Hong Kong Hike- Christmas 2012

view from Aberdeen country park, looking back at the Ap Lei Chau typhoon shelter- notice the Chinese cemetary in foreground.  If you look at the apartment building with the green horizontal stripe and look directly behind it, that is our apartment building- Sham Wan Towers. We are the middle building on the 30th floor

Good shot of Aberdeen with the country park in the background- this is where I hike most days

The hills in the background are Tai Tam Country Park- another favorite hiking destination

Pok Fu Lam- notice the feng shui design of the buildings with the "hole" in the middle- in the background you can see Cheung Chau Island

Most people don't associate this kind of a view with Hong Kong- 80% of Hong Kong's total land area is parkland

The trail I spend most of my time on- unbelievable network of trails that allow you to do a different hike almost every day if you like

Looking down in to Pok Fu Lam

Notice the container ship in the channel- from our window we look out on a never ending line of container ships that move through to the Hong Kong container facilities

part of the trail that connects Aberdeen country park to Pok Fu Lam country park

tried to get the flowering bushes in this shot  looking up in to the park

love the way the bushes form a natural canopy on the trail

in the distance is the Peak- a famous Hong Kong Landmark and where I was headed!

One of the many reservoirs throughout the country parks

Last part of the trail- getting close!

Arrival at the Peak- this is the viewing deck for the tourists that come up on the Peak tram

spectacular day- the view from the peak- in the foreground is the north side of Hong Kong Island- looking out to Victoria Harbour and Kowloon on the other side- those hills in the distance are part of what is called the New Territories- essentially the border between Hong Kong and China

a couple Hong Kong landmarks- the silver building in the foreground is the HSBC building and in the background the monster building is the ICC building- one interesting feature to the building is the Ritz Carlton hotel is on the 118th floor of the building

looking down into Central

the famous Peak tram on the way up to the Peak

starting my descent from the Peak- Mid Levels is where alot of our friends live- very western area of Hong Kong

Nice framed shot of HK- this is the densely populated part!

still on the way down- check on the pedometer after this hike- 14.8 kilometers, 16000 steps and 1500 calories burned- all good until I reward myself with a couple of pints at the Old China Hand Pub- let's call it a break even day!