10-15 Hong Kong Day 2

We’re up early and out on the 7:30 tender. Don’t need tickets today (yippee!) so we just hop on and off we go. We ended up missing the 8:40 fast ferry to Cheung Chau, but got the 9:00 slow ferry. It’s about a 45 minute ride to the island, and we sat on the very back of the ferry watching the water and other boats in the harbor the whole way. Very peaceful back there!

We reached Cheung Chau a little before 10 and were immediately struck by the total contrast to Lamma. This place is busy, crowded, commercial, filled with little electric carts hauling construction materials and other things, tons of people and tons of bikes! What a difference! There’s still a walk and hike we can do – so we take off down the promenade by the waterfront and window shop at all the restaurants and little shops that line the walkway. Our first stop is the Pak Tai Temple – a very ornate building sitting at the top of a small rise, presiding over basketball courts (of all things!). The temple carvings are all  beautifully colored and intricate, shining atop the roof in the morning sun. We stop for a few moments and pictures, then head off through the jumble of alley/streets to find the beach on the other side of the narrow island.

The beach is a nice strip of sand, but deserted at this time of year. There are still lifeguards on duty, but not a single other person around. After walking down to view the abstract sculpture honoring Lee Lai-san, the Cheung Chau native who won a sailing medal in the Olympics, we head back into town.

Managing to get lost in the warren of narrow alleys – we finally break free and find the waterfront where we follow the seaside promenade around the island to the Cheung Po Tsai caves and Tin Hau Temple. Along the way, the people watching is just out of this world. Everyone is on bikes – and a lot of adults are on bikes with training wheels! No worries about falling down here! Then of course a lot of the women on the bikes are also carrying umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. These people are deathly afraid of the sun and will do anything to cover themselves!

The walk is nice, not as strenuous as yesterday, but a good way to stretch our legs, and views of the harbor are good. We head back to town and scope out the grocery stores for supplies and restaurants for food. We finally settle on the first restaurant to the north of the ferry pier. The hawker is really insistent, and we figure what the heck – we’re ready to eat. We have to run to the ATM for more cash, but we’re good! End up with another 2 San Miguel’s, fried crab with garlic (which is a regular old crab, fried – with no batter – so crisply you can just crack it in your hands!), steamed fish with vegetables, and salted shrimp. Yum!

When we first sat down at the restaurant, it was totally empty, and by the time we left it was full up. And not another restaurant down the strip had a single customer! Pays to be a) the first restaurant on the strip, and b) have at least one customer (us)! Even though we didn’t follow the old adage – other people do – if someone is already eating there – it must be good!

Speed walked back through the town trying to find the grocery store we wanted for supplies, one wrong turn and we finally found it, made our purchases and made it back to the ferry pier with time to spare before getting the 1:15 slow ferry back to the central piers.

Back on Hong Kong we looked for places to spend our few remaining Hong Kong dollars. Ended up buying a package of corn nuts! Yea! And a beer and soda for the road! Back on the ferry tender, back aboard to sail away at 5.  Another great couple of days, but only a very few left. Don’t know where the time has gone!