The Hong Kong Trampers - Hiking in Guangdong Province, China over Easter 2008

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Hiking in Guangdong Province, China over Easter 2008

Written by Francis,

I am planning a hiking trip in central or northern Guangdong Province over the Easter holiday (between Thursday, 20th and Monday, 24th March 2008). Anybody who wants to join me can email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me on Tel. 6021-7013.
My intention is to leave Hong Kong in the evening on Thursday, 20th March (exit from Lo Wu Border Control Point at about 7.30pm. Lo Wu is the KCR train terminus on the Hong Kong side of the border), take land transport from Shenzhen to a city near Guangzhou, stay there for the night and in the next morning find our way to a ‘place' north of the city to begin our exploratory trip.
I have a couple of places in mind and have not decided exactly which place we'll explore. My initial plan is that we'll do hiking in a remote part of Guangdong Province (one long hike on one day and one short hike on another, from village to village) and stay in the villages for the night.
Let me know early if you are interested in joining me in this hiking expedition.

Francis

Disclaimer:-

People join this trip at their own risks. I shall not be held responsible in any way for any injury or death incurred or any loss or damage to personal property caused due to whatever causes including, but not limited to, negligence, neglect, errors of judgment and inadequate orientation skills on my part. The fact that you show up at the time and place on the day to join this trip is an implication that you have agreed to and accepted unconditionally this disclaimer. Francis.

Last update: 25-03-2008 10:42

Users' Comments (4)

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Posted by Liza Avelino, on 24-03-2008 20:31, , Registered

1. ''two fingers up'' ( Mr. Fung's way )

Hey Vince,

What a fantastic walk report.Your unique and witty interpretation of the whole trip makes me groan and howl in laughter.Well done!

Liza

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Posted by vince, on 24-03-2008 16:10, , Registered

2. China Trip - Walk Report

All the pictures are here. They are a must see.

I would suggest reading an illustrated walk report at this location instead.

It starts
On 28th March 2008 at 1900hrs, 8 prominent players -Chris, Ben, Vince, Suzanne, Claire, Winnie, Carrie and Andy- gathered on the tail end of the Sheung Shui KCR platform to embark on a China hiking mission. Team leader Francis showed up 30 minutes late at 1930hrs with a high-capacity, voluminous styrofoam cooling box specified to carry at least 20 bottles of beer and plenty of attitude.

Before reading further, I suggest you soak up some of our attitude by admiring thisphotograph. (hint: the message is in our fingers)

The journey
We crossed the border over to the cigarette capital of China (sleazy and smoky Shenzhen) at 2000hrs and rendezvoused with the captain of our chartered car to Qingyuan. The rest of the day was spent in traveling to Qingyuan and resting for the night at a 58-bucker hotel.

On 29th March 2008 at 0910hrs, we boarded a deluxe bus to Yeung Shaan in Northern Guangdong. Resourceful as ever, Francis was drying his wet towel on a makeshift clothe hanger on the bus.

Knowledge unlimited
The more rustic feel to the journey began when we boarded a rickety bus from Yeung Shaan to Shui Hao with rock hard seats. Greenery and acres of fields started filling the views on all windows. Francis engaged himself in a local geography debate with a so-called ‘local’ on the bus and stripped her of any credibility over her knowledge of the terrain and neighboring mountains. Francis was more local there than any other person on the bus!

The place
We reached Shui Hao in the afternoon and took a boat across to Tai Tong Tsuen to meet our host, Mr. Fung. The muddy river was flanked by ancestral houses on one side and fields on the other. Tall, majestic, zigzag-shaped mountain ranges surrounded the village giving it an awe-striking look. The overcast weather left the peaks swathed with smooth strands of mist.

Mr. Fung greeted us with open arms and he was soon joined by his older-looking wife. Francis appeared a little nervous since he had mistakenly addressed her as his mother instead of spouse the last time we visited! She looked even older this time but there was no need for reconciliation or apologies since she didn’t seem to recall the insult. Time (or amnesia) must have erased unpleasant memories!

The poets
Gathering at the rooftop, all 9 players were full of spunk and many of us wanted to sleep on the rooftops to appreciate nature in its true form. Carrie, Claire, Francis, Ken, Ben and I voted ‘rooftop’. Each of us also played weatherman and predicted clear and sunny weather for the following days. Carrie was so touched by the views and the rustic feel that it brought out the poet hiding in her.

[I’ll sleep on the rooftop] “With chickens as my neighbors and sky as my blanket!” she exclaimed.

Emotions
We embarked on a beautiful self-guided hike on Friday walking through several flower orchids and bamboo forests. Francis emphatically explained how we could look for a white coating on the tree to ascertain the quality of the surrounding air. “I bullshit all the time, but this time I am serious”, he said to establish his bulletproof credibility.

The views were captivating. Francis was so overwhelmed by the beauty that he stopped at each magnificent view and exclaimed – “If I die, bury me here”.
“No, bury me there”.
“Bury me here”.
I put his fears to rest and assured him that we would slice him into many different pieces and disperse his remains in places as we saw fit.
“But, take my heart back to Hong Kong”, he said sentimentally, letting all our emotions pour!

Shopping
We got back in the evening to do some shopping –and shopping on these trips means buying beer & peanuts-. The styrofoam box was carefully placed inside the Tai Tong Tsuen version of the Welcome supermarket trolley and off we went. Claire, Ben and I had the honors of navigating the ‘trolley’ to the other side of the village. A local girl was kind enough to assist in maneuvering by shining her torch (or ‘flash light’ according to Suzanne) on the road ahead.

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep?
After dinner on Friday, I headed straight for the rooftop to eagerly join our rooftop party. The admission fee was, of course, a beer. 1 hour passed. Francis joined me. 1 hour passed. Ben joined us. Time struck 12 and there was no one else! All the spunk from the morning had vanished! The remaining players were too tired and went to sleep leaving only 2 of us, Ben and yours truly, to sleep on the rooftop! Brave and undeterred, Ben and I got out our sleeping mats and made our makeshift beds underneath the overcast sky. Another hour passed. I think I almost fell asleep. I was picturing a lush garden being watered by a gardener with a water hose. The fresh smell of the first drops of water falling on land and the sprinkles from the water hose were falling on me.

Something didn’t seem right. My eyes opened. It was raining! I woke Ben up and we headed indoors finding ourselves whatever space we could to escape the rain.

It’s Friday
The next day morning we woke up to find the ‘weatherman’ inside each one of us shamed. It was raining. Moods soured. Francis was about to call off our long walk planned for the day but we took a vote. I voted ‘aye’ for continuing with the walk. Claire did too. 1 more hand went up. Soon, majority won and we unanimously predicted that the overcast/rainy weather would last a couple of days so it wouldn’t make sense to postpone anyway. However, it was time to equip ourselves with raingear. This awakened the fashion giants inside each one of us.

Suzanne’s Secret - The Sexy Attire
The rain brought us geniuses to a grocery store which also sold 23-bucker Jianglu raincoats. I went for a blue raincoat. So did everyone else except Francis, who was sporting an imported 7-11 poncho. On that topic, Francis was explaining to us how he recently discovered another use for the poncho. I have heard about a barf bag but never before had I imagined a ‘turd’ bag! Francis explained that he would take the poncho with him to the top of a mountain, do his business and have the evidence neatly wrapped up in a plastic bag for easy disposal. I am sure there’s an environmentally friendly way involved as well but I will refrain from going into details. I am sure great inventors like Thomas Edison would have looked at Francis Lee with great envy had they been alive!

Anyway, going back to the subject of raincoats, Suzanne wanted to be different and cooler than the rest of us. She went for a red astronaut suit. No kidding, she really did.

Initially, Chris and I decided to ostracize her for trying to be different. We disallowed her from getting into the tricycle we were going to take next to the start of the hike. But, we eventually forgave her and let her on board when she finally confessed - “I look like an Easter bunny”, she said. At least the next day was Easter Sunday.

Super Mr. Fung
Mr. Fung had a ‘super’ attire himself. I’d like to call it the up-up-and-away attire. The gifted Superman wears a red cape and red boots. Super Mr. Fung wore a shower curtain for a cape and blue boots. Superman wears his underwear on top of his pants. Super Mr. Fung might be from the village, but he still knows how to wear his underwear properly. Super Mr. Fung also sported a sexy fisherman style hat and raced up and down the mountains effortlessly. Suzanne couldn’t help but falling for him. And fall she did, albeit literally, and many times at that because of the slippery terrain. The rest of us weren’t spared either. We all slipped, fell and woke up to find our raincoats turn brown from the wet mud.

The Hike
Beautiful! Undulating mountain ranges, lush green fields, gorgeous terraces, pure air, natural trails and friendly villagers welcomed us. Pictures speak a thousand words, so check this out.

The Fight
The long walk made us all hungry and the goats on the trail triggered Francis’ several thoughts. First he was talking about lamb roast and how tasty it was. But, suddenly during a group picture, unable to control his emotions, he blurted out to Claire - “You are my lamb!” I am not sure if that meant he wanted to eat her or if he fancied her or both!

After that, the group broke into a Chinese style Kung Fu fight. I was armed with my umbrella and the rest of the troupe was using their hiking sticks as lethal weapons.

Saturday, 2008-03-23, what’s with the weather?
Much to our surprise, we woke up to a sunny day and again, we were completely wrong about the weather! We embarked on another exotic Francis-led hike on foreign soil. We started by boarding a bus to Yueng Shaan and taking another bus to the start of our biking trail. Yes, ‘biking’ trail. We hired motorcycles from there to the start of our hiking trail. The motorcycle ride was picturesque. We whizzed past beautiful lush fields on our chauffer-driven Yamahas.

Francis used his navigational skills to guide us towards Shui Hao crossing a village called Seui Chum Tsuen on the way. Our guiding star was a “V” shaped mountain range that we had to walk towards. Surprisingly, in spite of using only primitive navigational methods, we had no problems reaching Shui Hao. In fact, we even found a minivan driver who offered to drive us back to Yeung Shaan for free!

Could Chris have been abducted?
5 of us -Chris, Suzanne, Claire, Ben and I- were to leave for Hong Kong on Saturday evening. Francis flagged down a bus for Qing Yuen and helped us get on board. Luckily, during the journey, we transferred to another bus bound for Guangzhou. Chris mentioned how he had thoughts about spending one night at GZ to check the place out.

At about 2100hrs on Saturday night, we reached the great city of Guangzhou. I immediately got us on 2 taxis and we headed straight for the Fo Che Dung Chaam (GZ East Station). After dinner at KFC, we bought tickets on the 2256hrs train to Shenzhen and made our way to the platform.

I boarded the train. Claire followed. Suzanne was next. Ben came in as well. Then Suzanne and I sang in chorus, “where’s Chris?” The train doors shut tight. The 4 of us wore a worried look on our faces. Suzanne and I decided to run the length of the train to look for him. No luck. We played scenarios in our heads. Short of an alien abduction and falling through the toilet onto the tracks, we exhausted all other scenarios on Chris’ whereabouts.

My phone rang. Much to our relief, it was Chris. “I got separated and now I am at a room in Xiangnan hotel next to GZ station”, he said. He explained that he stepped out of the train to ask a security guard on the platform about seating arrangements and the doors shut on him. He then decided to get himself a room in a hotel instead of making the trip on the next train. Well, his wish for spending a night in GZ had come true!

All the worry about Chris suddenly turned to amusement! Suzanne was imagining a cartoon character running to the doors only to see it shut. Ben joked that at least we had the chips that he left behind!

And the time is…
We looked at our watches. It was 11.56PM (4 minutes before the Lo Wu border to HK was to close). Thus, began our cross border marathon.

Unfortunately, other than building our physique, the running didn’t quite help! The China border was closed when we reached there at 12:04AM. We then had to go to the border at Huang Gang which is open 24hrs. We reached Hong Kong at about 1.30AM.

This was a fantastic trip. Just one thing left to say – Mr. Fung is under the impression that this gesture means “Very Good”.

So, the next time one of you visits Mr. Fung and he gives you the middle finger, please say ‘thank you very much’.

Thanks to Francis for organizing this memorable trip.

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Posted by vince, on 17-03-2008 21:22, , Registered

3. the China reports

Yes, his trips always leave you with some food for thought.
Do check out a couple of old reports that I wrote:
China 1
China 2
China 3

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Posted by Peter Kwong, on 17-03-2008 18:06, , Registered

4. Typically Francis

Hi Francis,
Though I am unable to go with you so far, every time I read with interest your planning and report afterwards. It is always a pleasure to read these, as we are always presented with surprises!
This time there are only small surprises! You have point i., then ii., and then ii. again and then v. Give us some bigger ones!
Anyway, hope you have a nice trip - in your discovery style!
With best regards,
Peter

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