Looking for golfers and hikers

[PDLM]

Is golfing just for the wealthy around here?

Yes, basically. You can get day packages to courses in the mainland for just over $1000 including ferry, lunch and course fees I believe. Not sure about lessons.

[MovingIn07]

Well OK, but take this hike which is rated 2.25 and the description then tells you it is 99% bushwhacking (meaning, I assuming walking on ill defined tracks needing to use your arms to move foliage out of your way), for 3.5-4 hours. Looking at the map, all of this route is on paths described as "difficult, indistinct or seasonally overgrown" except for some of it which appears to be completely off path. From the pictures, some of it requires ropes to get up. 3.5 - 4 hours of that is definitely not for beginners - and yet it's rated 2.25/5!

From the rating notes: "Most our hikes are purposely scheduled in places with huge flight of steps." Is this some closet masochists society?

And "Otherwise you won’t enjoy the hike and worse still we might just leave you to rest and get going without you." If true that is downright irresponsible - no hiking leader worthy of the name would EVER leave someone behind out on a trail.

From the photos it seems to be very much a fit youngsters group (and some of the girls are very fit indeed ).

Without even looking at the hike I can tell you who is organising it (and it's not me). There are several organisers of hikes. One of them loves "bushwacking" - which really means taking overgrown paths, most of which are fine to follow but may be narrow, abit overgrown, abit muddy or steep etc - nothing that a hiker who has hiked somewhere in NZ or Tasmania would be at all phased by, since many of the "marked routes" are like that there.....

However, other organisers organise different types of hikes - especially for beginners, such as a couple of sections of the HK trail or a few sections of the Mac/Lantau trail etc.

Certainly, the ones I organise are typically on formed paths (if not always the common ones); involve a steep uphill climb (what is the point of hiking if you don't get to see a view) and then a downhill section that I try to find the easiest downhill possible because i HATE downhill

We are all different. Another guy runs almost exclusively training hikes for Trailwalker - for superfit, super energetic types who like to jog half the way......

So please don't scare off our newbies! They just should READ THE DESCRIPTIONS! I have now met several geoexpatters on hikes who found out about meetup by my posting the link here and have thanked me for it - some of them still only go on the easy hikes and are quite fine waiting for them to come up! This weekend we just got back from Manila where we came to hike up Pinatubo. The hike was trivial, but the whole adventure was great and the scenery fantastic.

[campas12]

for golf, the easiest to play (and cheapest) is the public course at kau sai chau (sai kung). its a pretty good course (there's three- the east is the best looking by far), but due to the nature of hong kong and the alwasy present red tape, the three main downsides are:

1. tough to book for weekends- and the booking system itself sucks (when you have to change players etc). essentially, you need to book a week ahead of time and at 930 when the lines open. it'll be busy, but keep calling, you'll get through.

2. need a handicap card- pm me if you want to get one- i've referred a lot of ppl and you do have to pay 600/yr for membership but they'll give you a hcp card quickly....once you have this hcp card, you have to register of KSC's system (and hopefully your handicap is under 35!)

3. speed play. i've never been so rushed- anywhere else, as long as i'm not holding people up behind me on consecutive holes, then the marshalls don't bother you. due to the amt of ppl they cram in- they have set times that you should finish each hole, and for the most part hold you to it - otherwise a marshall will make you hit from the drop zone. what they fail to take into account is if the first 3 holes you're held up by the group in front (maybe due to hole configuration etc) and then they pick up the pace, or you're on a 5 hole so aren't held up anymore.

regardless, it's not *that* bad and if you play weekdays it's even better. south course is good. north course i've never played, but it's walking only (and tough). east course is the newest, and best views