Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

It’s 5am and I’m standing atop the mountain in the centre of Hong Kong, one of
the densest cities in the world. I’ve been here dozens of times during daylight
hours, when the Peak’s lookouts and trails are crowded with visitors carrying selfie
sticks and Louis Vuitton shopping bags. It’s considered a Hong Kong must-do, and
for good reason: the view down over the northern coast of Hong Kong Island and
the Kowloon Peninsula beyond is iconic. From up here, the forest of skyscrapers
looks like a Lego city. There’s the 108-storey International Commerce Centre, the
tallest building in Hong Kong, looking an inch tall. There’s the green-and-white
Star Ferry, chugging across Victoria Harbour like a child’s toy.
But in the predawn hours, the Peak is a different place. There is, for Pete’s sake,
a porcupine, casually chewing twigs not 100 yards from the Häagen-Dazs and
Mak’s Noodle that, in a few hours, will be lined with throngs of hungry visitors. I’ve
lived in Hong Kong for five years and had no idea we even had porcupines.
© Ekaphon maneechot | Shutterstock
admiring Hong Kong’s unparalleled urban vista
I’m up here before first light with my husband and two friends to begin an
assault on the Hong Kong Trail. The 31-mile (50km) hike is broken into eight stages,
and Victoria Peak is the start of Stage 1. While I’ve done many portions of the trail
individually, today we’re hoping to do the entire hike in one go, hence the early