Wong Ho-fai remembers growing up and his parents giving him a precious gift: a love of the outdoors. While his peers were busy studying and spending time doing homework, Wong said he was encouraged to get outside, immerse himself in Hong Kong’s natural environment and get a bit dirty. “After a while I was not afraid to be outdoors, be in the sun, sweat and in nature,” said the 36-year-old. “When I was younger I had a lot of friends who were scared of things like flies and bugs and beetles. But since I was always playing outdoors I just wasn’t very scared of these things. It also gave me a sense of being peaceful and calm in the outdoors compared to city life.” Being a kid is one thing, but being an adult means getting a real job. In 2002, he went to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he studied engineering, looking to get into a career in the field, but Wong said he had more fun being part of a hiking club he joined while on campus. “I was spending five days a week organising different outdoors experiences with my schoolmates. We did different adventures like climbing, mountain biking, hiking, camping and doing things like building campfires.” But reality set in and after graduation Wong felt he had to get a regular job, which meant moving to Macau and working as an engineer in the construction industry. Wong said it was quite clear early on he was not going to make it. “I hated the culture, I didn’t know what I was looking for. I just wanted to get away and combine all my interests, running and hiking and climbing and photography.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by @fai.wonghofai So at the age of 24, Wong quit his job and decided he was going to immerse himself in the world of adventure photography. His first gig as a photographer was in Nepal in 2009, for the 10-day Yak Attack mountain bike stage race that cuts across the Himalayas. Wong said he also realised he was able to keep a decent pace with the athletes’ movements, meaning competing was now in the plans. Wong then proceeded to put together an impressive resume of races, including the HK100 in 2011, which he completed in under 16 hours (his first 100km); the Northburn 100-mile race in New Zealand in 2013; the Malaysian ECO100 in 2016, which he won; and the HK168 also that year, which he also won. In 2017, he headed to Hawaii’s “Big Island” for the Epic Man Ultra Endurance Run, a 300-mile team race. He also met famous endurance athlete Jason P. Lester, who wrote Running on Faith , won a 2009 ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete with a Disability and was the first disabled athlete to complete in the Ultraman World Championships. Lester was also vegan. Wong was intrigued so he gave it a try. “It helped me with everything, not just sports performance. I started sleeping better and I was recovering faster too, so I decided to stick to the diet. And I think after a while it has become a lifestyle for me.” He now adheres to a plant-based diet, which means he does have a little bit of meat, dairy and eggs thrown into his diet from time to time. However, the idea is to derive the diet from plant sources so he eats a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. A regular day of eating usually starts with some toast and his favourite thing of all-time in the morning. “I love peanut butter,” he said. Wong Ho-fai paddles 45km around Hong Kong on home-made board He also eats a lot of healthy cereal and oatmeal, plus a regular Omega 3 Fatty Acid (fish oils) vitamin. Then for lunch, it’s a “big” salad, or some rice, noodles or tofu, and then for dinner, which he eats with his family some nights, he is loading up on a wide variety of vegetables, and more rice. Of course, when he is racing or competing, Wong said there is one key ingredient: “I am basically eating all the time.” In 2018, Wong started a five-year “Run Across the World” plan with the motto of, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” He clocked some impressive numbers, completing 1,400kms in Taiwan that year, then 3,500km in Japan the following year. He had planned on doing 8,000km along the Appalachian Trail in the US last year, but the pandemic put his plans on hold, momentarily of course. Wong, who is also a fitness instructor, personal trainer and a public speaker, is also keen on spreading the message of sustainability and environmentalism. He has a number of tattoos, one on his thigh which represents running, one on his knee which represents family, nature and “following the life flow”, plus the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth and metal) on his fingers and the famous Tree of Life on his inner arm. When asked if he had any advice for someone stuck in a job they didn’t like and wanted to chase their dreams, Wong said the key is to go slow at first. “Take little steps. Go outside and go for a hike, and then maybe plan a short race and see how you like it. Because once you get started, if you love it, it will just grow from there naturally and organically.”