The Good Man of Nam Long Shan

On this first visit at Nam Long Shan, we ran into heavy rain when we were half-way through the hike.  We ran back for cover and sat at the pavilion at the Nam Long Shan Road Rest Garden.  A mid-aged man was also taking cover there.  We chatted, hoping that the storm would ease.  But soon we realized that the rain was not stopping anytime soon.  In fact, the Observatory issued an amber rain signal soon.

The mid-aged man was getting picked up from his son.  They live at the foot of Nam Long Shan.  “I asked my son to bring you an extra umbrella.”  We were incredibly grateful for his kindness.  There would not have been any taxi’s available.  The drivers were changing shifts, and no one would be happy to take us through the short distance between Nam Long Shan and where we parked.

The Trail

On this first time we visited, we parked in Wong Chuk Hang and walked up all of Nam Long Shan Road.  We first passed by the Singapore International School, then the Canadian International School.  There were some nice views on the way.  We looked afar at this point and saw beautiful yachts docked at Aberdeen.  The big ship Jumbo Floating Restaurant was in sight, although it closed down already.

At around mid-hill, we saw the stairs leading up to the Nam Long Shan Road Rest Garden.  We went up and the first stop was a little grotto-like place with displays of all kinds of Buddha statues.

We continued up on a very long set of stairs and came to Nam Long Shan Pavilion.  Views of Sham Wan opened up, and it was beautiful under the setting sun.

From afar we saw the Ocean Park.  And only at this site are we able to see this childhood memory in its entirety.

We did not make it to the helipad this time on our first visit.  Droplets began to rain down on us.  As we descended, we came upon boars, a family of them.  We heard them “oint” as we rushed down the stairs and had to maneuver the situation with care.  The biggest one, assuming it being the mother, came out, then six more little ones followed.  It was a very comical scene but it started pouring soon.

The trail is very straightforward overall.  From the Nam Long Shan Road Rest Garden it was just one set of stairs up for perhaps 25 to 30 minutes.  The highest point would be the observatory, but even on our second visit we only went as far as the helipad.

Views of the Aberdeen Channel and outlaying islands at the helipad:

On this second visit, we met the same man that lent us an umbrella.  He was again doing his run and I waved at him, “remember us?”  He took a few seconds.  Oh yeah, the umbrella!  Keep it!

As such, we remembered this good man as our Nam Long Shan experience.