Picturesque Views of New Territories & Shenzhen (and a photo of me LMAO!)
Hike Details
This is a pretty well-documented trail so you will find more details about it online but here is a quick summary.
Starting Point: Fan Kam Road because I wanted to catch the sunset.
Start Time: 15:48 / End Time: 20:00 (this includes breaks and shenanigans)
Distance: 6.4 km
How to get there: Depending on where you would like to start. See footnote for resources.
- Fan Kam Road
- Yuen Long
Map:
Rooster Ridge is probably one of my few favourite hiking trails here in Hong Kong. Although it is categorised as a challenging hike, I find that it is a lot easier than Twin Peaks and Violet Hill combined just because it does not involve a lot of stairs. Bad knees run in my family so that is why going down a rather long flight of stairs impinges my knees and sometimes, it gets so bad that I cannot walk. I am totally fine climbing up but going down can be a bit tricky. It sucks because I love being somewhat active especially when discipline gets a better hold of me.
Anyway, going back, I had so many good memories of climbing this on my own. Here are some of them.
1. Never ask anyone to make decisions for you
I called one of my best guy friends to show him the view of the hike and while we were talking, I asked him to choose left or right because there was a fork in the road. He chose left so I went left. It turns out the left one is a lot more rugged than the right path which I found out was the path most taken by hikers. Considering that I did not expect to climb or crawl my way up, I did not bring my gloves with me. The wind started picking up and I was a third way up the slope, I could not go back down because my backpack was a bit heavy and if I swerve to the left, I will be rolling down to my death.
Five, ten minutes, a few whoa moments and tender, almost skinned palms later, I was back on track and I immediately called my friend and relayed to him the lesson I learned. You could ask for advice but, at the end of the day, don’t let anyone make your decisions for you. I have to be honest here, I hated myself and my friend at that moment. Haha!
2. There are still genuinely kind people out there
Apparently, it was a little bit too late when I started the hike. Not even a third way through, a fellow hiker told me what the situation would be if I continue going up. They did not have to but it was so nice of them to inform me. I also love my hiking grandma, my kindred spirit. If I walk for too long, and I hope it is not just me, my hips start to hurt and I start to bend forward. Considering that Kai Kung Leng has three peaks and I have to kind of crabwalk my way down each slope to protect my knees, there was a grandma and granddaughter tandem that I was kind of tagging along on the final third part of my hike and they let me.
The grandma was also crab-walking her way down each slope and I felt camaraderie between two people with mobility issues while these youngins who are probably the same age as me are just skidding by us. It does not matter and I am unashamed although maybe there is a tinge of envy there because I do not think it would take me twice as long if I was also skidding the slope but at that moment, I thought to myself: I want to be like this grandma who’s maybe well-over her 70s or in her early 80s and still going out for hikes.
We will never see each other again but I definitely learned something from her.
3. There will be troughs and there will be peaks
When I survived my unexpected mountain climbing session, I thought to myself, ‘I should have started going on hikes as soon as after the breakup’ Going out on hikes is a good reminder that life will never be just a plain. It’s going to be mountains and valleys and plateaus and forests and deserts and even though right now, with all the ‘are you dating’ questions or the ‘when are you going to have your own kid’ questions, I am in a climbing season or maybe even a plateau. Rather than simmer and be bitter about it, I should pause every now and then to enjoy the view and celebrate how far I have come.
Why? Because when someone knows who they are, they attract people who value who they are.
Single & Secure, Rich Wilkerson Jr.
In terms of dating, I want to attract and be found by someone who is secure in himself, who is noble and kind and hardworking and ambitious and who would never tell me, ‘You deserve someone better.’ I want to attract someone like that and even before that, I want to be someone like that and the rest will follow.
We will find each other someday my hike partner in life in one of our intertwining troughs and peaks. Until then, I believe in character building so that is what I will be doing.
Ending Notes
If you ever find yourself in Hong Kong with a sunny 17 to 18 or maybe max 23 to 25? degrees and loads of time to spare, please give this trail a chance! Leave your headphones behind and consider it a digital and mental detox. You will surely find some answers to the questions you have been asking for so long.
As always, stay safe and have a happy week ahead.
Footnotes:
- https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/the-twin-peaks-violet-hill-hike/
- https://www.alltrails.com/de/trail/hong-kong/tai-po/rooster-ridge-hike
- https://www.beckyexploring.com/kai-kung-leng-hike/
Allison Lagarde 