Lion Rock Hill: A Hiking Diary

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 14:00-17:00

Dear Diary,

Today we decided to partake in some physical exercise and ventured on a short hike up the Lion Rock Hill of Hong Kong in order to receive an “outdoor experience”. Besides the justification of convenience (which plays a very important factor), the other reason why we chose Lion Rock was due to its numerous cultural references (so deep right!). Mentions of the rock that takes the shape of a crouching lion appear in the song “Under the Lion Rock” by once-popular HK singer Roman Tan made the rock a symbol of the unwavering spirit of the Hong Kong people. The mountain has also been ingrained into HK people’s identity. With half a Hong Konger and the other a local who has never seen the Lion Rock with his own eyes, Lion Rock Hill makes a good subject for our hiking expedition as we can explore our "Hong Kong roots" while getting in some much-needed exercise. Anyway, below are a few photos which describe our outdoor-turned-learning experience.

Photo #1.

Location: around ½ km West  of Amah Rock 

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 12:53:54 PM

Despite it being a fabulously sunny day, the leafy shrubbery reflecting the sun’s rays along with the small trickle of the creek gave off a very cool atmosphere – perfect for inexperienced hikers. One of us already panting from the first flight of stairs - what a noob! (Hint: the male of the two. To his defense he was carrying a backpack packed with 2 water bottles, 2 jackets, 2 oranges and 2 bananas...)

Photo #2.

Location: Amah Rock (望夫石pronounced “Mong Fu Shek”)

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 1:06:09 PM

After roughly 30 minutes on an unbelievably steep trail, we finally made it to the "attraction", Amah Rock! Apparently, there is a legend behind its Chinese name which literally means “the stone that is gazing out for her husband” which marks the place where a fisherman's wife faithfully climbed the hill (with her baby on her back) to watch out for the return of her husband who, unbeknownst to her, had already drowned while fishing at sea. At last, the Sea Goddess took pity on her and transformed her into a rock so that she could be reunited with her love. Anyhow, ridiculousness of the Sea Goddess's reasons aside, the site is an example of history and culture’s intertwinement with nature, as the rock has inspired many classical Chinese poems and has transformed into a religious site for Chinese women (note the mess of red incense underneath).



















On a side note, we also had fun tossing banana peels off the cliff of Amah Rock! (more on that coming up...)

Photo #3.

Location: Amah Rock

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 1:07:06 PM

One thing that was constantly recurring throughout our hike was the presence of orange or tangerine peels! Now ofcourse, the tangerines in the photo above were placed in worship of the lady turned somewhat-goddess of Amah Rock but we noted quite a trail of Hansel and Gretchen-esque peels while we continued the path towards Lion Rock (don't recall making it though). In fact, we had a few oranges ourselves, my goodness, they were surprisingly sweet and refreshing! Tastiest we've ever eaten. Funny how the lack of easy access to food made our meager rations appear so delicious. Oh, did we forget to mention that we also happily contributed to the trail of orange peels? 

Photo #4.

Location: 1.3 km East of Beacon Hill 

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 1:54:30 PM

About half-way through the hike, we came across a resting area complete with picnic tables, trail signs describing the direction and length to other points of interest, maps, and pavilions (oh the relief!). The choice of location was strategic in that it is an intersection of several trails (Lion Rock, Amah Rock, and Beacon Hill) - for travelers weary of the long hike ahead to take a circle around back and call it a hike - and a scenic view of the Kowloon area to enjoy. Nevertheless, we city-folk still found it slightly insufficient as no porta-potties or water were provided, you know, for hygiene and precaution purposes. 

Photo #5.

Location: around 1.3 km East of Beacon Hill (view of Kowloon Tong)

Date: 29 January 2011

Time: 2:03:23 PM

Although we were completely taken away by a panoramic view of Kowloon Tong, we suddenly became saddened by the same view of development’s encroachment onto the beautiful hillside we were looking upon. Took us a while to recognize what slice of Hong Kong we were looking upon but we figured it out soon enough since one of us spotted CityU!

Sadly, we never made our way to the Lion Rock (due to time NOT physical constraint) but we had tremendous fun tossing fruit-remians, gaining new thigh muscles and sweating off our layers of fats all the same!