Ripper of a day for Winter, sunny and warm and off for a hike with two mates. Dragon’s Back hike specifically, way off in the southeastern corner of Hong Kong island is Shek O Country Park and crossing a big part of it is this hike. It starts (like all great hikes) with a ride on the subway, all the way to the end of the Island Line. Then after getting ourselves lost in a shopping mall trying to get out of the train station and onto the street (again, like all great hikes), we walked a couple of blocks before we started climbing our way through a very steep cemetery (classic right?).

The cemetery was actually pretty interesting, very different from home, built on a steep hill using giant “steps” for the rows of graves, it was all concrete except for the (mostly fake) flowers adorning headstones here and there. There were also occasional walls which reminded me of the PO Boxes at the post office which is, I assume, a cheaper option where you leave an urn instead. Lots of the headstones had photos and lots were shared. I have seen more than one ad in the subway for sprinkling ashes at sea as they are running out of land for traditional burials and it is becoming quite an issue, so I guess these are some of the last lucky ones.

After making it out of the cemetery we followed a well-marked trail, generally uphill but with plenty of flat or easy bits, eventually popping out on a clear high point for some spectacular views. It has not yet ceased to amaze me how quickly you can go from being surrounded by skyscrapers to ocean and island views here.

We eventually started heading down towards the end and once done we jumped on a bus and ended up totally not where we wanted to go but hey, no worries. We were at Shek O Beach so had a quick wander through the village and a peek at the beach then found a wee shack/restaurant for a cold beer and some dumpling-noodle soupy goodness. Suitably fueled we walked a little further to our actual final destination - Big Wave Bay. I had wanted to go here for a while, almost all the beaches we had been to up til now were very calm so I was keen to see if it lived up to the name. It’s a pretty remote beach so although it is on the small side there weren’t too many people and we quickly jumped in for a swim. Well we quickly walked towards the water then took ages getting in inch by inch as it was damn freezing cold, once in however it was lovely, the ocean is just the best place. Whilst there were waves I would definitely not call them big although there were people in full-length wetsuits with surfboards paddling out which gave me some hope that it occasionally is and we hit it on a bad day. It will definitely be a spot to come back to in summer and try find some waves!

Dragon’s Back hike is now solidly on the highly recommended list, mainly due to the good level of sweatiness, lots of epic views and the sweet beaches with cold beers at the end!