My Early Morning Walk in Happy Valley Hong Kong

After we arrived in Hong Kong on our mission, it took us several weeks to feel comfortable with the surroundings and our busy schedule at work. We also visited five countries in the first six months, so that kept us going as well. We both walked to the office and back each day, plus often a few blocks at lunchtime, but we noticed that our weight was beginning to go up. Several of the Elders among the Senior Couples talked about walking at the Happy Valley Race Course every morning. It is about 10 minutes away from our apartment, but the opposite direction from our office.

Just before our trip to Laos in July, I finally decided to walk over to Happy Valley on an early morning and try it out. I was soon hooked. The area for the race course was set aside in the late 1800's (See history on a plaque on the Peak blog). It has been remodeled several times, and still is used for horse racing. The infield has been made into several beautiful soccer fields. There is an outside asphalt ambulance track that goes completely around the infield. It is wide and can be used for cars and ambulances. It makes a wonderful walking and jogging track. It is over a mile completely around the field. There is also an inside softer track (rust in color) that goes around the infield (about 3/4 of a mile in length). Scores of joggers, walkers, elderly yoga exercisers, etc. enjoy the beauty and the facilities each day. I am now on a routine of leaving my apartment at 6 a.m., walking ten minutes to the track, walking once around the outside track and once around the inside track and home; 50 minutes time. It is hot and humid 24 hours a day here in Hong Kong from June-September, so I am pretty wet when I get home, but I think it is working. I feel better and my pants fit a little better as well. JenaVee is afraid she will be too tired to spend a day at the office if she does this in the morning. I think it will be easier as the weather cools. She joined me Saturday when we could both come home and rest.

The following pictures attempt to capture the beauty of the area. The track is surrounded with tall apartment and office buildings. The track is like an oasis. The flowers are beautiful, the birds sing, and friendly walkers and joggers wave their hellos. It's a wonderful respite from the crowded streets and sidewalks of Hong Kong. I even go when it's raining, though the umbrella slows me down a little.

Buses and taxis are still out at 6 a.m, but it is still easy to cross the streets.

This "Golden Dragon" is a landmark on Queens Road on the way to Happy Valley. People refer to stores and streets by their location in relation to the dragon. It sits in the center of several intersecting streets. I go in front of it on the way to Happy Valley.

Early morning traffic, mostly taxis.

Signs lead the way after going through a tunnel under busy roads.

A display of horse statues in varying front-half colors greets the visitors. The track is beyond the horses.

The gates are open to welcome the many people who come to use the field.

A racing museum is part of the complex. We haven't seen it as yet. The racing season doesn't start until Fall. We may try to take in an evening of racing (no betting of course) before we leave just to enjoy the setting.

A sign describes the facilities and shows a map of the fields.

The inner track goes by an exercise area with bars and a soft surface. People of all ages and of both sexes stretch and limber up in this area.

One of the picturesque views that a walker around the outer track sees.

This man in the red shirt is there every morning. He walks the reverse route, so I see him twice each lap.

For a long time I wondered where the horses ran. I was told that it is on the lawn next to the asphalt track. They replace torn sod after each racing day. The white fence defines the outer border. I will have to see it to visualize it.

This is a soccer field and on the other side is a good view of the grandstands. Many stories high. I think there are offices and maybe stores inside. I haven't had a tour of the grandstands yet. There has been considerable repair work being done this summer on them.

This bush and lawn area is a good example of the well kept grounds surrounding the soccer fields and the walking tracks.

The sun comes up as I wak. When there are clouds, the effect is stunning. This picture shows the grandstands, the inner fields, and the distant building. I am looking North towards our apartment complex.

This is a south-eastern view.

Even football goalposts on the field.

Another north-west view from the south end of the field. Beautiful cloud cover.

This is a western view. Tall apartments and a hill. The Peak we visited last week is a couple of hills further east.

Notice the man stretching his leg on the top of the fence. The woman is doing a slow yoga-type exercise as she bends and moves her arms slowly. Sometimes twenty or more Chinese are following a leader as they exercise to music in unison. There is another favorite walking and exercising area east of us called Victoria Park. There are many more people there each day than at Happy Valley. I have seen up to 100 exercisers with 2 or 3 leaders all working in slow motion together. So different from the fast paced exercise programs on TV at home.

The box seats are ready and a new rainbow-type display was just erected last week.

A lot of windows on several floors. I'm not sure if they are just loges or stores or even apartments. I need that tour.

I have included several pictures of flowers and trees. Ahead are several plumeria trees. We had several in our yard when we spent a year in Hawaii. The blossoms make beautiful leis. We love the pink ones, but they all seem to be yellow here.

I have seen women in the morning with bags picking up the blossoms on the ground, probably to make leis.

A beautiful fan palm in the garden area.

A walker, two exercisers in slow motion, a garden and tall apartment houses. A great pictorial of how Happy Valley is used.

Sculpted bushes. Probably like the bushes trimmed to look like animals. (See Thailand blog and the Summer Palace.)

Stunning flowers on a clump of bushes.

The door to the apartment building looks good as I complete my walk. It is a secured building and requires a code to open the door

Our front hall with a bucket to capture a leaky air conditioner. There are two sets of elevators. One goes from 2-9. The other from 10-18. We are on the 13th floor.

Each floor has 13-15 apartments. Ours is 13H

Each apartment is secured with steel opening or sliding doors

Home and time for a shower, breakfast, and another walk to work.

Visit to Victoria Peak

Today, Saturday August 22, was our third day with no rain and very clear skies. It has been hot with the temperature about 93 degrees. With the humidity in the 70s, that translates to about 103F. We decided that this was the day to visit “The Peak”. We have been in Hong Kong for over 7 months and still have not visited this landmark which most tourists see in their first day or two. The Peak is one of the highest points on the Hong Kong Island and is located just south of the Central District of Hong Kong. It has long been looked upon as a wonderful place to see the entire Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories areas. In the late 1800s, the rich built houses on the Peak and were carried up the mountain in sedan chairs by their personal servants. In 1888, a tram was built with stops along the way to take residents to their homes. Today a tram still takes visitors on a 7 minute ride from the bottom of the Peak to the stores, shops and tower on top. It is not the only way to get there as roads now wind to the homes on the mountainside and go completely to the top, but it is the most picturesque way.

We decided to go early in the morning to avoid the Saturday tourist traffic. We took a taxi to the tram. The tram has two connected cars and each one holds about 60 people. We were almost alone when we ascended at 8:30 a.m. We were on a 27 degree angle most of the way, and went through deep green foliage with peaks of the tall buildings and the Victoria Harbor as we ascended. On top we saw the Peak Galleria with its scores of shops and the Peak Tower, a building with shops, restaurants , a wax museum, and escalators that took you to the top of the tower. Rather than a “tower” as we normally picture such a building, the top spread out in a flattened wok dish-like structure that enables visitors to walk around for a panoramic view of Hong Kong for about 270 degrees.

After taking pictures and admiring the view, we visited a wax museum called Madame Tussauds. It is named after a Hong Kong woman who developed the technique of making life-like figures in wax. Most of the figures were prominent Chinese artists and public people, but there were several prominent historical and sports figures as well. The figures were situated so visitors could stand by them and get into the pictures. We had fun with a few of these shots. The figures were very realistic.

A trail goes from the developed area around the Peak that gives a view through the foliage of the harbor and beyond. Hong Kong was dedicated for the Preaching of the Gospel in 1949 by Matthew S. Cowley. It was dedicated from the Peak, and along the path there is a rock with the date scratched into it. We were told to look for it as we decided to take the 2800 meter walk (1.5 miles). We didn't find the marker, but we enjoyed the walk anyway. The weather started getting hotter, so we walked slowly. There were many visitors on the trail. We passed a waterfall, many varieties of trees and bushes, a park area for picnics and exercise, and some private driveways and homes. It took is over an hour, and we were hot and sweaty when we finished, but we felt that we had really “seen” Hong Kong. We had a cool refreshing smoothie and a pasta lunch before going back down on the tram. The following pictures try to capture some of the sights we saw during this, our first visit.





A tram coming down meets us part-way up the mountain.

Beautiful foliage surrounded us on all sides. Quite a contrast to the urban high-rises below.



You can see the angle we were on in this picture.

Several sets of escalators took us to the top of the tower for our panoramic view of Hong Kong.

On the top of the Tower, there were several historical displays showing old Hong Kong. If you click on the images, they will enlarge and you can see the description in English.

Happy Valley is still a Race Track. It is also used by runners and walkers. I now go over at 6 a..m. every morning but Sunday and walk around the track twice. By the time I walk to the track, walk around twice and walk back, I will have gone 2 1/2 miles. It has been hot since I started doing this in July, so I am pretty wet by the time I get back to start the day just before 7 a.m. Now the track is surrounded by high rise apartments. I will put some pictures of Happy Valley today on a later blog.

A view of the patio area beneath the tower. The green tram car on the right is the Peak Visitor's Center. We rested a bit there before starting our walk around the Peak.

If you click to enlarge these skyline pictures, they will be more breath-taking. It was truly a wonderful view on a clear day that we "Could Almost See Forever."

The tall building on the left is in Kowloon and when finished, is supposed to be the tallest building in the world, at least for now. The building in the center in Homg Kong is now the tallest building in Hong Kong.

Victoria Harbor has many boats and container barges continually plying its waters. We are looking at Kowloon across the bay in this picture.

Two female attorneys from the US working in Hong Kong took this picture for us on the tower. Enlarged it is truly unbelievable. This picture proves we have been to the "Peak".

This map depicts the circular trail. We started on the yellow trail on the left and came out on the right.

About 15 minutes into our walk, we came to the waterfall. On rainy days, we imagine there is a lot of water running over this side of the mountain.

A reservoir is nestled below in the valley. It helped solve a water shortage problem in the dry season here in Hong Kong (November-March)

A rest area for weary walkers.

A bamboo grove along the walk. No rain, but the umbrellas are used to shield one from the sun.

One of the residences on the mountain through the trees.

We could even stay here if swe could afford the rent.

All types of trees. Several had very imaginative root structures.

I guess I needed to balance myself after the long walk. I added a back pack to my equipment for this trip, so I feel like a real hiker. The water in the pack came in very handy.

This is a beautiful picture, especially when enlarged.

The white top square building in the center of the picture is the Hong Kong Convention Center located just north of our administration building in Wan Chai. Our 12 story building is dwarfed by the other buildings.

Here I'm learning to write like Shakespeare. He doesn't look real happy.

I'm trying to learn what Einstein's formula really means.

Two old-time movie stars, Humphrey Bogart and Alftred Hitchcock.

I guess Yao Ming is actually this tall. We are both standing on the ground. I barely make his stomach.

A little to the right Tiger!!

In the hey day of the Beatles. It looks like a picture, but they are wax figures.

A nice remembrance of our day on the Peak and our 57th wedding anniversary next Thursday. It is in a nice frame for our wall at home. My name in Chinese means "keen". JenaVee's means "treasure, adorable, and wild fern". Hers fits better than mine. We will count this day part of our anniversary celebration. On Thursday, we will be in the Temple for our regular assignment. That is fitting too.