Wayside cuttings and fern banks lead us on. Then, just through a small pass, one looks back to the impressive northern face of Devil's Peak with its sheer forbidding cliffs. So begins a section of hiking trail that only Hong Kong could offer, with startling contrasts of country and city. On one hand there are dark heavy boulders, reddish earth, bracken, bamboos - and the sounds of birdsong. On the other, just a few hundred metres away, a line of tower blocks forms a barrier - and the rumble of city traffic comes up.