In the Orient by Art Collins Read Free Book Online

the ferry station in Central, and then accompany you to Lantau Island. It’s about an hour trip to Lantau, so if you leave on the eleven o’clock ferry, you’ll have a good three-to four-hour hike before you have to return. I will have Kuang Jianquo pack something for your lunch if you choose to go.”
    “What do you say?” Archibald said, turning to Willow and Jockabeb.
    “I’m game,” Jockabeb answered.
    “Sounds like fun,” added Willow.
    “How about you,” Jockabeb asked May, wanting to be polite to his hostess, and also hoping to confirm that she’d be along on the hike.
    “I wouldn’t miss it,” May answered. Then smiling at Jockabeb, she said, “And, by the way, thanks for asking.”
    “Well, that does it,” Archibald proclaimed. “We better get cracking if we’re going to make the ferry.”
Lantau Island
    Before leaving for the ferry station at Central, May grabbed the tour book on greater Hong Kong and put it in her backpack next to two water bottles and the flashlight she always carried. During the ferry trip to Lantau Island, she read aloud the most important information about their destination.
    “The mountain,” May began, “is located due west of Hong Kong Island at the mouth of the Pearl River, China’s second largest river in water volume after the Yangtze. Although its landmass is almost twice the size of Hong Kong Island, relatively few people inhabit Lantau Island because of its rough terrain. For those who do make their home on the island, the coast is definitely the most popular place to live.
    “Over the centuries, the island has provided temporary sanctuary for diverse groups of inhabitants. For example, members of the Song Dynasty imperial court fled the Chinese mainland to Lantau Island in 1277 in order to escape the invading Mongols. The Song Dynasty, which began in 960, ended two years later with the death of the child emperor, Zhao Bing.
    “The island’s strategic positioning was close to a major sea route in South China, and it attracted a number of European trading settlements. The Portuguese first arrived in the early 1500s. Later, pirates and smugglers used the island as their base before they were finally driven away by government forces.
    “During World War II, Lantau Island’s rugged, lush terrain provided a naturally protected staging area for the resistance against the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Try as they might, the Japanese soldiers were unable to crush the resistance fighters who hid there, and the resistance movement continued to be active until the Japanese finally surrendered in 1945.”
    Just after May said that Lantau Peak was the second highest mountain peak in greater Hong Kong, and almost twice as high as Victoria Peak, Jockabeb got his first glimpse of the massive mountain towering off in the distance. As the ferry approached the island, he whistled and asked, “Wow, are we really going all the way up there?”
    “I’ve hiked it twice before,” May replied. “It’s not that difficult. We’ll take a bus to the base of the peak where a series of stone steps begin. We can take the steps most of the way up, but then I think it would be fun to get off the trail and explore some of the places that the tourists don’t go.”
    “Have you done that before?” Jockabeb asked.
    “No,” May answered. “William and I have talked about leaving the trail and heading off on our own, but we’ve never done it. Anyway, Robert Liu is wearing a suit and his street shoes, so we can’t go too far off the beaten path.”
    “Okay,” Jockabeb responded. “You lead the way, and I’ll follow.”
    And that’s just what Jockabeb did two hours later when May stepped off the well traveled set of stonestairs and ducked into the dense, green foliage that seemed to quickly swallow her.
    Lantau Peak
Heading Off the Beaten Path
    It had been very hot and humid during the ascent up the steep mountain trail that was crowded with tourists. However, just minutes