Zhongdian Shangri-la, Yunnan

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan

Hong Kong

Decided to postpone my Istanbul trip. Didn't want to go too far and too long. A place in Asia where I can be entertained by some friends would be great. My third time to Hong Kong, but first time as a leisure visitor and not on some business trip transit or something. Visited my good ole German friend Reiner, and also Valerie, who's still hot :)
Anyway, enough of highrise buildings and as I always look for the "off-the-beaten-tracks" where ever I travel to, I made a side trip to the Lamma and Lantau islands.

First, Lamma Island (南丫島). Located south-west of Hong Kong island, it is the 3rd biggest island after Hong Kong and Lantau.

Took off from the Central Pier of Hong Kong island.



The ride was about 30 -40 minutes. There are two main fishing villages on the island, Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣) and Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣). The route most tourists take is to first alight at Yung Shue Wan, and then trek to Sok Kwu Wan. After checking the ferry schedules, noticed that there are more ferries between Central Hong Kong and Yong Shue Wan, so I decided to trek the opposite way.

Approaching Sok Kwu Wan ...

The map (click map to enlarge ...)



Looked at the time, 11.00am, not hungry yet, so decided to do the red trail. It's one big round, so it'll be time for food by the time I complete it.

The pictures below doesn't look like I'm in Hong Kong at all, does it?









By the way, no ordinary vehicles are allowed in most parts of the island ...



Completed the trail in roughly two hours. Stomach calling ....





The scenes remind me of a place I often go during school holidays ... Pulau Pangkor. After lunch, started my trek to the other village, Yung Shue Wan. Estimated another 2 hours trek.

These were what I saw along the way ....









And finally at Yung Shue Wan .....





Almost time to meet Reiner back at Hong Kong island for dinner. Took the ferry and arrived at Central around 6.00pm. Hmmm, what did we have for dinner that evening .... Oh yes, Italiano ...... crispy pizza and creamy pasta. Life's just great ...

The following day, I went to Lantau Island. I did not go to Tai-O (a village on Lantau Island) as I've been there a few years ago. This time I took the new Cable Car all the way from the terminal MTR subway station to the big Buddha on the hill. Pretty impressive. I got an excellent bird's eye view of the Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok international airport, and the outlying islands off Hong Kong. For photos of my Lantau Island trip, click here.

Kota Kinabalu, revisited

I blogged about my previous trip in 2007 here. There was unfinished business and therefore I landed on the Land below the Wind again in December 2008 .... to conquer Mount Kinabalu. As you'll see later, I chose an auspicious day for this adventure.

I booked the following accomodation at Kota Kinabalu ....

No, it is not a sleazy karaoke bar. I had the same thought when I first arrived. I even checked with the taxi driver to make sure this is the right place. You see, I booked through the internet, and somehow I cannot associate Tiger beer with backpacking. What the heck, I went in .....

And wow, is this some gay lodge or what ???

I got to know some wonderful people .... the 'topless' guys are from Belgium, the lady a Canadian, and the guy in orange T is the owner of the place, Vincent.

Ann, my new Canadian friend, joined me for the climb. Vincent drove us to Kinabalu Park the following morning. This is the view of the peak from far.

and here's the start of the trail ....... Selamat Mendaki or Have a safe Climb. We started from this point, called the Timpohon gate at about 10.30am.

We had lunch midway from our lunch box - one hardboiled egg, a piece of fried chicken, a few egg sandwiches, and two spring rolls, and drank sacred water from heaven, also called rain water :)

All climbers are required to have a local guide. Let me introduce to you my climbing guide, an extremely experienced climber who is an indigenous Kadazan. Very tough and has extremely good stamina. Told me can go up and down the mountain in just a few hours ... yes, absolutely no joke about it. People, let the drums roll ...... My excellent guide was ........



Da da ... Makcik "something". Sorry, I forgot her name :( That's the problem when I only blogged about this trip now, after 2 months. She is 56 or 57 (forgot also) years old. But hey, I really respect her physical stamina (or maybe mine is too poor in comparison). She plucked wild fruits for me to eat along the way, telling me which plants are herbs, cure for what sickness, and so on. I felt like attending a traditional medicine lecture :) One type of wild fruits that I tasted ....

Some of these hiking guides and porters plying the trail were really helpful. So don't worry if you have a whole family climbing and worry that your young son or daughter could not hike very far. Don't worry, the porters can do this .....

Yes, all the way to Laban Rata (six kilometers from the starting point), but for a fee of course. Nothing is free :)

I have always liked hiking because hikers are so courteous. When I hiked in China and passed by other hikers, we would greet each other "Ni Hao", in Japan "Konichiwa", Westerners "Hi", but at Mount Kinabalu I heard "Merry Christmas!!!" Huh, Merry Christmas???

Yes, I climbed Mount Kinabalu on the 25th December ;) It was such a wonderful sight to see people greeting each other while gasping for air ...... "Mer .... ry , he he he , mas ...". Well it wasn't that bad, I exaggerated :)

After a gruelling 5-hour climb, I finally saw the check point where I will stay the night before the final ascend to the peak on the following day. This point is called Laban Rata, which is about 3300m above sea level.



And upclose .....



It was cold .....



There are several huts at this check point and my hut is called "Gunting Ladagan". The view here was absolutely fantastic. This is where I spent the night and woke up the following morning at 2.00am.




The climb on the following morning was tough. I couldn't take any pictures when ascending as it was 3.00am in the morning. However, when I was going down the mountain I could see what I had to go through in order to reach the peak. I'll show the pictures later.

So I started at 3.00am and after struggling for about 2.5 hours, I finally reached Low's peak (3km from Laban Rata or 9km from Timpohon) at 4,095m above sea level. As you can see, it was still dark at 5.30am, and it was freaking cold.



Here are some photos showing what's at the top and the climbing route, which was basically the white rope. The view up there was awesome and I felt like walking above the clouds. Actually, I was walking above the clouds!
















I started to descend at 7.30am and reached Laban Rata at around 9.30am. Had breakfast there for an hour and then reached Timpohon (start point of the trail) at around 2.00pm. What a great sense of achievement to be able to post this certificate on my blog ;)

Koyasan, Wakayama

This must be the least updated blog in Blogger. I've only written 3 entries in 2007 and only one this year. I'll create an entry today so Blogger does not delete my blog due to inactivity :)

I've worked in several countries in Asia and Japan has consistently stood out as a place that I want to visit regularly. Last November I spent 3 weeks travelling from Tokyo heading toward Hiroshima and then flew out of the country from Nagoya. The places that I covered were Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, Himeiji, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Koyasan, Nagoya, and Ise. Of all, I found the most interesting or unique was my experience at Koyasan.

Mount Koya (Koyasan) is the center of Shingon Buddhism, a Buddhist sect which was introduced to Japan in 805 by Kobo Daishi (aka Kukai), one of the most significant personalities in Japan's religious history. Over one hundred temples stand in the small town on top of the wooded mountain (source: Japan Guide).



I travelled by train from Osaka and the journey was about 2 hours. The rural villages on hill tops were beautiful. A complete getaway from bustling Osaka.



The rail tracks ran along the edge of mountains and passing by several small wooden train stops.






The final ascend to Koyasan is by the funicular train. The main town (Koya town) is about 1000 meters above sea level.



And after about 5 minutes of train ride, Voila !



My main intention to visit Koyasan was to experience temple lodging. This is the temple that I stayed for two nights.




This is how my room looked like ...



The view through the room window ...



I arrived around 7pm so vegetarian dinner was served immediately, prepared by a monk ...





After dinner, I did not go out as the temple has a curfew time. The main gate will be closed at 10pm. Anyway it was very cold outside, around zero deg Celcius. So I decided to sleep as I was quite tired after travelling from Osaka. But wait ..... where is the bed? I didn't see any bed or mattress or futon or sarong. Then came a knock on the door, and the same monk who prepared my dinner showed up again with a smile. Oh I see ....



The following morning all the guests (five including me) were woken up by the monks at 6am and we joined them for rites and rituals (fire ceremony) and chantings. I didn't understand a word or meaning behind those rituals and the worst thing of all was I had to kneel for 2 hours during the entire process. After the ceremony, we went back to our own rooms for a vegetarian breakfast.



Being inspired by all the chantings and rituals, I decided that it might be time for my own enlightenment .....



After 2 minutes, I still did not float above the cushion and the next thing that happened .... I was suddenly holding this in my hand .....



Yahoo! Sightseeing time :) Slipped into my jeans and jacket and out I went ....

I spent 2 days and 2 nights at Koyasan and it was definitely a good getaway from the big cities. Click here to see the photos that I took at Koyasan.