Having been confined to home over the last few weekends I decided to go for an evening stroll. A simple one hour stroll it was meant to be. As I was walking up the hill (of Mt Davis) I saw a section of the backup reservoir, it seemed to cut through the hill. Instead of walking along a winding road I decided to take the shortcut. A few complicated railings and dead-end staircases made me jump a few railings with an intention of getting back on the road (on the other side of the winding road). My ever-present sense of direction kept me going in the right direction. That is until I felt something wrong behind me.
I turned back to see two dogs running towards me at great speeds. I didn't know if they had been barking with all the noise from my iPhone plugged tightly onto my ear. I stood still indicating all was at peace. These dogs seemed trained only to recognise a white cloth, and as luck would have it, I had not carried my white handkerchief that I always carry as part of my clothing. With the dogs advancing a great pace with ferocious looks and less than 20 feet from me I took to a quick sprint.
Not wearing my running shoes was a costly mistake, so was jeans They chased me for about 200 metres until I found a railing jumped across stumbled and rolled over imagining the dogs upon me any second. Nothing happened. I turned and looked, there were two tame beasts on the other side of the railing (which wasn't more than 3 feet in height) looking at me with great amusement. I thanked myself for at least having worn jeans, it saved me considerable bruises.
Now totally having lost track of direction I was looking for my terra firma. I was getting dark and no shadows to determine which way to heed. Damn. I roughly charted my path from the reservoir and using my uncanny ability to tell directions, decided the way to go. A little later I could see my direction was right, only halfway across the hill. There was no turning back, the tame dogs would be waiting. I chose to climb the hill and get down the other side considering I'd already climbed considerably at the end of the hot pursuit.
I was in luck, my sense of direction was bang on spot and I got on to the road. From here everything was simple, neat clean roads to walk upon. No mountain trail, no more blisters in the soles and toes and no more sweat! I decided to make it to the Pok Fu Lam reservoir and let my sweaty t-shirt dry up by then. It did wonderfully and I even jogged a bit to tell myself that running was in my blood. I turned a far cry to a man known as Forrest Gump. I reached the reservoir quite easily, but before I could enter I heard a dog bark.
I turned to see a well fed ferocious looking dog advancing towards me. I stopped, but it still came. Until its master decided it was time to act and gave it a call. It stopped a little ahead of me, not taking its eyes off me. I took a step towards the reservoir and it took 3 steps towards me and its master called out again. He decided to take it back along with him. I turned around to see the reservoir again and noticed it was closed.
It wasn't the first time a dog has warned me about the path. Back when I was climbing Mui Wo to Disco Bay and went on a wrong turn a dog menacingly came towards me and wouldn't let me pass or even keep a single step in the wrong direction. It had retreated the moment I was on the right path (which, of course, I realised much later). I should commend the HK dog's sense of boundaries!
With not much luck at the reservoir I decided to take a slightly longer walk back home. All was well and I kept on the roads. After a while Forrest Gump called and I was running again with blisters and all. It must've been about half an hour of run before I realised I shouldn't be going much uphill, I live by the bay! In all that running I had missed a Y intersection and was to Pok Fu Lam. When I got to the end of the road I was on top of a different hill - I was not on Mt Davis that I thought I was on, I was on the adjoining Lung Fu Shan with a clear view of entire Mt Davis. My house was naturally on the completely hidden side of it. Meaning I had to get away from this hill and then go round the other hill to get home.
I knew the way and it seemed simple. Just as I was about to start I noticed a short steep winding path leading right below. It looked like such a godsend shortcut - I took it immediately. I walked, jogged, hopped and limped over the next hour and still didn't seem to be making great progress towards my house. All I knew was I was below the hill (after a quick roll when I couldn't control my pace running downward) very close to the sulphur channel, but no idea how much further to go. I went on a little longer and I saw a road leading to Sandy Bay. This is it I thought, Sandy Bay was just next to Kennedy town and I went down the road (the other road inclined up and I showed little inclination towards it).
The path to Sandy bay was steep and went down quickly by the water, only to realise I'd reached a dead-end - there was no connecting path to my house. With a lot of grudge against HK town planning I climbed up back to the path I knew would take me home. I was another hour before I reached home limping, still sweating profusely at 10 PM in the night.
It was nice to be back to life, as I know it (I meant the evening, not getting back home!). My first dog chase, a hot pursuit, but I still managed to outrun the dogs despite having gone out of shape. In my next 10K run, show the dogs the finish line, they remember boundaries well!
I turned back to see two dogs running towards me at great speeds. I didn't know if they had been barking with all the noise from my iPhone plugged tightly onto my ear. I stood still indicating all was at peace. These dogs seemed trained only to recognise a white cloth, and as luck would have it, I had not carried my white handkerchief that I always carry as part of my clothing. With the dogs advancing a great pace with ferocious looks and less than 20 feet from me I took to a quick sprint.
Not wearing my running shoes was a costly mistake, so was jeans They chased me for about 200 metres until I found a railing jumped across stumbled and rolled over imagining the dogs upon me any second. Nothing happened. I turned and looked, there were two tame beasts on the other side of the railing (which wasn't more than 3 feet in height) looking at me with great amusement. I thanked myself for at least having worn jeans, it saved me considerable bruises.
Now totally having lost track of direction I was looking for my terra firma. I was getting dark and no shadows to determine which way to heed. Damn. I roughly charted my path from the reservoir and using my uncanny ability to tell directions, decided the way to go. A little later I could see my direction was right, only halfway across the hill. There was no turning back, the tame dogs would be waiting. I chose to climb the hill and get down the other side considering I'd already climbed considerably at the end of the hot pursuit.
I was in luck, my sense of direction was bang on spot and I got on to the road. From here everything was simple, neat clean roads to walk upon. No mountain trail, no more blisters in the soles and toes and no more sweat! I decided to make it to the Pok Fu Lam reservoir and let my sweaty t-shirt dry up by then. It did wonderfully and I even jogged a bit to tell myself that running was in my blood. I turned a far cry to a man known as Forrest Gump. I reached the reservoir quite easily, but before I could enter I heard a dog bark.
I turned to see a well fed ferocious looking dog advancing towards me. I stopped, but it still came. Until its master decided it was time to act and gave it a call. It stopped a little ahead of me, not taking its eyes off me. I took a step towards the reservoir and it took 3 steps towards me and its master called out again. He decided to take it back along with him. I turned around to see the reservoir again and noticed it was closed.
It wasn't the first time a dog has warned me about the path. Back when I was climbing Mui Wo to Disco Bay and went on a wrong turn a dog menacingly came towards me and wouldn't let me pass or even keep a single step in the wrong direction. It had retreated the moment I was on the right path (which, of course, I realised much later). I should commend the HK dog's sense of boundaries!
With not much luck at the reservoir I decided to take a slightly longer walk back home. All was well and I kept on the roads. After a while Forrest Gump called and I was running again with blisters and all. It must've been about half an hour of run before I realised I shouldn't be going much uphill, I live by the bay! In all that running I had missed a Y intersection and was to Pok Fu Lam. When I got to the end of the road I was on top of a different hill - I was not on Mt Davis that I thought I was on, I was on the adjoining Lung Fu Shan with a clear view of entire Mt Davis. My house was naturally on the completely hidden side of it. Meaning I had to get away from this hill and then go round the other hill to get home.
I knew the way and it seemed simple. Just as I was about to start I noticed a short steep winding path leading right below. It looked like such a godsend shortcut - I took it immediately. I walked, jogged, hopped and limped over the next hour and still didn't seem to be making great progress towards my house. All I knew was I was below the hill (after a quick roll when I couldn't control my pace running downward) very close to the sulphur channel, but no idea how much further to go. I went on a little longer and I saw a road leading to Sandy Bay. This is it I thought, Sandy Bay was just next to Kennedy town and I went down the road (the other road inclined up and I showed little inclination towards it).
The path to Sandy bay was steep and went down quickly by the water, only to realise I'd reached a dead-end - there was no connecting path to my house. With a lot of grudge against HK town planning I climbed up back to the path I knew would take me home. I was another hour before I reached home limping, still sweating profusely at 10 PM in the night.
It was nice to be back to life, as I know it (I meant the evening, not getting back home!). My first dog chase, a hot pursuit, but I still managed to outrun the dogs despite having gone out of shape. In my next 10K run, show the dogs the finish line, they remember boundaries well!
