Weekend in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of my absolute favorite destinations to travel to and when SAS opened their direct route to HKG about one year ago the gem of Asia became even closer to home and possible to visit on a longweekendtrip. Two days ago I flew SK963 towards HKG and yesterday morning I immigrated the island nation after a smooth ride in comfy SAS plus seats. This is maybe eight (?) time I come to HKG so I have discovered some favorites although I try to experience new things every time. This trip’s main activity is though to run Hong Kong marathon on Sunday. My 18th marathon. But when in Hong Kong just waiting for the marathonday is such a waste of time so although my legs might not be in the best running shape it is worth wasting some energy of exploring.

 Hong Kong island

My favorite place to stay at in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong island and therefore we booked a hotel right in the center at walking distance to the ferries and central locations as IFC mall. I was looking forward to go swimming in the large hotel pool but guess what, this week it is closed for maintenance. Such a bad luck. Yesterday we arrived in the morning and immediately when we came we checked in at our hotel and slept a few hours before we went out spending the day strolling around and did some shopping. We also took the Star ferry over to Kowloon island to pick up the marathon bib.

Hiking day

My parents are with me on this trip and they also been to HKG a handful of times so no need to do the usual tourist attractions like the Peak, Tsim sha tsui, the big Buddha, watching the light show or things like that. Instead we took the bus to one of my favorite HKG hikes – Dragon’s back and headed for a hike today.

If it was the best marathon preparation I cannot say right now but the day has been fab. Sunny and around 20 degrees. Perfect hiking weather! There are loads of trails in Hong Kong and I wrote a post about my favorites before (check it out HERE). Dragon’s back is the one to pick if you pick one I would say. It is about 9 kilometers long and the views are stunning.

When you are done hiking you end up at the Big Wave Beach which is an awesome surfers place where you also can have lunch at a beach bar before heading back to the huzzle and bustle by foot or by bus and MRT. We picked the later option today.

Now I will save my energy for tomorrow’s run. My first marathon in Asia. Kind of like this hobby to travel around the world and run marathons.

/ Pernilla the worldwide runner