Hiking up the Peak

 

 View from Victoria Peak

There are tons of hiking trails in Hong Kong, since there are mountains pretty much everywhere.  The hike up "the" peak (Victoria Peak) is actually one of the easier ones, only about 45 min - 1.5 hrs depending on how fast you go/how many breaks you take.  Some of the more intense hiking trails can go over 4 or even 6 hours.  This mountain is the highest on the Hong Kong Island, but you can't actually access the highest point. Here's more info on Victoria Peak @ Wikipedia.

We started out on the north side of the HKU campus, exiting on the north side of Run Run Shaw.  Followed a few sets of stairs up to Robert Black College, turned right and passed some tennis courts and  then saw the beginning of the trail.  Quite confusing to find actually, but we just followed people :P

Within 5 minutes we were surrounded by green.  The air was much nicer and there was a nice breeze to help with the walk up.  I was already pretty tired out from all the stairs walking... haha.  Most of the hike up is on a paved sloped path though so it wasn't too too bad.  Just difficult when I was carrying my DSLR and tripod, haha!

There are also some beautiful views on the way up....

Took the following pic about half way up the trail.  Around that point the trail changed from a "morning trail" to a "fitness trail" LOL. We were sad.

The last 10 mins of the hike is just flat walking.  The peak actually has a bunch of shopping centers, restaurants and look out points.  We decided to walk the malls and have dinner so we can take a look at the view at night and catch the light show (which actually wasn't that impressive from the peak).

(Left: shopping area.  Right:  Restaurant with awesome view!)

We went up the Peak Tower (below) to get the best view of the peak.  I'm hoping it was the best view because we had to pay $25HKD to get up there :P  There's a railed viewing area right at the top of the "bowl".

BEAUTIFUL Hong Kong!!

 (View during the light show)