Batgung

The Family Tall went out for our first hike of the 2007-08 season last Saturday morning, and in the flurry of preparations required for hiking with a five-year-old, I was reminded of both how easy it is to get out on Hong Kong’s hiking trails, but also of why it’s just enough trouble that surprisingly few people actually do it.

So my purpose today is to try to pass along a few tips that might make it more feasible to get out and about on family hikes in Hong Kong. Longer, more ambitious hikes for all grown-ups we’ll leave for other times.

So how do we go about planning our family hikes?

As our own dear mothers no doubt reminded all of us, ‘Safety first’! While we’re actually hiking, Mrs Tall and I are careful to keep Daughter Tall close by us, and to make sure she’s taking a hand or is otherwise supported on the rougher bits of the trail. That’s common sense. But we also suggest the following safety tips:

• Bring more water than you think you’ll ever need. The number one danger of hiking in Hong Kong is dehydration and heat exhaustion/heat stroke. When you hear of people getting in trouble hiking in Hong Kong, the odds are it’s a medical problem, not really a ‘hiking’ problem such as a fall or getting lost.

• Buy, carry and use Hong Kong’s admirable Countryside Series of maps. Although most of Hong Kong’s trails are pretty clearly marked and signposted, it’s still entirely possible to get lost, especially late in an afternoon when the light starts to dim a bit. Having a good map is essential, even though you’re hiking in the middle of one of the world’s densest urban conurbations.

• Make sure someone else knows where you’re going to be. This is a simple hiker-safety procedure, but it’s also pretty easy to not bother with.

• Always take hats and lots of sunscreen. Hong Kong’s autumn and winter weather can be deceptive. Although temperatures are often quite cool (under the influence of the Northeast monsoon), the sun is still strong, since Hong Kong is geographically in the tropics. Therefore it’s easy to get a severe sunburn even on a cold but sunny day here. Hazy days – and days with the thin overcast that’s common here – may also have surprisingly high UV ratings.

• Watch out for snakes. The only really dangerous wildlife you’re likely to run into in Hong Kong are poisonous snakes. In the years I’ve been hiking here, I’ve seen just three significant snakes, but one of these was in fact this past Saturday. We Talls were just about finished with our walk, and were coming down toward Tseung Kwan O on a disused roadway, when Mrs Tall jumped and yelled. She’d spotted quite a large (maybe five or six foot long) snake right in front of us. I caught sight of it just as it was escaping into the undergrowth, but saw enough, in combination with Mrs Tall’s description, to tentatively identify it as a Red-necked Keelback, a poisonous snake that’s common around Hong Kong. Hong Kong is also home to several other poisonous species such as Bamboo snakes and cobras, plus some big constrictors and pythons. But if you stick to the trails and watch your step, the chances of your being bitten by a snake are vanishingly small. After our sighting last week, Mrs Tall is a bit harder to convince of this than she once was, but Daughter Tall and I took our snake encounter to be the crowning event in an exciting hike!

• Watch out for other feral animals. Hong Kong’s infested with feral dogs, cattle and monkeys. The dogs are likely the most dangerous, but all are best avoided. If you’re going to be hiking in an area in which you know you’ll see such animals (as in the Golden Mountain hike I mention below) it’s not a bad idea for at least one member of your hiking party to carry a hiking stick that can double as a makeshift shoo-ing away weapon.

Now that you’ve got all the safety concerns squared away, and you’re looking to get out on a family hike soon, where do you start?

Of course you have to identify a hike that’s feasible for children. This is easier than it sounds, though. For example, although Daughter Tall is just five, she can handle a trail that’s surprisingly rough. Most of Hong Kong’s trails are therefore possibilities. In fact, Daughter Tall is much more balky and uninterested when our hikes come out on paved roads or other ‘easy’ sections: there’s just not as much novelty value and excitement for her. But it’s also foolish to plan a hike that has lots of steep climbs or rough sections; small kids do tire easily, and you don't want to be stuck a long way from anywhere with a child who won't walk.

If you’re lucky (like we are), you’ve got a hiking trail or country park near your home that you can use as a base. This past week we just took a taxi up the hill behind our housing estate, and we were on the Wilson Trail. But we've also got a number of other favorite short hikes that we take that are all family-friendly, i.e. their starting/ending points are easy enough to get to; they’re at a difficulty level a small child can handle; and they’ve got enough inherent scenic or other interest to make for good clean family fun:

• One lovely, nearly all-downhill walk we do starts at the Peak Tram station, goes down the south side of the Peak, then around the Pokfulam Reservoir, coming out right at a bus stop on Pokfulam Road. The hightlights here are getting up to the Peak itself, spending a little time at the station, maybe for lunch, and the very pleasant segment of the walk around the reservoir itself. Tips for this one: you do have to turn off the road that leads down from the Peak and onto a regular dirt hiking trail. There’s a signpost there to guide you, but it’s still easy to miss.

• An alternative on Hong Kong Island is to start at Wan Chai Gap, near the Police Museum, then walk down to Aberdeen via the Aberdeen Reservoirs.

• Back on the other side of the harbour, we do any number of routes starting from the ‘Golden Mountain’ section of the Maclehose Trail, i.e. the point at which the trail crosses Tai Po Road; this spot is also popularly known as ‘Monkey Hill’, since it’s where crowds of feral macaques gather to harass, and be harassed. We’ve never had any serious problem with them (until recently; see below!), but you do need to take care not to expose food to them, as they have been known to attack. Usually we head west from this point, and do some combination of the paths around the Kowloon Reservoirs; they’re flat, with water always on one side.

• The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, also off Tai Po Road. This little gem of a country park is circled by a variety of generally easy trails of differing lengths. To me, it’s the best spot in Hong Kong to get a feel of a ‘real forest’, as its trees are quite mature and dense.

• The hike across Lamma Island, from So Kwu Wan to Yueng Shue Wan, is also very suitable for families, and includes nice ferry rides, which kids like.

So, readers: what are your favorite trails, especially those for the whole family?