i shall just post my thoughts on my hk trip regardless of the fact that they are going to be text alone without any images. too lazy to attend to the images part. :D

i tend to always have a very thankful/grateful/you name it i feel it feeling when i look back on each journey i have in my life thus far. hence, i truly believe in the saying that everything happens for a reason. very rarely does anything happen without having its prior interconnection.

so. this trip happened because i got to hear it from mr tan. the curial informer.
following that. finding qx, him providing the information. also, without him organising such trip-cum-course, it wouldn't have happened. plus, qx introduced me to angeline, keith and a few other climbing kakis that helped to ensure that i was climbing regularly.
not forgetting my parents. who didn't became an obstacle between the trip and myself. even though i obviously left out crucial details like i would have to take the flights alone. plus i've know qx for not too long period. (but its over. so. teehee)
then all those at my workplace. for letting me go. not complaining.

i had a truly great time. it was really fun meeting those new people along the trip. even though i didn't interact much with the climbers that went hk just for the climbing, course aside. :/ as for my own course mates, there was kelvin, kate, cherag, michael and raymond. kelvin is 7 years older, fellow singaporean works in the banking-finance sector. kate is 4 years older, american, but was in malaysia for a year or 2 before the hk trip. cherag is idk his age (though i suspect its around kelvin's), malaysian that's of indian race, pilot. michael is 16 years older(?), works here but is a filipino. lastly, raymond, idk age too, hongkonger. so good for him. he save quite some expenses. HAHA. they were a great bunch of people. easy going. funny. caring. will remember the colours you guys have added to making this trip so memorable.

meal times always needed translations. haha. then i made an error when we had our last breakfast together. it was a dimsum brekkie. i ordered the chicken claws when i should have ordered ha gao. then the dinner after my self-made adventure was memorable too. because we were just ALL TOOOO HUNGRY. it was a street side stall. we order a dish each plus dumplings. then ordered rice. so. the thing was. we only order the dishes first. when it finally came, we then realised that we forgot the rice. so we quickly ordered for that. and we were like chanting "rice. rice. rice. rice. rice" while waiting for it. when it came. we grabbed it, went for the dish in record speed. we finished the following dishes so quickly, the food sellers looked at us weirdly. HAHAHA. i had my first glass of beer that meal too. made in hk. blue girl. that meal was really good. the following night's dinner. which was our last dinner together as coursemates and instructor cause we were done with the course that day. we had dinner really late again. cause of climbing shopping. it was that day that i realised, my verbal hunger complains isn't exactly proportionate to my true hunger level. the food was good that day too. i really liked that dinner's atmosphere. i couldn't finish mine though. so haha qx kindly polished the remains.

oh yeah. i just realised, i haven't really talked about what this traditional climbing course meant. so i've learnt how to fit nuts and clamps into cracks. really useful because i'll be able to scale natural rocks that aren't bolted in the future! quickdraw(s) will go into the nut/clamp that is in the crack, then you can clip the rope into the quickdraw to bring up the rope! when you're at the top, you need to find 3 cracks to place 3 gears such that you have an anchor set up. then you can belay your friend up, bring up your rope. then continue higher if there is more to go. (: there are a number of other tools included.
it was rather scary cause i have very little natural rocks experience. and i need to place gears too. aka. lead the wall. i'm glad i made an improvement on my fears, on the whole by the end.

time together was short. but they were fun. its unlikely that such chance would ever come again that this same group of us would climb all together. climbing at this time of the year in hk was nice to experience because despite the lower temperature, once you are climbing, the cold just doesn't get to you. haha. amazing human body. HOWEVER. if you're the belayer, you'll wish for your climber to be done quickly. because whenever the wind blows you just find yourself feeling cold. sometimes too cold. haha. the view was great. most days foggy. the last day of the course was the only all clear day. when i was up there. all i could think of was, how far we were from all the hustle and bustle. so near yet so far. a view exclusive to us only. some in the world would never see those views in their lives. thus, i am very grateful that i have. and will look back at them whenever necessary. most days, there would be just random misty dew-like droplets. it only rained once when we were climbing. the other times were all too tiny to be considered rain. haha.

okay. now for my very unique experience. on the day before the last day of the course. I GOT LOST while trying to get back to civilisation. basically. i had nature's call. then i felt too lazy to get back to where the rest were again. so i decided to bring my bag with me. like i can just get out after my business. yet, i didn't remember my path correctly. so i forgot this crucial turn. and went along the path for irrigation. then the vegetation got thicker. but i didn't know what exactly to do. so i decided to JUST KEEP GOING. then kelvin actually joined me because he got off track from the rest. it was quite a crazy-stupid experience. but i have to admit. i didn't feel afraid. (which IS NOT GOOD) if kelvin didn't STOP and start calling out for qx and raymond, and if i was alone, i might have just gone on and on. the slight advantage i have is that i'm more compact. so i had little difficulty in going through 'holes'. whereas when we got out, kelvin was full of cuts and bruises. yup. i did take a fall and had a blue black at my hip cause of the slippery rock, its fine already though. the adventurer without her practical sense, that's me. i didn't actually do my business. since i got lost... i did feel super guilty when qx and raymond came. then qx helped me with my bag. plus kate, cherag and michael were all waiting for us. and we could have washed up and had dinner an hour earlier at least if not for my adventure.

i really like being able to explore new places on my own. though a heavy bag is quite a burden sometimes. i have no idea what to do about being able to walk FAST FAST FAST when my legs aren't tired. haha. so yeah. i think that's all i have to say. i've also had my first bottle of beer in hk. asahi. not too bad.

(more to come. old places. steamboats. just some thoughts[if i do get down to it])