I’m finally getting around to it. Pictures from my 30th birthday weeklong celebration (don’t hate)/Cathy’s trip to the Heavenly Kingdom.

First up- Shek O Beach

We don’t have much by way of sandy beaches in Seattle, or clean water which one can frolic in in Changping, so when a friend recommend we hit up Hong Kong’s popular Shek O Beach, I was all in. Throw in a 3 hour hike on what’s called Dragon’s Back Trail, and you’ve got a Eff YAH! How can anyone say no to a trail that has Dragon in its name?

All was fine and dandy until about an hour in. At that time, I learned why it’s called Dragon’s Back Trail. It’s hilly like a mutha! Like the back of a dragon- get it? It was particularly brutal because just the night before, my sister arrived and we so intelligently decided to party until 4 AM. But between the dry-heaves, one does witness a spectacular view.

We pushed forward on the promise of sandy beaches, Chinese barbecue, and ice cold beer. But everyone breaks at some point. I believe this is where we hit delirium. I also believe this was 30 minutes into the hike.

Then after 3 hours, we arrived at Shek O Beach. Business commenced as follows- FOOD, drink, sleep, drink, dunk, drink, sleep, drink, walk around beach drunk. It was a good day.

This town has replaced DisneyWorld as My Favorite Place on Earth. It’s freakin’ all cats all the time. One could even say the town is infested with cats! No joke, once the sun started to set, cats began crawling the streets like Shadow Heartless in Kingdom Hearts. Imagine this, but CATS.

It was a dream come true. Until I tried to love them. Since they were tame but not pets, they didn’t hide from us, but they did keep at a “safe” (whatever that word means) distance from me.

I also want to note that if you ever find yourself at or near Shek O Beach, try to make it out to Big Wave Bay. There is a rock there with prehistoric carvings on it. I never made it out to the rock myself, but it’s on my agenda to see it next time I’m in Hong Kong.