My kind of hike

I haven't been posting much lately because my awesome mom and dad were in town for a visit, which means that it was a week-long marathon of eating and drinking. Hong Kong is still struggling to replenish its beer supply, which I'm pretty sure we depleted by about 40%.

Now, I wanted mom and dad to see the sights, but we couldn't interrupt the feasting - what to do? No problem - we went for a hike on Lamma Island. This "hike" is essentially an hour-and-a-half strolling banquet from the village of Sok Kwu Wan to the village of Yung Shue Wan, which is interrupted only briefly by a walk up a mountain.

Here's how it goes. You take the ferry over to Lamma (pack a couple of beers for the ferry ride. And yes, it's okay to drink beer at 10am - how else are you going to get over your hangover from last night?). Stroll through Sok Kwu Wan, pausing to buy a few more beers and some grilled squid dipped in hot sauce:

(We also had grilled pork, but that got wolfed before I could take a photo).

Stroll a bit more, buy another couple of beers, start thinking about how much you love hiking and how you should do this every weekend - you know, to stay in shape - have another beer or so, etc. etc.

Then comes the mountain. Now, this isn't a big mountain, but you're somewhere in that grey area between last night's hangover and today's drunk, and it's really humid, and the incline seems really steep, but you don't have a choice so you climb. And climb. It seems to go on forever (about 10 minutes), but when you get to the top you've got a great view of Yung Shue Wan and all of the beer and seafood that's waiting for you there.

You descend into the village, passing the so-called "kamikaze caves" where the Japanese stored ammunition during the occupation. You also pass several monstrous banyan trees strangling other trees ("Nature red in tooth and leaf", as my dad so aptly put it):

(My parents quickly learned that when in China it's mandatory to flash the peace sign any time you pose for a photo).

And you pass a beautiful temple, but I couldn't take any pictures because:

Finally you're in the village, and it's time for seafood and more beer. We started with sweet and sour seafood soup:

then on to deep-fried garoupa (here's the before and after):

garlic prawns:

and clams in black bean sauce.

Then it's time to waddle to the ferry and pass out on the way home. It feels so good to get exercise, doesn't it?