Wilson Trail Section 7

Somehow I have this affection for Hong Kong, maybe contributed by the fact that I grew up watching cantonese TVB serials with my mum and listening to songs from Anita Mui, Alan Tam, Sam Hui....you know what I mean. I also used to spend my entire school holidays in HK when my mum was working there. And this is my 3rd consecutive December in HK.

Anyway, this post is about Wilson Trail in Hong Kong. More specifically, it's about Section 7, which is probably one of the most scenic along Wilson Trail. It starts around the Shing Mun Dam area, northwards along the beautiful Shing Mun Reservoir, through the forested Shing Mun Country Park and ends at Tai Po town. We only had a day (actually we expected half a day to complete) so yah, 1 section is probably enough.

The adventure starts the moment we exited from the MTR. The instructions we had says exit from MTR station and take minibus 82....but from where?? It wasn't from the street directly below the station. We asked a "Hongkonger-looking" passer-by and he brought us along the street, crossed a road and into another street. Wow, there you are...82 bus stop! 

Finally had the mood to take photo, after we found the 82 bus stop.

If you are new to HK, or don't speak Cantonese/Mandarin, taking a ride in a minibus is pretty daunting. You have to call out to the driver when you want to alight, in advance. So unless you know the route well, how would you know when to call? And everyone calls out the alighting point in cantonese, if you can't speak the language and call in English....there's no guarantee the driver will understand you. 

There's an interesting history behind the minibuses. It started after the 1967 riot in HK, when bus and tram drivers went on strike and caused a transportation chaos. A local minibus system (黑牌車) that used to operate in the New Territories were allowed to operate in HK to ease the commuter chaos. During that time many people also illegally used their vans as transportation to others. Later the government controversially issued 5000 licenses to these "illegal" drivers and the minibuses were born. 

Anyway....our destination was at the turnaround point so there was no need to call the driver to alight. 

 

From the alighting point, we were supposed to cross Shing Mun dam and join Wilson Trail on the eastern coast of the reservoir. We decided to cheat. A little. We would follow another (smaller) nature trail on the west of the reservoir and it would connect with Wilson Trail to the north of the reservoir. Set. No need to cross the damn dam. Good choice, otherwise we would have completely missed out on the Interactive Centre. This is my 3rd time trekking Wilson Trail but the first time I came across an Interactive Centre. Well technically it's not along Wilson Trail, that's why. 

Sorry Ah Kow, we need to leash you.

Didn't I say the Shing Mun Reservoir is beautiful? 

 Started to have problems with the jacket zip. So much for YKK zippers! Well everything has its life-span, and this jacket IS very old! Time to get a new jacket from RC Outfitters! YAY!

Here's a series of uninterrupted photos for your viewing pleasure.

There are people! 

Still waters always have the calming effect on me 

Z's match-making photo

If you want to take a photo of a stranger but not get caught, get your friend to stand in front and pretend to shoot your friend, but focusing on the people in the background. Old trick, haha!

And all of a sudden, the scenery changed! The beautiful reservoir was nowhere in sight and we were transported into an enchanted forest. Shing Mun Country Park actually. 

"Hey let's do album cover shots." Can't remember who said that, maybe it was me. So we did. How, can make it or not? Any modelling agency want to sign us up? 

And guess what, we got a little lost! Yes we had a map, we knew which direction to go....but there were 2 roads in the same direction! Now why didn't the map show which road to take! 

We took the path on the right, which was wrong! Never trust down slopes, they tempt you because they are easier to walk! However, as I keep finding out again and again, sometimes in life you need to get a little lost, get off the beaten path, in order to discover pleasant surprises. And what a pleasant surprise. What awaited looked like a scene taken out from a "Little Red Riding Hood" storybook, with its autumn-y fallen leaves forming a carpet of green and yellow. 

Seriously, would you have guessed this was in Hong Kong?

Then we got a little hungry. Such a wonderful experience to eat in such an amazing place! Quick take out the fruit cocktail! 

Opening the cocktail was an adventure in itself. We were armed with a little jack knife, a door gift from some DnD. The thing about such knives is that you need a can that had a groove along its edge, but ours didn't. Thus we needed to be very determined (and hungry!) to get our food. 

Finally! 

Shiok to the max! 

What happened after that little break just happened too fast. We had spent too much time idling in the early noon, taking pictures, getting lost, opening fruit cocktail.... that we had to rush our trek in the late afternoon. It's like when I was studying....play too much in the beginning and had to mug like crazy when exams were coming. Some things never change! Dusk trekking was a bit scary (it gets dark like 5pm??!) But seeing the city lights in the distance is surely motivating.

Finally got onto the minibus to bring us to Tai Po MTR.

And met Ervin for dinner at the scheduled time. No need to postpone. :)