Hike with Monkeys

Jen here. We had a fun adventure a few weekends ago. Roy's boss invited us, along with another friend, to go hiking at Kowloon Reservoir with her family. Though we enjoy hiking, we haven't made many attempts to check out the hiking options in Hong Kong (and there are many places). Delighted in an invitation to hike, we accepted and eagerly prepared. We met them at 2:30pm on a Sunday, so we attended the morning service at church--we usually attend the 5pm service--and then made our way to Central.

Grace and family picked us up and we were off. We don't ride in cars very often since we don't have one and because public transportation goes practically everywhere. There's something fun and relaxing about riding in a car with people you know all heading to the same destination. It's cozy. It's familiar. :)


When we pulled into the parking lot at the beginning of the trail, we saw a monkey! Wah! (The HK version of "wow") This monkey was only the first of many we saw during our hike. This photo was actually taken at the end of our hike; this time many more monkeys came to be fed by the people.

Grace was nervous the monkeys would be aggressive, especially if we had food. A little way into our hike, Roy asked for one of the oranges we packed. I discreetly passed it to him and he began to peel it. At this point, only one monkey was in sight, and it began to make funny noises and bear its teeth. It ran towards Roy and a few seconds later we saw other monkeys running our direction. Uh oh. :) By this time the rest of our group noticed Roy with the orange, and moved away from him...and the monkeys kept coming. Big ones, little ones, even a few tiny baby monkeys attached to their mothers' belly. Roy had an audience and they wanted food. Roy stood his ground, stared them down and ate the orange in a handful of bites. Haha, the monkeys did not succeed. Out of pity Roy tossed the monkeys the peels of the orange, and we moved on. Comical. They weren't physically violent, just as aggressive as the guys selling watches in TST (a prominent tourist area in HK).

All in all, the hike was great. Seeing monkeys roaming around the forest was exciting and new. They were kind of like the squirrels in Athens, Ohio. They are just there...living life...and pretty well-adjusted to people. We got to chat and see a bit of God's creation (as well as a man-made reservoir) and spend time with co-workers.

Great day! And wait until you hear where we went after the hike...more to come.