香港站到站：利東…南島地鐵線最後第二站！第五部分：健行玉桂山（鴨脷排）！
上週，我（蕃薯媽媽）寫了一篇關於帶大蕃薯去玉桂山的文章。本周是媽媽時間！幾週前，我的朋友讀了我在海怡半島的帖子，很想從九龍過來！我們都是健行的夥伴，還有什麼比健行玉桂山更好的事呢？
關於運動夥伴的注意事項…昨天我突然想到…有那個媽媽能有足夠鍛鍊？還是有足夠時間見她的朋友？我們工作日的開始和結束都會影響到孩子們，我們的周末也是如此…
顯然，為了更健康的生活，我們都需要一個負責任的夥伴！問責夥伴一舉兩得……可以迫使你比平常多運動，而且你還能見到你的朋友！
如果您想更進一步並真正開始健康的生活方式，我推薦我的朋友 Hope小姐，他經營一個健康習慣輔導計畫。
今次要介紹的路線是相當有名的，因為蕃薯爸爸和 蕃薯姨姨（Iz）都去過，所以這裡一早已經在我的願望清單上了。我主要聽說這條路線很陡並且需要手套。但我沒有想太多，因為 Iz 的運動量比我少，而且我查到的第一個網站將其難度評為 2。
如何到達
我們在利東站會合，下午1 點在Mad 3（在上一篇文章中介紹過）吃了午餐（我把時間放在這裡，這樣你就可以看到每一點需要多長時間！.. 後來我發現需要用的時間跟來自網站上寫的內容差異很大，因為這些網站是由那些在閒暇時間定期進行劇烈徒步旅行的健康人士撰寫的，而不是像我們這樣沒有閒暇時間的氣喘吁籲的媽媽！）Mad 3喜歡改變他們的菜單，所以我嘗試了他們的味噌鱈魚意大利麵…印象深刻！有點精緻，魚與義大利麵的比重很大！
他們一開始還給了我一份更便宜的香腸義大利麵，直到我指出這不是我點的。不過看起來也確實不錯！
然後我們回到港鐵，從B出口到利東村。我們找到了這條小路的非正式起點。半路上有3條非官方步道上山。幸運的是，我們遇到了一位經驗豐富的徒步旅行者，他告訴我們左邊的第一個是最容易的，因為它蜿蜒繞著山，中間的第二個更陡，但有一根繩子，第三個是最難的。我們當然選了第一條路，儘管這也絕非易事！很大一部份的上坡路段都要抓住樹枝。不過，還沒到達山頂，我們就看到海了！雖然很辛苦，但是時間相對較短。下午2.23我們看到了大海。
過了一會兒，我們在下午2點45分到達了山頂。看看那360度的景色！
我們又往下走了一點，仔細觀察了下坡、沙洲和鴨脷排。
看著下降的過程，想想我們需要如何爬上去，然後再從玉桂山的另一邊下降，我開始覺得自己已經達到極限了。這位經驗豐富的徒步旅行者已經到達了，他坐在一塊岩石上，大概正在吃他遲來的麥當勞午餐（我們後來發現，這是他的習慣）。他非常友好，我們花了半個小時聽他講述他 60 歲時的退休生活，以及在香港各地徒步旅行和海岸探險的經歷。他向我們展示了值得分享到 Instagram 的照片，例如鴨脷排盡頭的燈塔，以及山腳下名為“女人的手”和“男人的手”的岩石。他還告訴我們，在COVID-19期間，有很多船在徒步結束時等待接人，船之間互相爭鬥。情況似乎是這樣的：因為我的徒步夥伴當時在徒步旅行結束時發現了一艘船，而我姐姐也在徒步旅行結束時在香港仔遇見了我（大概是因為船帶她去了那裡！）現在每個60 港元，但需要提前組織（號碼在連結上）。
經過我們的交談，這位經驗豐富的徒步旅行者決定回家。過了一會兒，我們跟著他，決定走第二條路。很偶然的是，這導致他給予了我們技術指導，說了一些鼓勵的話，並留下了一條讓我們跟隨的線索。我確實喜歡由老年運動員指導或以孩子的步調進行，因為它們都是為了輕鬆地推動自己。我喜歡老滑雪教練（年輕的滑雪教練太快而且不耐煩，我最終在試圖跟上而不是努力練習技術時摔倒了）。到目前為止，唯一的例外是一位與我同齡的奧地利女孩，她在蒂羅爾 (Tirol) 執教我 及妹妹，巧合的是，我的父母現在正好在那裡，因為那裡每年舉行一次會議（多好的主意！我也希望能找到一個在滑雪場裡舉辦的公共衛生會議！）我也堅信，我在迪士尼樂園及時完成 10K馬拉松的唯一原因是因為我碰巧和一個女孩（可能10 歲？）和她的教練爸爸一起慢跑。每一步！
我從蕃薯爸爸和妹妹的經歷中記得的唯一建議是帶上手套。因此爸爸把他的借給了我。它們非常好，但不是必需的（儘管我嘗試借給朋友，但我的朋友拒絕了）。最後附上我的手套照片：
就像在生活中一樣，當有些事情似乎無法克服時，這是一個很好的提醒，讓我們一步一步地踏出第一步。這確實是我經歷過的最具挑戰性的徒步旅行（除了高中時的 HKAYP，但那是一個不同的挑戰！） 當我爬下時，我看到了一個籃球場：
我想這就是我上一篇寫的鴨脷洲水庫遊樂場吧！
當我們下降時，我開始夢見 Mad 3 的冰巧克力。不幸的是，他們已經擠滿了人！我們前往AP Coffee（也曾在上一篇文章中介紹過）。朋友看了看菜單，問有什麼好喝的。我突然想起大蕃薯很喜歡酪梨奶昔。我嘗試了無花果奶昔，也很好吃（而且不太甜），還點了柚子蛋糕，裡面有柚子碎！咖啡館老闆說他已經好幾年沒見到我了，差點沒認出我來！我開玩笑說這是不是因為從那時起我看起來更憔悴了……確實，我們上次去是小蕃薯幾個月大的時候……Mad 3開張後我就開始叛逃，我們現在只會帶孩子們一起去Waffling beans了 …
Hong Kong Stop by Stop: Lei Tung… 2nd last stop on the South Island MTR line! Part 5: Hiking Yuk Kwai Shan (Ap Lei Pai)!
Last week, I (mama) wrote about taking R to Yuk Kwai Shan. This week, it’s mama-me time! A few weeks ago, my friend read my South Horizons post and was tempted to travel over from Kowloon! We’re hiking buddies, so what better thing to do than to hike Yuk Kwai Shan?
A note about exercise buddies… It occurred to me yesterday.. What mum exercises enough? Or sees her friends enough? The start and end of our workday bleeds into kids and so does our weekends…
Apparently, what we all need for a healthier life is an accountability buddy ! Accountability buddies kill 2 birds with 1 stone… It forces you to exercise more than you normally would and you get to see your friends!
If you’d like to take it a step further & really kickstart a healthy lifestyle, I recommend my friend Hope, who runs a healthy habits coaching program.
And now for the hike, this is quite famous, as Baba and Mama’s sister (Iz) have both been, so it’s been on my bucket list. Mostly I heard that it’s steep and gloves are needed. I didn’t think too much about it, since Iz exercises less than me and the 1st website I looked up rated it 2 in difficulty.
Getting there
We met at Lei Tung and had lunch at Mad 3 (featured in previous post) at 1pm (I’m putting the times here, so that you can see how long each bit takes!.. I later found out that it varies A LOT from what was written in websites, as they are written by fit people who have time to do strenuous hikes regularly in their leisure time, not out-of-breath mums like us with no leisure time!) Mad 3 likes to change their menu, so I tried their miso cod pasta… Quite impressed! A bit fine-dining-ish & big fish to spaghetti ratio!
They also gave me a cheaper sausage pasta at 1st, until I pointed out it wasn’t what I ordered. It looked really good too though!
Then we went back to the MTR & took exit B to Lei Tung estate. We found the unofficial start of the trail. Halfway up, there were 3 unofficial trails going up the hill. Luckily, we bumped into an experienced hiker who told us the 1st one on the left is easiest, as it snakes round the hill, the 2nd one in the middle is steeper but has a rope & the 3rd one is the hardest. We took the 1st one, although that was by no means easy either! Lots of scrambling uphill & clutching tree branches. Nevertheless, even before we reached the peak, we could see the sea! Although it was strenuous, it was relatively short. We saw the sea at 2.23pm.
A little while later, we reached the summit at 2.45pm. Look at that 360 degrees view!
We walked down a bit further & got a good look at the descent, sandbar & Ap Lei Pai.
Looking at the descent & thinking about how we would need to scramble back up then descend on the other side of Yuk Kwai Shan afterwards, I started to feel I’d reached my limit. The experienced hiker had already arrived, sitting on a rock, presumably eating his late McDonald’s lunch (which was a habit of his, as we later found out). He was very friendly & we spent a good half hour listening to him tell us about his retirement life at 60, hiking and coasteering around Hong Kong. He showed us Instagrammable pics, like the lighthouse at the very end of Ap Lei Pai & rocks with names like “woman’s hand” and “man’s hand” at the bottom of the hill. He also told us that back in COVID-19, there were so many boats waiting to pick people up at the end of the hike, the boats were fighting each other. This seems to be the case, as my hiking buddy found a boat at the end of her hike back then & my sister also hit me up in Aberdeen at the end of her hike (presumably because the boat took her there!) The boat is ~$60 each now & you need to organize it in advance (the number is on the link).
After our chat, the experienced hiker decided to head home. Moments later, we followed him, deciding to take the 2nd path. Quite incidentally, this resulted in his coaching us down, saying encouraging things and leaving a trail for us to follow. I do enjoy being coached by elderly athletes or going at kids pace, as they’re all about comfortably pushing yourself. I like old ski coaches (the young ones are too fast and impatient and I end up falling over trying to keep up instead of working on my technique). The only exception so far was an Austrian girl my age who coached Iz & I in Tirol, where coincidentally my parents happen to be right now because there is a yearly conference there (what a great idea! I wish I could find a conference in public health that takes place in a ski resort!) I am also convinced that the only way I finished a 10K marathon at Disneyland in time, was because I happened to jog alongside a girl (probably 10 years old?) and her dad who coached her every step of the way!
The only advice I remembered from Baba and Iz’s experience is to bring gloves. Hence Baba lent me his. They’re quite nice, though not essential (my friend didn’t have any and managed without despite me offering one of mine). A pic of my glove at the end:
As in life, it’s a nice reminder to take it one step at a time when something seems insurmountable. This really is the most challenging hike I’ve ever been on (except for HKAYP back in high school, but that is a different kid of challenge!) As I was scrambling down, I saw a basketball court:
I think this is the Ap Lei Chau Reservoir playground that I wrote about taking R in the last post!
As we descended, I started dreaming about Mad 3’s iced chocolate. Unfortunately, they were packed! We headed to AP coffee (also featured in a previous post). Looking at the drinks list, my friend asked what was good. I suddenly remembered that R really liked the avocado milkshake. I tried the fig milkshake, which was nice too (& not too sweet) & ordered yuzu cake, which had yuzu bits in it! The café owner said he hadn’t seen me for years and almost didn’t recognize me! I joked whether this was because I looked more haggard since then… It is true that the last time we went was when X was still a few months old… I started defecting to Mad 3 after it opened and we go to Waffling beans with the kids….
