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Escaping From Covid And Bustling HK City (Our Journey To Lung Kwu Tan) **March 8, 2022** I've been yearning for mountains since the middle of Autumn, but due to having no company to have an arduous climb, I just opted to stay within the city area during my holidays. Besides, hiking alone isn't exciting at all. And this current covid situation makes me want to escape from the world to somewhere far from any stressors. Such mundane my holiday routines have been, doing usual stuff and seeing the usual places. My eyes and feet were wandering around the same spots, yet my mind was traveling far above the ground into the summit. Just imagining the chilly breeze, trees swaying along with the wind, flowers' petals flying, golden grasses dancing, birds singing to boost the moods of the hikers, and flowing sounds of the water from distant falls or rivers. And the beauty of the summit and the world below it. Each day, I was wishing that someday, someone would beep at me and would say, "*hey rub, let's go to the mountain!*" Unfortunately, my friends are always unavailable since they work, work, and work. I bet their lives are more boring than mine.  Until one day, one friend of mine invited me to go hiking. I was so happy and excited, as finally, after a thousand years, I mean, more than half a million seconds, I could see the beauty above the mountain again.

Fast forward... Sunday came, despite having not enough sleep, I woke up *not-so-early*, yet *not-so-late* and tried to finish my article and raced my pega so I could enjoy my hike without any distraction from my work online. My friend was so confident about the time as she thought that the hike would only take 15 minutes, so I was relaxed as well and waited until noon before I traveled to our meeting MTR point. Unfortunately, as she searched about the matter again, it wasn't 15 minutes but 2 hours. I just laughed in my mind thinking about the limited time we have and we would double time our hike so we could reach the summit at an earlier time before sunset appears.

As I reached the MTR station, it was already 12:30 pm and the meeting point was 10 stations away from my area. I just told myself, "*Good luck to us. Maybe we'll just wait for the sunset to make our climb worth it.*" At 1:50 in the afternoon, I arrived at our meeting point but opted to visit the lavatory first as the call of nature urged me to do so. Then I met my friend after a while, who arrived ahead of me. There weren't many passengers compared to when there weren't high covid cases yet.

From Tsuen Mun station, we rode a bus going to our destination which was 26 bus stops away from the MTR station and took us about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes or so, we were awed by the beautiful sea and this tree with red leaves that were starting to sprout. Spring is finally here!

Some people were camping along the seashore and some were fishing. A life in the village indeed that I've been wanting to see again since my last exploration more than a year ago.

Before heading to the mountain, we opted to walk along the bay for a while and take photos of the beautiful scenery and see the life of the village people closer. There were pretty lamp posts and leaves on the trees were starting to sprout. At the middle of the course stood three dolphins' statues hugging each other in color black, pink, and green. I love the view so I let my friend take a photo of me.

Some folks said that tourists could go dolphin sight-seeing. These floating small fishing boats, perhaps, are used for that matter.

We headed back to the bus station as a reference said the way to the trail would start there. As I stepped into the village, it brought me back to villages in our province. Houses were not that tall that only up to two to three floors and mostly were private properties owned by only one family. Compared to the densely populated cities of HK where a lot of families reside in one building.  We spotted the signage with Emperor Rock and followed the direction stated in our reference. At the end of the pathway was where the trail starts.

We followed the concrete pathway with yellow-colored handrails and pass through a long staircase. In the middle of our course, we spotted an enormous tilting rock with a resting seat by it where hikers could rest for a while. We were panting as we reached that spot and I felt like I really had no exercise for a long period because I easily got tired. Moreover, the masks on our faces just made it difficult to breathe well.

We were awed by the beauty we saw along our journey, the green trees and grasses, the intertwining twigs and vines hanging on the trees, and chirping birds making chorus somewhere inside the woods.

The trail continued until we reached the end of the staircase. There stood overlapping rocks that formed like a small cave underneath them. And at the other side was a stair going to the next part of the trail. Down the rock formations were a viewing and resting area where hikers could rest and take photos while enjoying the view of the village and the sea. The view from atop was such captivating that we couldn't stop clicking our phone's camera buttons.

And of course, the risk-taker side of me took over and dragged me to the edge of the cliff facing the greeny spaces. The ambiance, tranquility, fresh air, clouds, sea, and the sun slowly settling down, made me want to stay for long if only I could.

Indeed, at the end of an arduous climb is a beautiful scenery. We thought that the easy trail would continue up to the peak, but no, it didn't, because at the end of the staircase is the start of the real trek and trail up to the high mountains. And behind these rocky platforms, our real arduous climb began.... *"Life is like climbing a mountain. The hike is tedious and .exhausting, passing through tall grasses and rocky inclines. But once we reach the summit, the hardships will be paid off, and we could say that facing the challenges was worth it upon seeing the beauty above."****noise.cash/@Jane1289*** https://noise.cash/post/19znr4r8

See you at the next part of this journey to Lung Kwu Tan peak! Thanks for reading. While reading the name of this mountain, I suddenly think of this. Filipinos would understand this: "*Di mo mafefeel ang ka lung kwu tan at Lung Kwu Tan peak." booom!!*🤣🤣

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