After the mess that was navigating through Causeway Bay on Saturday I decided to get far away and visit the remote beaches of Sai Kung. Boy way that a mistake.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have turned around when I encountered the minibus queue out of Choi Hung to the Sai Kung pier, but I convinced myself that it was some kind of a fluke to do with maybe a few buses breaking down. I didn't want to think that everyone else, like me, was taking advantage of the clear-ish skies.
It took almost an hour to get to Sai Kung. Once there, I encountered another massive queue to taxi to the Sai Wan village pagoda so I decided to get to the beaches via the trail near Wong Shek pier. This was not a solitary hike; I ran into so many people that I might as well have been back in Causeway Bay.
I did verify a previous hypothesis while on the trails. A few years ago while hiking in the Adirondacks SB and I observed different groups of hikers. The peak we were hiking was known for being grueling and a lot of people training for events would climb throughout the day. In the mornings when we began our hike we noticed that everyone else on the trails were friendly and appropriately dressed in light layers that would be removed as they warmed up. Everyone said "good morning" to each other. Interestingly, even as if became afternoon, most of the hikers would greet us with "good morning." This was probably due to us beginning our hikes that way and just using the same greeting throughout the day.
As we were on the return portion of our hike we noticed that the later hikers were a different kind of hiker. More of the later hikers were overdressed, under-hydrated, and some even had on jeans. Can you imagine anything more uncomfortable to hike in than sweaty jeans? This probably had something to do with how grouchy some of the later hikers were. As the day wore on, fewer and fewer hikers returned our greetings, or even made eye contact. Later hikers were also less likely to move aside when passing on a narrow portion of trail.
I noticed similar behavior on Sunday. The first hikers that I encountered were friendly. Even as it became afternoon, most of the people on the trail said "Jo San." Later in the day the groups of hikers were less friendly. I went by entire groups where not one person returned my greeting. There are definitely different types of people who hike in the morning as opposed to later in the day.
My day ended as it had begun: in a massive queue. I took a bus to Tseung Kwan O, not because I was planning to go home via that route, but because it had the smallest line of people. Sunday was not the relaxing day that I had imagined.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have turned around when I encountered the minibus queue out of Choi Hung to the Sai Kung pier, but I convinced myself that it was some kind of a fluke to do with maybe a few buses breaking down. I didn't want to think that everyone else, like me, was taking advantage of the clear-ish skies.
Choi Hung's minibus queue wrapped into the MTR station.
It took almost an hour to get to Sai Kung. Once there, I encountered another massive queue to taxi to the Sai Wan village pagoda so I decided to get to the beaches via the trail near Wong Shek pier. This was not a solitary hike; I ran into so many people that I might as well have been back in Causeway Bay.
I did verify a previous hypothesis while on the trails. A few years ago while hiking in the Adirondacks SB and I observed different groups of hikers. The peak we were hiking was known for being grueling and a lot of people training for events would climb throughout the day. In the mornings when we began our hike we noticed that everyone else on the trails were friendly and appropriately dressed in light layers that would be removed as they warmed up. Everyone said "good morning" to each other. Interestingly, even as if became afternoon, most of the hikers would greet us with "good morning." This was probably due to us beginning our hikes that way and just using the same greeting throughout the day.
As we were on the return portion of our hike we noticed that the later hikers were a different kind of hiker. More of the later hikers were overdressed, under-hydrated, and some even had on jeans. Can you imagine anything more uncomfortable to hike in than sweaty jeans? This probably had something to do with how grouchy some of the later hikers were. As the day wore on, fewer and fewer hikers returned our greetings, or even made eye contact. Later hikers were also less likely to move aside when passing on a narrow portion of trail.
I noticed similar behavior on Sunday. The first hikers that I encountered were friendly. Even as it became afternoon, most of the people on the trail said "Jo San." Later in the day the groups of hikers were less friendly. I went by entire groups where not one person returned my greeting. There are definitely different types of people who hike in the morning as opposed to later in the day.
My day ended as it had begun: in a massive queue. I took a bus to Tseung Kwan O, not because I was planning to go home via that route, but because it had the smallest line of people. Sunday was not the relaxing day that I had imagined.
The queue for the Mongkok & CWB minibuses
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