WHEN Bill Wong invited me to accompany him to Rock City, he had hiking boots in mind, not blue suede shoes. For this is what he affectionately calls the jumble of strange-shaped boulders on a trek in Lantau that is among his personal top 10.
Having tramped the hills of Lantau for many years, I thought I knew all the walks there, but I had never stood on Tiger Head Peak before, which could be reached from either Silvermine or Discovery Bay.
Mr Wong, a veteran walker and a regular reader of the Weekend Walkabout series, asked me to join him and a group of students from the University of Hong Kong on this rewarding trek of about 10 to 11 kilometres.
It proved to be one of the most interesting walks I have done on Lantau Island, though in parts a fairly tough slog.
We met at Silvermine Bay, and as we walked towards the popular waterfall behind the nearby village of Pak Ngan Heung, Mr Wong explained why Lantau is his favourite trekking area in the SAR.
He first did this walk as a leader in a government programme to promote hiking in Hong Kong in 1980. The programme lasted two years and over this period hundreds of thousands trekked some 32 officially recognised trails.
There were initially only 16 routes, but they doubled as the campaign gained in popularity. Eventually the Government tightened its belt and dropped the scheme, and though Tiger Head Peak is still a popular walk among the more hardy residents of Discovery Bay, it has been largely forgotten.