Walk mountain before work and in the heavy rain

I did it! I finally managed to go up for a walk along the Hong Kong Morning Trail before heading off to work!!

I woke up and saw that it was raining a bit and thought "well, it's just light rain, it'll keep me cool" but once I was ready, it was pouring cats and dogs! Both my dad and grandmother didn't really like the idea of me going in this weather especially since it was a lot of slopes (which meant i would be going downhill the way back) and to be honest, I almost gave up... eventually I remembered what one of my old, old teachers back in Diocesan Boys' School (my secondary school) said "if I don't do it today, I'll say the same excuse tomorrow and it'll never happen". True words that have stuck with me till today which was what helped me through with going up for that morning hike!

At first, when I got down my apartment, the rain was quite scary because it was quite windy as well and I was worried my umbrella would give way and break apart and then I'd be in big trouble.

I put on my headphones and just kept my eyes to the ground and kept charging as if my umbrella was a shield fighting off the enemy that was the wind and rain. It took quite a lot of effort and my only fuel was my willpower to do it along with a bag of seedless grapes (yum!).

As I walked closer to the trail, there were less and less people and eventually when I reached the trail I thought perhaps the areas where there were warning signs saying Beware of Flash Floods may be something I should look out for. A few minutes into my morning trail and I noticed someone walking down then realized that probably means the trail is alright so I kept charging upwards.

Oddly, the uphill felt longer than before, every time I imagined I was almost there, I'd come across yet more roads before I'd reach there. So where's there? There are a flight of stairs that you can take and then enjoy the great breath-taking view of Hong Kong. I didn't manage to take a photo of it because it was quite windy and I was trying to reach Pinewood Battery as soon as possible (my aim was within 30 minutes).

I finally reached Pinewood Battery and it was empty! Woah, I loved it, it was the peaceful emptiness I really needed today! I sat around and started talking to myself and then began to build the courage to just shout out all my frustration! I was yelling happily and freely! "What do you want from me!?" I cried asking the world why I was feeling so miserable (special lady friend problems really) and then I just continued walking around and talking to myself. After a few moments, I figured this was a worthy sight to remember so I took out my camera and filmed the area down with a little soul-full voice over just for myself :) and then snapped a few static photographs just to remember what it looked like.

I have to say, at that moment, I really did feel alone but not completely alive. Yes I wanted my girlfriend with me so I decided to send her an SMS telling her where I was and that I loved and missed her because as of that moment, that's how I really felt. We ended up texting each other a few more messages and well it was nice because I just wanted to hear her voice or messages at that moment.

Eventually I went back down because I had to get to work by 10am, so I headed back down the stairs only to see a completely fogged up view of Hong Kong (it was a cloak of gray/white color) which is why I never managed any other photos other than Pinewood Battery.

It hit around 9:20am when I was out of the trail and back to Kotewall Road (the city!) and I decided to treat myself to a sandwich at Hong Kong University's Pret-a-manger and then headed home, got ready and hit the stairs down to the office.

What a morning, my mind cleared up a lot, I can't say I'm feeling perfect now but I do feel a bit better and I'm glad I managed to do that, one more thing to check off my list :) I guess from here I have to keep moving forward with my life and myself and my thinking. Sometimes, things just need time and they resolve themselves much like the rain that died down completely when I was going back down the trail, but it doesn't hurt to keep an umbrella with yourself while it's still pouring.