Kicking My Ass

That's what happened this weekend. I got learnt. Schooled. I am not redheaded, nor a stepchild, but I was beaten down like one none-the-less. Saturday was to be a hike on Lamma Island. Unfortunately, my alarm clock did not co-operate, and I missed the ferry, and the hike. I paid for it on Sunday. Sunday was a hike on the Wilson Trail, or Stanley Gap. For those familiar with Hong Kong, we basically hiked from Wan Chai to Stanley, thru the hills. This was not for the faint of heart. The most prominent feature of this trail is "The Twins." No, not the blondes from the Coors Light commercials. Two large hills that you go straight up the face of.

The starting marker.
A small jaunt to warm us up.
Myself, Dave and Paul, ready to attack nature. Notice how chipper we are! What we didn't know...
THAT is what we have to climb. And that's just the first one. You can just make out the trail. We haven't even made it to the top of the warm up hill yet.
Coming down the starter hill.
Paul contemplating if this was a wise decision or not.
Still somewhat optimistic.
Decision time. To the left, an easy life. Straight ahead, no exit until the end.
Gary and I. I'm a little frightened. It's approximately 1100 steps up the first hill. I lost count after 10.
We made it! Wait, that's what's next? Damnit!
The second twin. Oh how I hate you, Hong Kong.
Civilization, but no way to get to it. The end is in sight, however. That's Stanley.
Three badly beaten men.
Stanley Bay. With replica ship.
Halfway down the second twin is this diagram of hell.
Always the laggard. We found it easier to jog down the steps than to walk. Remember, 1100 steps up means 1100 steps down the other side.
Wait, why was this at the END of the trail? We did the red section.
Success!! We survived!
After that, it's guilt-free beer time. From left to right, myself, Darryl, his wife Robin, Paul, Dave, Gary, and Joe.
In the end, it felt great to actually achieve that hike. What you didn't see was all the times I was doubled over, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. Quite the adventure, and I'm still sore on Monday. There's threats of an even longer (although hopefully less punishing) hike for next week. It's the last weekend in Asia, so we gotta do something memorable, right? Like hopefully not die.