Pretty fail. My friends have photos (I brought a camera but forgot my SD card. Argh!)

ps. special thanks to eekthekatt for the embarrassing map/tracks

pps. It wasn’t a complete failure : we eventually made it to the waterfalls we were looking for, but by then there was no direct sunlight so it was getting cold. The waterfalls were pretty though! Must be more successful next time~!!

First, the movie: I Love You Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. To sum it up, it’s like Catch Me if You Can meets Brookback Mountain. It actually was a pretty decent movie, it got a few laughs out of me and I thought the first half of the movie was pretty smart funny. The second half was a little more dramatic and I’ve got nothing against drama, but it was just a little too dragged out for me. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie but its definitely not for everyone. Oh and I didn’t really need to see Jim Carrey naked. Actually, I didn’t really need to see him naked while having anal sex with some dude. We are talking about the same Jim Carrey that was The Mask

I don’t think I can ever look at him the same way ever again…

***

Sunday was the hike to the waterfalls in Ma On Shan. If you recall, I was there last year and I was really looking forward to going again. The turnout was much smaller this time, probably due to the rain the previous night, but the rain actually made the hike up more interesting (difficult?). Also, the last time we were there, I couldn’t muster up the courage to jump off the falls (dubbed “Hero Rock”), and I really regretted it after. So I promised myself that I would jump this time (or if I chickened out again, I would not regret not jumping). After hanging around the bottom for a while and watching a couple of people launch themselves off, I was ready and determined to do it! I made my way up to the top and up there, I started having second thoughts!! For a while my legs were actually shaking and I had to sit down, but…

I did it.

Later that night, I crashed Rob and Benny’s place for pasta dinner and our usual Vodka Sunday gathering. It was a great weekend, and maybe losing part of my childhood was just what I needed. Oh and pasta? Amazing! The sauce  : Mushrooms, peppers, baby corn, tomato sauce, minced pork, red wine and siracha. Who knew?

I think I totally ruined this shot… me and my stupid peace sign. Sorry

Actually the only time I really like taking photos of people are when they don’t know I’m taking the photo (yes, I realized that came out kinda creepy. Trust me, I’m not creepy … I think.)

Anyway, enjoy the set!

Taken from right ontop of the falls. Bet you can’t do this at Niagara!

Arriving at Sha Tin we took a <secret> bus out to <secret>. The (almost but not quite) 25 man group made their way to the foot of an uphill path where our afternoon was about to being. We started up the paved road, pausing once in the shade for some water. Along the way up, Benny said to me “Hey, this must be a cinch for you”, I agreed. Hiking up paved roads and dirt trails? Easy as pi. Little did I know, this would turn out to be a Class I scramble.

Very rarely were there ropes, and even more rare for it to actually be of any help

You see, after a 15 minute walk up, the paved road ends at a a stream. At this point Robby told us that we’d have to follow the stream up to the top, and follow we did. Climbing over rocks, around boulders and across streams we zigzagged our way up. The journey wasn’t without casualties, however. Someone fall into the stream, another had lost a flipflop. I had dropped my only bottle of water crossing the stream, and it quickly got washed away by the rapid current and it was forever lost!

Soon after that, I dropped my lens cap for my camera while climbing up some rocks. This was definitely not my day!!

Ahh shade! Taking a break from the climb.

But after what seemed to be an hour (I really didn’t keep time), we made it!!

Extremely hot, tired and sweaty, everybody eagerly and very quickly stripped down to their bathing suits and jumped in.  And some JUMPED in…

…Yes from up there.

We didn’t get the place to ourselves. A nice old couple joined us, and even let us use their floaty toys they brought with them!

After a few hours of swimming, sitting in the sun, then swimming again (as well as an unsuccessful exploring with bare feet which turned into a bushwhack. Have you every tried bushwhacking with your bare feet? With the hot stones, sand and twigs beneath your feet? Its not fun.) As the sun started to set we made our journey back down and went our separate ways ….. well not really. We split up and had dinner, I ended up eating in Causeway Bay with a group of (mostly) Canadians.

So despite losing my water early, losing my lens cap, banging up my camera’s UV filter, getting fire ants up my pants, barefoot bushwhacking, and not actually getting to go cliff diving (because I had my contacts on, I wasn’t really in the mood to lose them, especially since I had to climb back down).

I’ll count today as my win.

Flickr stream:

Oh and if you’ve made it this far and REALLY want to know where it is? Its near Ma On Shan…. I think. Actually I’m not sure.