reward is a day away from the busy streets of Hong Kong on a supposedly secluded, little-known beach.

The hike being a pain in the ass was pretty accurate. It gets pretty hot here in Hong Kong and this day was no exception. The humidity during the summer months in Hong Kong is brutal. What we weren't right about so much, however, was our assumption that this beach would be deserted. By the time we got to the beach, there were maybe around a 100 beach-goers of all shapes and sizes. Toddlers, senior citizens, young couples. Beyond the beach in the bay were more than 10 pretty expensive-looking yachts. So apparently you don't have to hike 3 hours in the sun to get to good beaches when you're rich... Jokes on us.

Nevertheless, the disappointment didn't last long. After all, the beach was still beautiful and tranquil. No complaining. So we quickly got to business and swam around, enjoying the sun, swimming up to some of the yachts (creepy), admiring some wealth, and looking for cougars who would inevitably occupy many of these yachts.

We've heard that a little up the stream on the edge of the beach were little pools of fresh water made by numerous waterfalls down the hills. This was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. The feeling I got when we reached the main waterfall is hard to describe. Imagine a waterfall about 30 feet tall, a pool with turquoise water, cliff on one side and huge boulders on the other, while the trees provide a perfect shade from the sun. I really wished I wasn't part of a trio of fat sweaty men planning on spending a night on the beach together. I really did...

This is about when tragedy (or fortune depending on how you see it) struck. As Jimbo and I finally got on top of the cliff, spending about 20 minutes figuring out the best climbing route, to go for a jump, we saw a group of grown up boys and girls very much like ourselves coming this way. As a matter of fact, the girls seemed oddly attractive as they walked up the stream... When I say oddly, I really mean ridiculously... When they reached our pool, the guy leading the crew went straight to a rope that magically appeared next to the cliff and climbed up in a matter of 10 seconds... Joke on us again... and so we all introduced ourselves on top of the waterfall. Turns out the guy owned one of the yachts and the girls were Canadian models on contract in Hong Kong... So models actually do hangout on yachts owned by d-bags (the guys were actually really nice, which was a bummer).

Anyway, after a few jumps off the cliff and some relaxing, the three of us left the attractive peeps behind because we had to collect some wood for our campfire. As we were laboring under the sun and collecting all the dry wood that was found on the beach, the crew walked by again, and as they were leaving their leader with a grin on his face, "Campfire, boys?"

"....yeah, haha, you know, we need wood"

"Well, have fun guys."

Needless to say, the world seemed to be tainted with a hint of sepia as we watched them get on their speedboat and cruise away. Our only bargaining chip to win the models over being the fifths of cheap scotch and rum, maybe some songs by the campfire. Not a fair fight.

The rest of the night was spent consuming a ridiculous amount of alcohol, jumping over fires, complaining about people who owned yachts. I woke up the next morning somehow safely tucked away in my sleeping bag and a good amount of sand up everywhere. The other two woke up to the sound of my vomiting. the walk back was unpleasant to say the least. I had to stop every 5 minutes to throw-up what can only be reasonably guessed as stomach lining.

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