Welcome to Paradise

My third full day in Hong Kong was spent on the island of Lantau in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Lantau is maybe three times the size of Honk Kong Island with less than 1/300th the population. This island is one gorgeous collage of beautiful beaches and imposing mountains. I could have spent a month here just hiking the mountain trails and lounging on beaches.

I have spent too much time in the big city, it was really really good - physically, mentally, and spiritually - to breathe the fresh air and stretch my legs again. That, and I love the humidity! After living in Beijing, which is on the brink of the Gobi desert, this native Houstonian was happy to visit a place where I don't have to apply lotion and chapstick three times a day! God has placed us in a world with many many beautiful places. Beijing city just isn't one of these.

These first pictures are of a tiny fishing village - a quaint, beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. This place and its people are so down to earth, completely opposite of busy Hong Kong and a very hectic Beijing. No cars, no flashing city lights, no high-rise condos (unless you count those houses on stilts.) There is definitely something to be said for a simpler life.



The mountains were gorgeous, I don't have the words to describe how beautiful this island is - we rode a cab along the mountain ridge and every new cloudy peak, every new white-sand lagoon triggered shivers of excitement along my spine. This picture to the left was taken from the big Buddha statue (not shown) with Lantau peak in the background (934 meters, 364 feet tall.)

I climbed Lantau Peak in just under two hours late that evening just as the sun was setting and managed to climb back down before running completely out of daylight. I got a few good pictures with the "Wisdom Path" and the "Big Buddha" on the horizon, but my photography skills are insufficient to capture the full richness of the Hong Kong sunset playing among the mountains and reflecting off of the ocean below.

The weather at the peak was not cooperating though. I climbed into the middle of a cloud, as you can see from the pictures. The whole foggy haze/can't see anything effect was cool, but I couldn't see much past the fog from the peak and I got drenched by condensing water vapor. This was still the most rewarding mountain climb I have had to date. Lantau itself, as well as the whole of Hong Kong, is an amazing natural paradise. I would go back again in a heartbeat.