Saturday, 6 September 2008

Sai Kung


Last weekend we went for a hike in a place called Sai Kung. It's a lovely area in the New Territories, about an hour or so from us by underground and minibus - they have little 16 passenger minibuses plying some of the routes instead of normal double-deckers, although I have no idea why.

The New Territories are an extra bit of Hong Kong that the British negotiated for themselves in 1899, to help protect Hong Kong harbour from the French and Russians who were causing trouble at the time. It stretches all the way up to the Shum Chun river - the other side of which is the city of Shenzhen (they're actually pronounced almost the same). This map shows Hong Kong island in the centre, Kowloon just above that, and then everything to the North of that is the New Territories (apart from the built-up area to the left at the top, which is Shenzhen).

Believe it or not, 70% of the area of Hong Kong is either farmland or countryside, and 40% is protected country park land. And some of it is really stunning. A couple of hours into our hike (it was only 7.5km, but in 80% humidity and 32C I'm ashamed to say we struggled!), found a couple of lovely deserted beaches - one of which even had clean (ish) water! I'm afraid if you really want clean water to swim in you really have to get on a plane.

1 comment:

  1. Were the French causing trouble again...? Ah, shame I wasn't there at the time to tell them off! ;-) Instead, I take every opportunity to do so in the office, nothing new, and Luc is making considerable efforts in making fun of the Belgians, as usual! Miss having you there Sarah, but great reading up here! Take care!!

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