Asia Trip February 2019 - Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.
This was a late travel decision to hit some Asia high points so I planned it as a ten day whirlwind tour of Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. The aim being to have a bit of fun, see sites and drink beer but also to hike the high points of Singapore (Bukit Timah Hill 164m) Hong Kong (Tai Mo Shan 957m) and Macau (Alto Coloane 176m). Not the highest peaks but Hong Kong looked promising with some good potential hikes. I also intended to get in other additional peaks including Victoria Peak (HP of Hong Kong Island 554m), Lantau Peak (HP OF Lantau Island 934m) and to hike the Dragon's Back, apparently Hong Kong’s best 10km walk.
Anchor Links
Singapore
13.2.2019 - Bukit Timah Hill 164m (UN Country High Point).
A fantastic buzzing place even if the beer worked out at £10 a pint! Scorching hot too at 30-32c with high humidity. Bukit Timah Hill; well it is not so high but it is an interesting place. First of all it is a lovely park (Bukit Timah Park/Nature Reserve) and it is set nearly smack bang centre of the island. It is famous for being the location of a critical battle between the British and the Japanese during WW2. The British obviously lost!
Anyway your not going to get altitude sickness on this one but you will get a bit sweaty. I started at the main road but you might as well start at the visitor centre and simply follow the relatively steep but wide footpath that goes past it uphill (NE). It should be busy for you as this is a popular running and walking venue. For some reason the locals tend to walk uphill and walk down backwards. After about a km you can either turn right and go up some very steep steps to the summit section or follow the wide path/road round to the left.
You will come to a veranda of sorts and a big stone with the summit details on. The summit stone will say 166m on it. This is the altitude above the land not sea level which adds another 6m to the height. That’s me next to the stone…and yes you can take the piss out of my shorts as everybody else has!
All in all it was a 3k round trip with an oedema inducing 152m of ascent done in 41 minutes flat. It was great though. I enjoyed it and that was the Singapore HP done.
Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Bukit Timah Hill
GPXfiles: For gpx files click on the below.
Interactive map from Peakbagger page.
The Everest that is Bukit Timah Hill
You can turn off and go up these steps or stay on the road
Yes yes...the shorts!!!
Hong Kong
15.2.2019 - Victoria Peak 554m and Mt Kellet 500m, Hong Kong Island.
Here my first hike was Victoria Peak and Mt Kellet. Both summits were done on the same day but there are two GPX files as I accidentally turned my gps off. I just walked from the Central MTR (metro) station following my MapMe map with no defined route as such and it was mainly road or concrete path all the way. You can’t get to the actually summit on either peak as on Victoria there is a radio mast station with security gates, guards, machine guns etc (you get my drift) and Mt Kellet the summit is just fenced off (biggg fence). There is a nice gazebo type viewing area with some really good views on Victoria peak but frankly nothing to see at Mt Kellet. Anyway I went to the highest achievable point on both so I am not going to labour much on these peaks. If you want the GPX files then click the Peakbagger link. For timings and distances on this one see the PeakBagger entries.
Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Victoria Peak GPX Mt Kellet GPX
Decent views
More decent views
16.2.2019 - Lantau Peak, Lantau Island 934m.
Lantau Peak is simply stunning and it helped that I did it on a glorious day. I also did it with some hikers from the Hong Kong MeetMe site and this made it more interesting as they were a lovely lovely bunch of people. The peak is on Lantau Island so you obviously have to catch a ferry from Hong Kong Island and catch the coastal bus round to Shek Pik Reservoir.
The route is on a well defined path and is a UK grade one scramble for at least half of the route where hands are required. It heads north and apart from a few turn off points it is easy to follow but in poor weather you will need map and compass skills in places. It is an excellent ridge scramble but nowhere really difficult for a competent UK hill walker. The views along the entire route is simply stunning.
Around the 6km mark the main path from the Tian Tan Buddha complex (more later) joins you on the left (very visible and signposted) and from here the path to the summit gets more substantial with steps, some guide rails and is steep for the last km. From the summit there are more glorious all round views of the surrounding hills, islands and even of HK airport.
Coming back down we took the path off to ‘The Big Buddha’ and after about an hour you come to Po Lin Monastery and nearby are the steps going up to the Buddha. This is a really commercial popular area with a big square and eating places. The steps going up to Buddha and the statute itself is impressive being the second largest Buddha in the world apparently. The bus stop is also nearby and the buses can drop you off virtually anywhere on the island.
The hike was only 9km long but it took us as a group 4 hours. However it did have 932m of ascent and this was mainly scrambling. I must say too that we did savour the views as much as possible on this superlative hike and it was a ridiculous 32C. On the enjoyment scale it rated 10/10 simply brilliant!
Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Lantau Peak GPX Facebook Album of Ascent
The view ahead, Lantau to centre and the ascent ridge immediate to the right
Looking back at the ascent route from Lantau
Lantau summit view
Big Buddha
Tai Mo Shan 957m, Hong Kong, 18.2.2019 - See 25 Best Day Walks in Hong Kong by Martin Williams (World Country High Point).
Being the highest point in HK Tai Mo Shan was supposedly a good hike with great city views if you do it as part of Section 8 of the Maclehose trail on a clear day. Unfortunately I was running out of time and the weather had turned after doing Lantau Peak so I had to do it on a wet drizzly windy day.
I caught a metro ride from Causeway Bay on HK island to Central and from there to Tsuen Wen MTR station. To save waiting for the bus I then caught a taxi to the visitor centre just off from the ‘Route Twisk’ road. This cost me around 75HKD (£7.50) if I recall correctly.
Anyway, the visitor centre has toilets and the route starts right behind it and is well signposted. I set out on the route and it goes gradually uphill and you are hiking on steps mostly. It does level out here and there and you pass a picnic site at around the 2km mark. The views…well I couldn’t see anything! Basically you continue until you eventually come out on the Tai Mo Shan Road road at 2.5kms and walk past a check point (they didn’t ask me anything). You then walk uphill on the road for a km and a half until you get to another check point/gate/fenced off area. This is the highest point you can legally attain.
My intention was to do the route as per the book and to continue onwards to Chai village but to be honest it was a stinking day out and quite miserable. So much so I was the only muppet out on the hill. Therefore I just decided to head back down on the road all the way back to Route Twisk. Here there is a large picnic area and bus stop. I then caught the bus (no51) back to Tsuen Wen which cost 10HKD (£1ish).
All in all it was a very wet 8.5kms with 533m of ascent done in 1hr 51mins. A pity really that the weather was so awful as this was after all Hong Kong’s high point!
Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Tai Mo Shan
GPXfiles: For gpx files click on the below.
Interactive map from Peakbagger page.
Route marker
My view on the way up
It did clear somewhat on the way down but not for long
What it should look like and the road you walk up.
Macau
19.2.2019 - Alto Coloane, Taipei, 176m (World Country High Point).
This was an interesting outing. I caught the ferry from HK Island to Macau just off Sheung Wan on the MTR 170HKD or £17 and this ferry took an hour to get to Taipei Island. Here I caught the island bus which takes you to the entrance to Seac Pai Van Park, Coloane.
The park is pretty cool and I paid the equivalent of £10(ish) to see the Macau Pandas which was rather lovely before starting my walk. The walk then starts directly behind the Panda Pavilion. I won’t give directions as I made the route up as I went along so simply follow my GPX trail if you wish. My plan was to take in the A Ma Buddhist temple on the way to the top, which I did and which was also very cool. The HP is not far from the temple 15 minutes and is rather an indistinct concrete block with a point on it. From here I simply walked back down the road to the Panda Pavilion. If you wanted to you can get a nice 8km walk here on the Coloane Trail but I wanted to go to other places so did not have the time.
All in all it was a hot humid 4km hike in 1hr 7mins with 215m of height gain. Not many hikes you can say have a panda pavilion at the start, a buddhist temple half way up and a country HP all within 4km.
Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Alto Coloane GPX
GPXfiles: For gpx files click on the below.
Interactive map from Peakbagger
The pretty panda pavilion
One of the pandas....ahhhh cute!
A modern buddhist temple
Inside it
The top
Half decent views
20.1.2019 - The Dragon's Back, Hong Kong Island - See 25 Best Day Walks in Hong Kong by Martin Williams.
This was my last day in HK and it was a half and half day with overcast clouds at a humid 20c. My intention was to do what is often quoted as the finest short walk in HK. Basically I caught the metro from Causeway Bay to Shau Key Wan MTR station. Here I caught the no 9 bus (8HKD) to Shek O village and did the route in reverse as to what it is in the book.
After a morning coffee I started at south beach and headed NW on the road until you come to Big Wave Bay. Here there is a car park and in the far corner you see the first sign for the HK trail (which basically forms the dragons back route too). You simply follow the trail signs through the village and you start to head towards Pottinger Peak. In simple terms you just follow the trail signs on a rough but maintained trail north until you get to Pottinger Gap where the path veers off right on a wide concrete type path/service type of road around to the base of Mt Collinson. The views were virtually none existent at this stage but I still enjoyed the hike.
Once at the base of Mt Collinson there are some toilets and there is a path that heads right or north towards Tai Tam Gap and another path that is signposted ‘to the Dragon's Back’ heading south. Heading south the weather starts to clear somewhat and I got some half decent views. It is about half an hour until I come out on the ridge proper and it is a nice ridge at that. The views of the surrounding hills and bays are quite cool by now and even though it is a weekday it has become quite busy. The ridge undulates until you get to the concrete summit marker of Shek O Peak summit (a blood curdling 284m high). The views are nice but I would imagine they would be much better on a nice clear day.
After Shek O Peak you simply follow the trail steeply down and after about half an hour you come out on the coast road. Dead opposite the egress onto the road is a bus stop and hey presto within ten minutes the no 9 bus comes along again and I retrace my route back to the hotel to prepare to go home.
All in all today was a 9.3km day with only 335m of height gain done in 2hrs 20mins. However it had been a really pleasant hike. Low clouds spoiled the views somewhat but I had enjoyed my little far eastern adventure.
Asent Entry: Dragons Back GPX
South beach at Shek O village
Trail marker
On the Dragon's back
Shek O Peak
Only half decent views today