In Hong Kong
to be scanned. There were nine checkpoints throughout the entire 100km trail and at each one, there were volunteers who served us hot drinks and food like bread.
As the night wore on, many trekkers grew tired. The chit-chat died down and everyone trudged on like zombies. By the time we reached Checkpoint 3 at 11pm, I was feeling sleepy too, but decided to push on with the team to Checkpoint 4. It was a long, torturous walk and often I couldn’t even open my eyes. It was like sleepwalking!
I couldn’t help but to take three short naps along the way. Finally I arrived at Checkpoint 4 at 4am. Here we decided to take a short nap. Sleep deprivation was a major obstacle for me during the long hours on the trail. The cold weather at night was another challenge as we are used to the hot humid weather in Malaysia. The occasional strong winds blowing against our sweaty bodies made us feel even colder.
After a short 30-minute nap and two cups of hot coffee, I felt more alert and energised. We resumed the challenge and soon, it was daylight again when we reached Checkpoint 5 at 8am. Yippee! We had covered half the distance, only another 50km to go! We were determined to cover it within 12 hours. Everyone was in high spirits despite walking throughout the night.
Trekking from Checkpoint 5 to 7 during the day was relatively easy though there were many high hills to conquer along the route. We were walking in the mountains of Hong Kong and, along the way, we could see many high-rise buildings in the distance. We also met a few locals who were doing their morning walks. It took us seven hours of walking under the hot sun to reach Checkpoint 7.
Getting to Checkpoint 8 was