We stayed in Hong Kong for 11 days, and, while there is a lot to do, having that much time in a place allows for doing some things one wouldn’t normally do if one only had a week or less. We knew there were islands to visit near the mainland, but we didn’t know which and had not researched them much at all. Well, lo and behold, our tour guide for a walking tour of Hong Kong, Michael, really came through with lots of good places to visit that we hadn’t previously considered, and one was his home, the island of Cheung Chau, a mere 45-minute boat ride away.
He sent us a whole list of things to do, places to visit, and restaurants to eat at; so we decided to book a night at one of the few hotels on the island, and took the boat from Central Pier No. 5 to Cheung Chou on a beautiful day.
We de-boarded with many fellow tourists, and in about five minutes we walked across the island to the beach.
Another five minutes walk north and we ran into our tour guide, Michael, with his wife and two golden retrievers! What a cool coincidence. A couple minutes later we arrived at our hotel, the Warwick,
where we had a small balcony and this view below, for $100 for the night.
We dropped off our bags and walked to put our feet in the water, then sat on the rocks to take in the cool breeze and sunset. We also saw a helicopter land on the nearby helipad, which was unexpected (and very loud).
After sunset we went looking for dinner, and Michael had recommended Wang Kitchen, so we traversed the mostly empty narrow streets, and were treated to an excellent meal of Hong Kong style sizzling steak and baked pork chop with pineapple and fried rice, covered in cheese (it tasted like a Hawaiian Style Pizza).
Super full, we walked down by the beach, which we had, basically, to ourselves.
We walked by a convenience store to get some bananas and snacks for breakfast, and along the opposite side of the island, where many, many boats of varying sizes are present, and lights are flashing non-stop.
We took one last look from the balcony of the beach, then went to bed to the sound of the waves, which really is the best way to go to sleep in my experience.
The next morning we awoke early, to the cloudy haze over the mountains across the sea from us.
Ready to explore more of the island, we made our goal the Kwun Yam Wan Lookout Pavilion, of which the path, along the Cheung Chau Mini Great Wall (and that is a very loose name), starts behind the hotel. We passed a small yet impressive gate and Buddhist shrine, which filled the air with incense.
Then it was up, up, up stone steps, then down some, then up, on the mini “Great Wall.” We were sweating even with the cool island breeze.
After 30ish minutes, we finally reached the pavilion, and oh, what a sight to see.
It was us and a lone fisherman, using his hands as a rod, It was so peaceful and serene, and the water so blue, it was hard to leave. But it was lunchtime, and we needed to checkout of the hotel, so we did, left our bag, and went searching for a good spot. We tried a few of the places Michael had mentioned, but they were closed, as we were nearing Chinese New Year, so ducked into a little place and ate some noodles in broth and fried pork cutlets, before getting a steam foot massage at a place Michael recommended, which was much needed. We even got to pet the Parlor dog named Ninja and another couple came in with their dog, a cute Jindo named Dau Dau.
Energy restored, we walked to the West side of the island, where there were many people bicycling, as there are no cars allowed on Cheung Chau. We made it to Heima Heima Cafe (named after a Sigur Ros song), where we had some fancy desserts and iced coffees.
We strolled back to the hotel, picked up our bag, took one last look at the beach, and made our way to the boat to Hong Kong. Here are some other pictures around Cheung Chau that give a feel to the island, which is worth a day trip, just to get away from all the hustle and bustle and chaos of Hong Kong.
The day before Chinese New Year we headed to another nearby island, Peng Chau, which is smaller than Cheung Chau, and was pretty desolate the day before the holiday, which was awesome as we were needing a break from so many people. The boat ride back from Cheung Chau the day before left us with upset tummies, so we picked up some Dramamine for the 45-minute or less boat ride, and we felt much better.
It was another warm day in February when we arrived to Peng Chau, and we peeked in a shrine on our way to find some lunch.
We had marked a few restaurants on our map, but the first two were closed as it was already 1:30 on the day before the holiday, so we were really hopeful the third one was open, and luckily it was and we took the last table (of two) available outside, as all the inside tables were taken at The Edible Project. We ordered cool drinks and warm plates to share that Jessica talks about in more detail, and it was nice to eat under an umbrella on this sunny day.
After that we leisurely strolled around the island, and sat in benches out of the sun where we could find them, passing a total of five locals at most, taking in the bright shades of red of the bougainvilleas and massive banyan trees.
Our last stop was Tung Wan Beach, where a few people were milling about and a couple of young men were racing RC boats in the shallow, calm water. It was a peaceful scene and we hid from the sun under a pavilion.
We made our way back to the boat, and back into Hong Kong, to prepare for Chinese New Years adventures!
Phil's WayPastCool 