Dragon's Back

By far, the closest thing to a "rural activity" that we have done since in Hong Kong is the "dragon's back trail" on the south side of the island.  Much of Hong Kong island is uninhabited due to the rocky mountainous terrain. This path takes advantage of this geology, providing a unique rural experience in an urban atmosphere.

The trail follows a couple ridges on the easternmost peninsula on the south side of the island. The ridges being the back of the dragon. I know, a dragon analogy in Asia. Unique, right? 

Regardless, the views were great and I see why this trek is popular. You almost feel like you're on a small uninhabited island! (until you look around too much)

You can see the path tracing the top of the hills. 

From up here you can see all the little expensive expat beach towns - again, not quite a rural experience, but it's as good as we are going to get! This is "big wave beach"

This is Stanley, where we watched dragon boats in previous posts. 

And a little more nature:

As with most Asian experiences, death or certain harm is never far away. We found this little path to a cliff and decided to tempt fate. Yes, I am stabilizing myself with my arms, and yes, there is a 1000' drop behind me. (skip forward, mom)

Also a characteristic of Asia, you are never THAT far from people - some nice Aussies took this one of us.

From the picture above you probably noticed Jordan is no longer wearing a shirt. It was almost too hot to function, as displayed by the sweat marks on my shirt:

Jordan is a statue!

On the way down we found some "spring water" that we decided was safe enough to touch without getting dengue fever or some other tropical disease. The water was cool enough and we were hot enough that we didn't care what was in it! We didn't dare get any in our mouths, though. 

And because I am slave to scenic vistas, I end the post with this one: