My first real Sunday in Shenzhen, I spent hiking Phoenix Mountain with a few work colleagues. We began the journey at 7:00am by a bus that would bring us to the outskirts of Baoan, a neighborhood of Shenzhen. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I think we took the bus to the very last stop...we hopped off here about 45 minutes after we first boarded.
None of us knew the area very well, so we were a little lost. There were no hikers to be seen in this part of town, so we asked a series of shopkeepers who pointed us in the right direction.
Eventually we made it to this dirt path, which looked promising...
and after about 10 minutes of following the dirt path, we were exactly where we wanted to be!
The hike starts from pretty much the second you cross this bridge. Hello Stairmaster.
We took the long route...which was actually the wisest decision we could have possibly made. There was hardly anyone on this trail, and I recommend this path to anyone who doesn't mind doing a little extra work to avoid China-type crowds. I don't remember the name of the trail that we took, but one of the first forks in the walkway will either lead you straight up the mountain or across a bridge to the left. Go across the bridge.
There are plenty of rest stops along the way that offer some amazing views of Baoan, a neighborhood of Shenzhen.
Look at how green! I love it
oh hey don't mind me
Made it to the top! Once the scenic trail joins up with the main trail, it turns into a mess of people.
Cheesy pagodas dot the ridgeline, and they're all totally packed! There is a bathroom and a few shops that sell drinks and snacks.
This it the view looking down on the other side of the mountain. You can see the temple is at the base of this side of the mountain, and if you can see where the city kind of ends, that is the ocean.
From the top of the mountain, you can climb down the other side, where you will end at a Buddhist Temple.
All those little dots in the water are turtles. People were throwing money in the pond, and when I say money, I mean like literally 1CNY paper money. You can definitely see some bills in the picture.
We followed the arrows to a vegetarian buffet that the temple runs. For 38CNY (~$6USD), you can grab a plate and load up on vegetarian food! Exactly what I wanted after a hike.
This is my plate. Note the french fries, haha. But most of it was actually pretty healthy! I had eggplant, vinegar cucumber salad, chinese yam, wintermelon, mushrooms, noodles, brown rice, and so much more. The *only* catch is that you can only take what you finish. The people working there told us that if you have leftovers, you will be charged for every gram there is. Don't worry, I finished everything on my plate.
Sweet tofu desert. So yummy and refreshing after a long hike! anddd much healthier than ice cream
We were out of the restaurant by 12:30 and back in a taxi home by 1. Overall this was an amazing hike, but only because we took the scenic route. The scenic route seemed to have more pitstops with generous seating and amazing photo ops. It is also much more rewarding if you came for a hike to work up a sweat and get your heart rate going. Best of all...there were hardly any people on that trail! Once we got to the top, it was definitely people mountain, people sea; a direct translation of a Chinese saying that basically means it's really effing crowded. busiest times of the week. If you are looking to go to Phoenix Hill or Phoenix Temple as a tourist, weekdays are probably much better.
I'll update again soon. Life in Shenzhen is just beginning, and I'm already backed up on posts. Until next time!
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