Weekends and Water Catchments

I'm not going to lie. I am a social creature, so the solo sessions on the treadmill with my backpack (and 5kg bag of rice) flailing around, trying not to fall off are not so much fun. Last week I dragged one of my kind friends night hiking through the wilds of Pok Fu Lam and the Peak. Headlamps are awesome. Landslides mid-trail are not.

This weekend said friend was kind enough to lead me up the Twins, otherwise known as 1000 steps, which seriously underestimates the number of steps. We started at 8:30 am. I had always thought that only anorexic girls and psycho ultra exercisers would get up early on the weeekend to subject themselves to this type of torture. I definitely fall under the psycho category- ultra exerciser is a stretch, and anorexic is impossible. I currently practice eating. That's right practice. Practice when I eat; what I eat; and how much I eat while I walk. It's important to know what gives me energy and what slows me down. Peanut M&Ms and Nature Valley Granola bars win big points in my book. The dehydrated meals that I will carry through the Gobi do not.

But it's not just about climbing the hills, you got to clock the kms too...so my friend descended to the metro for a relaxing afternoon complete with foot massage, and I veered onto the Hong Kong Trail for stages 5, 6, and 7. These are generally considered to be "easy rambling," which I have now learned is code for walk straight along a really large ditch called a water catchment.

Water supply is an issue here in HK (as it is everywhere in China) and so the HK government has devised an ingenious system to manage landslides during the rainy season and simultaneously collect water for use by HK residents. There is an extensive series of ditches along the sides of hillsides all across HK. See wikipedia for more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_in_Hong_Kong.

The water catchments offer extensive flat hiking space for the psycho ultra hikers but it means miles and miles of walking with a view that consists of tall bushes and bamboo to your right, concrete hill sides to your left, and stagnant water at your feet. I spent 12 kms on Sunday studying the difference between the concrete that makes up the catchment and the concrete that is used to hold back the hill. Thank goodness for massive Canto hiking tours and electric blue butterflies to help vary the view.

I HATE water catchments, but you know what I hate more? The third set of 1000 steps at the end of the "easy rambling" trail to get you out of the ditch.