OC TOB E R十月

A HONG KONG KIND OF香港的

THE TYPHOONS HAVE

blown themselves out. Winter’s chill has yet to set in. Cue balminess. It’s when Hongkongers head for the hills/high seas/hinterland.

Roughly 40 per cent of the territory’s 1,100 square kilometres is given over to country parks. Pick any street corner in the city, and you are rarely more than 30 minutes by road or rail from rolling hills and woodland crisscrossed by hiking trails. The MacLehose Trail (1) runs 100 kilometres east-west from Sai Kung to Tuen Mun, while the Lantau Trail makes a 70-kilometre girdle round Hong Kong’s largest island, taking in broad, sandy beaches which are often deserted for most of the week. No need to schlep the whole way, as the signposted trails are divided into workable, walkable sections. On Hong Kong Island, try the route between Quarry Bay and Tai Tam past Mount Parker (2) for an exhilarating four-hour trek with city and country views.

To get out to the SAR’s furthest corners, jump aboard a ferry. The top deck of a slow triple-decker to Cheung Chau doubles as a bargain harbour cruise. Smaller vessels shuttle between Cheung Chau and Peng Chau, calling at Mui Wo and Chi Ma Wan along the way – perfect for a mini tour of the western islands. Po Toi (3), in the south, and Grass Island, up north, are well off the beaten track, while in the east of the New Territories the bizarre rock formations in the Unesco Global Geopark (4) are Hong Kong’s take on Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway.

High rollers may prefer to board a 30-minute flight to the Geopark aboard

Heliservices’ twin-engine, six-seater chopper (5). (It also flies shorter trips around Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.)

October is also ideal for

junk trips (6). Chartered boats cast off from Central or Sai Kung Pier, taking revellers out on the South China Sea for day or evening trips, complete with floats, food and lots of optional extras ( jet skiing or banana boating anyone?).

Also outdoors but very much in the city, the Marco Polo German Bierfest (7) runs for 23 nights from 19 October, combining lederhosen, a sing-along, chicken-dance oompah band, pork knuckle, Jägermeister and beer after beer after beer…

颱風季節終於過去，寒冷的冬天尚未來臨，正是秋高氣爽的好時節，也是香港人上山下海，享受戶外活動的時候。

香港的陸地面積約1,100平方公里，其中有四成是郊野公園。從市區任何一個街角出發，無論是乘車還是鐵路，只需大約30分鐘左右，就會抵達設有遠足徑的山巒或樹林。全長100公里的麥理浩徑（1）東起西貢，西至屯門，貫穿九龍半島；至於環繞香港最大島嶼大嶼山 的鳳凰徑全長70公里，沿途經過多個大部分時間都人跡罕至的沙灘。這些遠足徑雖然長，但不必一次過走完；遠足徑上都設有完善的標記，將山徑分成多個段落，可以選擇其中一至兩段來行。在香港島，你可以選擇從鰂魚涌至大潭之間的山道遠足，途中經過柏架山（2）；行畢全程約需四小時，可以俯瞰城市及郊野風光，是一條賞心悅目的遠足徑。

如想探索香港的天涯海角，不妨登上渡輪遊船河。乘坐三層慢船的最上層前往長洲，是一趟價廉物美的海港遊。此外，還有較小型的渡輪往來長洲及坪洲，沿途停靠梅窩及芝麻灣兩地，是暢遊港島西面島嶼的理想行程。在港島南面的蒲台島（3）和北面的塔門，都是遊人較少的好去處，而新界東面則有聯合國教科文組織地質公園（4），可以在那裡欣賞到多種形狀奇特的岩石，其中有些跟北愛爾蘭的Giant’s Causeway海岸十分相似。

喜歡揮金如土的人可以乘搭由Heliservices提供的雙引擎、六座位直升機（5），從高空俯瞰地質公園的風景。這家直升機接載服務公司也提供各種短程服務，可以在空中暢遊香港島、九龍和新界。

10月也很適合遊船河（6）。可以租艘遊艇從中環或西貢碼頭出發，於周末作一日遊或黃昏遊。遊艇上配備了浮床和美食，還可以附加其他額外的設施如水上電單車或香蕉船等。

城裡的精采戶外活動還有馬可孛羅德國啤酒節（7），由10月19日開始，一連23晚可以見到人們穿著傳統皮褲，聚在一起唱歌跳舞玩音樂，大啖豬手，暢飲Jägermeister香料酒和一杯接一杯的啤酒……