Day Seven: What Goes Up, Must Come Down

Seeing as I slept just about all of yesterday and barely got a quick dinner in with Mary at the Peak, today I would surely need to expel all of that reserved energy.  Being it is Sunday and sunny, the four of us went out for breakfast at Wagyu.  Alasdair commented on my particularity when it comes to food and all I could do was laugh.  He's learning my ways quite well.  I had the typical American breakfast: eggs, sausage, and toast with a glass of orange juice to wash it all down.  It was quite nice to have a taste of home.  But this was just the start of a great day. 
Mary and Alasdair were itching to go on a hike and I was glad to come along.  We made our way to the MacLehose Trail in the New Territories of Hong Kong.  The drive to our start point was just over an hour and once in the national park, we began our journey.  With Mary's hiking enthusiasm and Alasdair's never ending outdoors drive, I knew I was going to be in all sorts of interesting places on this hike.   We started out walking up a road which only taxis can take.  Apparently taxis are a way of cheating a bit, so no cheating for us today.  Once we get to our first trailhead, there was a sign warning of landslides, so we took the higher and less traveled route on the MacLehose Trail.  Let me put it this way, it was like walking through tall grass with a one foot wide piece of broke concrete to walk upon.  You could tell not many take this section of trail.  It was steep inclines, which I don't really mind, but the sections of steep declines, my body just doesn't like.  About 10 km through, we stopped at a local village for some fried rice before making our last section of trail.  The last part of the trail we walked had what I could call a never ending slope, I really thought I was going to be passing some folks bound for heaven.  But sure enough, the inline stopped and once again I had to go back down.  Mary and Alasdair pulled on my gullible side with saying we had to swim a mile back, but even I saw through that one.  I really think a swim would have been a nice ending the the hike.  All in all we hiked about 15 km (about ten miles).  A very good day, next time I just need to drink more.
Things to note:
I miss the humidity of New Orleans
Mary and Alasdair both think I should do a RTP race