Me, Myself and Maggie: mom's first hike

Mom and brother came to HK on the 15th Jan 2010 to have a look at my apartment before I leave Hong Kong for Singapore in a couple of weeks. I can tell that they had a fantastic time because besides the normal things that you can do in Hong Kong such as shopping, eating and more shopping... I brought them to their first hike - the dragon's back hike in Shek'O.
At first I was a little worried because the moment we got there at the start of the hike, we were greeted by a very long, narrow and steep flight of stairs and my mom being 60 and has not done much exercise in her entire life, was panting and grasping for air. It was then I realised that it might not be such a great idea to bring her for a hike after all. We managed to rest a bit, while the rest of my mates carried on with the hike and we caught up with them afterwards. It was only after going through the bush trails, a couple of up slopes and more stairs that we came to the peak of the climb and boy oh boy! What a spectacular view! We had such a fantastic view of the sea and Big Wave Bay and to top things up, the weather was excellent! It was chilly and windy, just perfect for hiking! It was as if we done a mini-great wall of China! Simply delightful!
I felt like my mom was 40 again! She was tired but you can tell that she just wanted to enjoy the hike and somehow or rather I think she felt liberated too. Like she managed to achieve something after such a long time stuck in Singapore following a mundane routine. She felt accomplished and proud of herself. She didn't spell it out but it was certainly a feeling a daughter gets from her mom.
I was bonding with her and my sweet brother who was just 24-7 sticking next to her making sure she is alright. Of course, the downside of things was that the next day she had both her calves suffering from muscle aches and I had to send her for a foot massage! Ha!
All in all they ate well, did quite a bit of shopping and wandered around HK and had a really good time. Bee was really happy too that he managed to spend some quality time with my family and get to know them a little better!

The trip ended with the sweetest note my mom left me at my apartment and after reading it, I was bawling!

This is what she said:
"Thank you Bee & Sweet Daughter.
I left 2 pcs of tart for you both. Thank for this few days accompany us. Even my legs is pain, I feel good because I still can go hiking. My first hiking is my school day but now is senior day. Whenever I see high mountain I will got a memories there. See you take care, enough sleep and eat ok.
Mamamiya"

*To keep the authenticity of this message, I refused to correct the grammar or structure of the sentence because my mom's english is not really good but she does make an effort and you do get what she is saying which is the most important point.