Camping

I just came back from my first camping trip in Hong Kong in two years. We went to Lantau Island and I was the organizer. I'm hardly the organizer or coordinator for any gatherings because I hate the details and the need to contact everyone numerous times. I was asking my friend when we could go camping this year. He said if I took up the planning, he'd go. I then replied if he gave me an available weekend, I'd plan. Knowing that my friend had to work shifts, I knew I won in this "fight".

A few days later, on a Tuesday, my friend called me and said he was available for camping that very weekend. He added, you're not telling me you can't make it, are you? But even if you can't make it, you've agreed to plan the trip as long as I gave you the date!

Never giving in under such situations, I said yes, you can count on me going and planning for the trip for this very weekend, in four days!

So I started using facebook to invite other friends, asking for suggestions, and broadcasting messages. It was a handy tool for gathering people for discussions. We ended up having a group of 6 adults and a kid.

None of us have been to that part of the trail or that campsite. It turned out to be quite acceptable. It's a 40-minute flat walk from Tai O. The campsite is away from the trail, while with easy access to the water supply and the loo. We had beer and red wine. We had a huge, beautiful fire. The sky was clear and we saw lots of stars, though nobody believed me when I said I could see a satellite moving up there. I slept quite well after having minimal sleep from the previous two nights due to my having caught a cold. We did a short 3-hour hike the next day which involved pretty much a 250m ascent and a 250m descent in our full packs. It was a good workout but the downhill took a toll on my right knee again. We were supposed to reach a waterfall en route. Somehow we never made it there. Even when we asked other fellow hikers we were told that it didn't exist. But when I got back, another friend of mine showed me pictures of the waterfall to prove its existence! The mystery of the 萬丈布 waterfall shall remain unresolved till we re-visit it again I-don't-know-when in-the-future.

We had a good trip. The weather was nice. The sky was clear. The campfire was beautiful. The morning was laid-back. The hike was just right with some nice views. We should do that again in January.