Hiking: Mui Wo to Discovery Bay

Mui Wo is one of three popular expat communities on Lantau Island (Discovery Bay and Tung Chung are the other two). One hiking trail recommendation is Mui Wo to Discovery Bay. This hike can be done point to point or the more adventurous might like to try it out and back.

My friends and I made plans to have lunch in Mui Wo and then hike back to DB. We took the ferry from Kai To Pier to Mui Wo hoping to have lunch at a Mexican spot but unfortunately it had closed. Instead we ordered from China Bear, a popular seaside pub with a good assortment on the menu.

After lunch we walked past the dining arcade toward Silver Mine Bay Beach heading for the trailhead on the other side. Mui Wo was once referred to as Silver Mine Bay. There used to be six or so villages in this area and many of the villagers worked in the silver mine.

 The hike starts with a serious ascent out of Mui Wo. There are a lot of stairs. While discussing the number, a man coming down exclaimed that there were "1000!"

That kind of climbing gets to good viewing points quickly. It didn't take long to see all of Silver Mine Bay Beach and Mui Wo.

The tough climbing mostly comes to an end when we arrive at the Pavillion. Besides a nice place to sit and rest, there are panoramic views all the way to Central and Kowloon on a clear day.

With the overcast skies we were only able to see Peng Chau island.

On the descent to Discovery Bay we follow the path by the Trapist Haven Monastery, a Catholic monastery built in 1950. There is a pavilion dedicated to St. Mary in the garden next to the monastery.

No one seems to know how this jeep ended up in Nim Shu Wan village. I should point out that this part of the island is free of personal cars. After a little digging, I found out that in the 1950's a forestry project was started by the Lantao Development Council and employed men from the village. One part of the project was building a jeep track to the upper levels of the forestry lot. Hmmm.

The downhill path continues right through Nim Shu Wan village, a former fishing village that now seems to cultivate farm vegetable crops.

And right around the corner, we were back to the Kai To Pier where we began.

Overall, this hike was fairly easy - if you take the stairs at an easy pace and it's not the hottest days of summer. It was a little more than 3 miles and it took our group about 90 minutes. I have heard that it is easier hiking DB to Mui Wo, but I felt pretty good walking off my lunch. Plus, we all just continued our walks home since we live in DB.

Other hikes I've written about:

Exploring Chiwan, Shenzhen
Shenzhen International Garden & Flower Expo Park
Dragon's Back and Big Wave Bay

Shenzhen Botanical Gardens

Kuta, Bali: Mt. Batur Sunrise Trek

Hiking: Tai O to Tung Chung

Hiking Discovery Bay: Lookout Point Loop

Hiking: 3 Best Parts of the MacLehose Trail Section 2

Bodypump, Active Recovery, and Planking

On Tuesday I joined some of my new friends and went to my first Les Mills Bodypump class at The HIT Room. Bodypump is an interval barbell workout and it is definitely high intensity! I think Wesley (the instructor) said we did 800+ reps of squats, lunges, rows, and lifts. CrA-ZY!

After class I was given a try-to-forget-we-tortured-you welcome gift which I thought was a nice touch.

From class I stopped into IMI, Integrated Medicine Institute, to see an Osteopath. Osteopathy can "correct a wide variety of muscular and skeletal complaints and offer excellent nerve-balancing support" and I am hoping it can cure my heel stinger. My first visit was pretty standard with lots of questions and a thorough body assessment followed by my first treatment. Diagnosis: a pinched nerve. The nerve could be pinched in my ankle, behind my knee, under my gluteus or in my sciatica. My first treatment was a combination of adjustments, stretching, and trigger point release. 

After yesterday's strength session, my osteopath treatment plus a big hike I have coming up tomorrow, I decided to take it easy today with some active recovery. It was a perfect day for LISS, so I laced up my walking shoes and set out to explore the marina side of DB. Some residents live on the boats (the big ones).

It was a beautiful walk and fun to see a different view from the island. 3.5 miles later I was at the beach enjoying a little break and soaking up the beautiful day.

My favorite Athleta pants

When I got back to the apartment, I did my plank workout. I am still loving the intervals app that I found. 1) It is so easy to personalize my workouts and 2) I can use my phone or my watch to start a workout.

It was good to get my legs moving on the walk, but I started feeling some DOMS sneaking up on me from Bodypump. My stretch session was a little bit relief and a little bit painful. (side note - my goal is to get my bum down on the floor)

Just for fun I thought I'd share my new blogging spot ---> the view, the natural light, a smoothie, Netflix...I don't know how I'm able to finish this post! 

Have you tried Les Mills classes? 

Ever been to an Osteopath?

If you blog, what does your work space look like?

Our Hong Kong Apartment + A Workout

I'm getting used to living in Hong Kong day by day.

We are settling into our nice, little Seaview apartment and the cleaning, decorating, endless grasping to get things just right is winding down, finally. I'm pretty sure that I spent the first two weeks walking around with my hands full of things that needed a home and mumbling, this place is so small! 

The apartment was originally unfurnished (more common in HK than Shenzhen), but the owner agreed to furnish it for us. Little by little we have blended our few belongings with her choices and then picked out other items to complement and help us get organized.

The main living space is my favorite because it's filled with all my favorite comfort colors (love my blue pillows). It may be small, but the amazing view of Discovery Bay makes it feel much bigger.

It's been challenging at times to figure out how to make small spaces work for us, but it makes me happy to see that we can. I just have to teach mrC to watch where he walks so he doesn't break any toes! This is by far my favorite duvet cover.

We have an awesome window BED in the second bedroom which saves the floor space to be used as the office. It'll be fun when our first guest arrives and sees the sleeping arrangement with a view from the 20th floor.

The kitchen is actually pretty spacious. We even have a dishwasher! There's tons of storage, just not a lot of counter space. It's been interesting when mrC and I try cooking together.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm happy with how it looks.

Today's workout:

I think I was the third person to arrive at the fitness center after it opened this morning. I went early because it looked like it was going to be a rainy day and I wanted to walk there and back without getting rained on. Success!

Sprints: 15 sets, 20 seconds work, 20 seconds recover
Planks: 2 sets, 30 seconds each forearm and both sides.
Bridges: 2 sets singles leg lifts both sides

Three things that made this workout better:

1) This interval app. I love the versatility that it offers. I created an interval program for my sprints and another for my plank workout. All I have to do is push start and then the app talks me through the workout.

2) These wireless earbuds. They are so easy to link to my phone and then I can hear my music and the interval app commands to work or rest and I'm not bothering anyone else in the gym.

3) This view. Seriously, that is the view from the elliptical when I look to the right (the new ellipticals have a TV attached). I'll show you the view to the left another day ;)

Have you ever rented a furnished apartment/house?

Would you sleep on a window bed?

What's your workout today?

Hiking Discovery Bay: Lookout Point

One thing we've heard about Discovery Bay is that there are a lot of hiking trails. They even publish free guides.

Since we enjoyed our hikes up Nanshan Mountain in Shenzhen so much, we were anxious to find a comparable hiking trail here. Using the information in the guides and our keen observation skills, we easily scoped out a trail entrance off Discovery Bay Road which is the main road in town (it helped that there was a big green sign). The trailhead is across the street from the playground on the corner of Seabee Lane.

I have to admit that we were a little spoiled in Shenzhen with paved steps leading to the top of Nanshan. The trail to Lookout Point is a steep climb over various types of terrain. 700 meters (roughly 4/10 of a mile) going up, up, up feels a lot farther than on flat land.

The views along the top are amazing though. You can see all of Discovery Bay, HK Disneyland, Peng Chau Island, and even all the way to Central on a clear day. And just like all the other hard things we've done (run a half marathon under-trained and injured, climb a volcano in the dark), the reward makes it all worth it and you forget the struggle.

The top (the very top) is a great place to take a little water break and even rest your legs on a nicely placed granite bench while enjoying the view of Discovery Bay and beyond.

From the (very) top, we hiked down a little ways to Lookout Point where we found a roomy pavilion and viewing compass.

The hike back down is mostly stairs that lead right into Parkvale Village. Then you just have to follow the road or take the pedestrian stairs the rest of the way down to Discovery Bay Road. There is also the option to hop on a bus if you time it right.

This hike is short and sweet. It's challenging going up, but relatively easy coming down and takes just over an hour to complete.

Since we were so close to the plaza, we grabbed a coffee before heading home for some breakfast.

Other hiking posts I've written:

Exploring Chiwan, Shenzhen

Shenzhen International Garden & Flower Expo Park

Dragon's Back and Big Wave Bay

We Moved to Hong Kong (and I squeezed in some fitness too)!!

After a blissful extended stay in the US while mrC transitioned to a new job and a new airplane, we hit the ground running upon our return to China and we haven't really stopped! With the clock ticking on our Chinese resident visas, we had to find a new place to live in Hong Kong and MOVE!

We spent our final days in Shenzhen squeezing in as much time as we could with our favorite people and places.

I met up with the SWIC hiking group for one more Monday hike up Nanshan. This is probably the thing that I will miss the most. Every week, no matter how I was feeling, I could count on hanging out with this group and having a blast. The last time was no exception!

Then mrC and I climbed the mountain one last time together. Even though he never shied away from joining the SWIC ladies, we always enjoyed doing the climb on our own too. Moving is never easy, and exercise is a great way to let go of frustrations.

It took us just one day to find a new apartment in the Discovery Bay neighborhood of Hong Kong (we visited here back in June). The apartment that we chose was being renovated on the inside and the whole building had just undergone a makeover on the outside. It was unfurnished, but the owner offered to buy furniture if we paid a little more rent. This will make things a lot easier when it's time for us to return to the US.

We had to hire a company to help us move our belongings across the border and through customs.

We have spent the last two weeks moving in and getting settled in Hong Kong. There has been a lot of waiting for furniture deliveries (IKEA is the #1 place to shop here), workman arriving to put together furniture, and shopping for odds and ends --> we were thrilled to find out that there was a market at the plaza featuring locally made items.

We've also spent A LOT of time in Central setting up bank account, getting a new China tourist visa, seeing our new chiropractor, and becoming official Hong Kong residents.

We have also made time to walk around and get to know our new neighborhood which is located on the east side of Lantau Island. Discovery Bay stretches about 1.5ish miles from the DB North Plaza to D'Deck Plaza and is only accessible via a tunnel on the north end coming from Tung Chung/airport or a ferry from Central. There are about 14 developments (called villages) housing 10,000+ residents. We live in Parkridge Village almost dead center between the two plazas (marked in red below).

Some views from our walks around town:

Siena Park (aka Central Park)

D'Deck view of Tai Pak Beach

Super Moon gazing from Tai Pak Beach

Friendly off duty carriage ride horses

There's too much to share in one post, but I will share a preview of what I hope to talk about next time!

What's new and exciting in your world?
Ever been to Hong Kong?