ALAN Roberts often leaves his answering machine to take care of the office, while he slips quietly out to climb around the cliffs at Chai Wan.
''I can't stay inside for too long: it seems such a terrible waste,'' said the Liverpool-born mountaineer, who has just started an adventure-climbing business in Hong Kong.
''So many people don't realise that there are hundreds of places to have adventures in Hong Kong,'' said Alan, who offers people the chance to follow wild river gorges in the territory's country parks, travel on kayaks to Sharp Island, or climb Lantau Peak in time to see the sun rise.
He invited us to try out a morning of beginners' level mountaineering on the rocks around Shek O yesterday. Having taken up the offer, we were slightly grazed by the afternoon, but triumphant.
It had only been a little rock, but it had been very vertical, and, with the help of Alan's gentle prompting about hand-and foot-holds, we climbed it - to the top.
The session started with some casual scrambling around the smaller rocks on the headland - Alan bounding a few feet in front, humming opera arias, and the very raw ''mountaineer'' following obediently.