A dinner party and a hike!

These HK entries are a bit different as I post what I do in the day after I've done it and then I meet up with Tim in the evening and post that bit the next day. And so yesterday evening after Tim had finished work there was an organised meal event for the couch surfing community, for both those hosting and those staying, Tim's been involved with couch surfing hosting for years and has continued his involvement in HK. It was held outside Mr Wong's restaurant under a pedestrian overpass loop next, put simply the food was excellent and plentiful, the people were good company and the atmosphere was great, I doubt I'll be able to top that dining experience while I'm here. Some of the attendees were travellers and some were ex pats like Tim working there, I learnt a lot about the employment laws or lack of in Hong Kong - in summary if you are employed by a local company; pay, holiday and other contractual agreements will be all in favour of the employer and therefore a bit rubbish as an employee, if you're employed by a multinational or foreign company you will get a far better deal, much better pay and conditions and this is probably what most people think of when regarding the idea of working in HK and if you're Pilipino you are essentially a slave with no rights at all.

The next day I woke up early and went to the nearby store to get some bananas and hiking supplies, then after breakfast took the MTR to Wong Tai Sin station to begin the hike to Lion Rock. It's an uphill slog on Shatin road to get the start of the track, it's about another half hour uphill and then it plateaus a bit and then a mega steep step section to the summit. At the summit there was no view, there won't be a view all week because forecast is fog, continuing along the ridge for a bit is actual Lion Rock, I scrambled up it and enjoyed no view at all. After this point it's downhill, the last bit being a rock path which is really hard to walk on, I've walked on a path like this is Switzerland last year, they look pretty but that's about it. Back into town I passed what used to be a park but is about to become another tower block, then it was back to Mong Kok in a packed train and a nap.

After the massive step climb

Up Lion Rock itself



That space used to be a park :(



These next images are what the view would have been. (Wikicommon images)

 
 

My plan was to find the nearest Starbucks and get a take away coffee but I got tired again suddenly and had a nap, a long nap, after a few hours I forced myself to get up otherwise I'll wake up at 2am and then nothing will make sense. So I got up and found there was a washing machine in the flat so I did some washing, made some supper and did general things so I was awake enough to met Tim later after he finishes work.