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Published: December 12th 2005
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Stanley
View of the bay and the Murray Building May, part deux
May 16th Beautiful day.
Stanley is our destination - a peninsula district located on the south side of HK island. This part of the island is less populated and from what I gather has the quick “getaway” spots for HK’ers, complete with beaches, seaside picnicking, theme parks, aquariums, and of course, shopping. No MTR on the south side of the island, so we hop a number 6 bus, specifically 6X at the Central bus terminus on Connaught & Pedder (or maybe it’s Man Yui St at that point…the streets arbitrarily change names as they cross intersections just to add to the general confusion). At the terminus the buses are empty so if you queue up fast just after one bus departs, you have a good chance of being first in line for the next. Two old ladies give me dirty looks as I squeeze to the front. M goi! This position in the queue is critical for nabbing the upper deck front row seats.
It’s a pretty day so the long ride is welcome. The 6X barges through busy Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, then shoots down the center of the island in the Abdereen
Stanley
Quiet beach south of the crazy market Tunnel emerging in Shouson Hill. It’s akin to when Dorothy opened the door of her battered Kansas house out to the Land of Oz. Lush green hillsides, silhouetted by blue skies, scattered high-rises compliment the landscape. The front seats afford an excellent view and a dirt-cheap thrill as the driver swerves along on the curvy coastal road. After many loop de loops, the end of the line is Stanley Plaza, waddayaknow - a mall. We descend a few escalators to a plaza next to the bay where there are restaurants, refreshments, an open air theater, and just across on the promenade, is an historic 19th century structure, the Murray Building, that was transported piece by piece from Central.
A stroll down Main Street quickly leads us into a street market with many small shops all pretty much selling the same things. Really crammed, if it was a holiday or a Sunday - forget it - I’m told it’s impassable. There are some different items than in other markets, clothes are somewhat nicer, but many shops have “old lady” stuff. Sorry old ladies. One vendor had cute, colorfully embroidered Indian style tops, about $90HK - some day I'll sneak back
Stanley
Sitting out area in front of the row houses on Main St and buy one. Prices are OK, but not as cheap as I’ve seen in Central & Kowloon markets. Breeze thru here as we are not interested in shopping - it’s getting claustrophobic anyway.
We walk south through the market and it opens onto a small beach area with a few old row houses next to it. Further down, the street sort of peters out then meets up with Wong Ma Kok Rd (or at least I think so …note, we find out later that Tung Tau Correctional Inst & Stanley Prison are just down the road). Don’t want to go too far afield as we want to find our hiking trail. Might as well eat first cuz it will be my last chance, so we turn around and head back to the market. A young Chinese lady speaking very good English entices us to her place with their special: 4 beers for the price of 1. Don’t recall the name, but it’s just off the main street inside the market area. They have an English menu with a variety of food, from noodles to cheese sandwiches. We order samosas and French fries? OK weird lunch. No beers.
We
Stanley
Ma Hang Prison warning! start looking for the trail in earnest, our street map and the LP guides, as usual, are not clear. We can see it in the distance and attempt to find its source. Go west on Carmel Rd because the map shows a trail that looks like it could start from there. Nope, turn back and up the street we see an entrance to a prison, Ma Hang, no kidding! This is the 3rd prison within a square mile - what’s up Stanley?? The map shows a trailhead behind it, cautiously we ascend the overgrown and untended steps, hoping a prison break is not in progress. Dead end. Walk further east on Carmel till it ends, turn north on Stanley Village Rd, then cut behind the prison. Hmmm, there is a path that follows the fence line, but the guard towers look ominous, we are too chicken to go! Next street up, nope, just an apartment complex. See a cop & his dog coming toward us, good thing he speaks some English - kindly he explains where to find the trail. It’s all the way up this street to an intersection, go left, then around a few curves, about a 10
Stanley
And you'd better obey! min walk. We’ve been searching for at least 45 minutes already, so what the heck. Turns out Stanley Gap Rd (where we’re heading) is a main bus route and we probably passed the trailhead on the way in. Duh.
Hopping from one side to the other of the road you can see how the
HK Highways Department wisely designed the sidewalks to end abruptly, then begin on the other side - a bit dodgy as the road is all blind curves. I guess they were just too busy to lay contiguous sidewalks, or didn’t have enough money in the budget, or didn’t talk to the
HK Transport Department which states that it has a mission to pedestrian-ize Hong Kong. They have a looooonnnggg way to go.
At last, here is the entrance to the Wilson Trail, Section 1 & Tai Tam Country Park. We heft up lots ‘o steps, but the breathtaking scenery eases the pain. The hillsides as far as you can see are covered in rhododendrons (maybe??) - sure wish they were in bloom now, what a sight that would be! Exactly 1300 steps to the top of the first hill, which we think is Ma Kong Shan (The Twins),
Stanley
What's up there? Just a prison wall... elev. 386m …we must have reached the first twin. From there we can see the Wilson Trail going north and what must be part of the HK trail. We’ve only hiked about 1/3 of this section of the Wilson, but we can see where it leads and it most certainly will be dark before we could descend to civilization. Anyway, I’m pooped. Going back down is a damn sight easier. The much-praised public transportation system has a convenient bus stop right at the bottom. Catch the next #6 all the way back to the Central terminus, then a trolley back home.
Another Indian dinner after a big day, this time at Greenlands India Club in Central on Wellington. Again only one other table is filled in this huge place - guess Monday night is not the going out to dinner night. The beers, garlic nan, fish vindaloo, & chicken tikka are quite good & the service excellent. Tony talks to the owner a bit, who is from Nepal.
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