Gary and Stef in Asia: Update 11

Last week we decided to visit Lamma Island, which has a reputation for being a hippie haven. It’s also known for it’s many walks. Although it’s probably only 15 minutes by boat from here, the only way to get from Mui Wo, is via Central (HK Island) and then a boat back out to Yung Shue Wan (Banyan Tree Bay) 25 minutes away in the north of the island. Yes ‘Wan’ means bay and ‘kok’ means point – Cantonese it’s a slow progress for us. Boarding the boat we instantly regretted choosing a Sunday to go there and upon arrival realised that it wasn’t for any special event other than the weekend. We hung back once the boat landed on the pier and let the hordes disappear before walking through the narrow streets packed with seafood restaurants, local shops and bars. This link will tell you a whole lot more.. www.lamma.com.hk

We walked from 'you are here' to 'lookout pavilion'

Last of the hordes at Yung Shue Wan

Typical exterior to all seafood restaurants in and around HK

The island is lush like us!

Hung Shing Yeh beach a.k.a Power Station beach

Love the 'don't' signs they have in HK, puts ideas into your head!

from Pavilion Lookout over looking...well guess?

After our 90-minute walk we had a great lunch back at a restaurant in the harbour (no not IN the harbour!). Lamma isn’t everyone’s cup of herbal tea, but we liked it and would go back there for walks and restaurants.
The following day we had lunch at our favourite cheap restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui/Kowloon in the Ocean Terminal with great views across Victoria Harbour to HK – 'The Quarterdeck' – for HK$88 (£6.50) you can have the following: - soup/roll, buffet starters of sushi/salads/salmon/etc.. choice of 3 main courses (pasta, steak or other meat dish), buffet desert with chocolate fountain, fruit, Jasmin tea, soft drinks – we normally double the bill by having a large glass of red wine each though ;o)
After lunch we got the star ferry to Central (HK) and the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) to Chai Wan – the end of the blue line – furthest point on the tube, HK side. The first MTR tube line was opened in 1979, it's clean, efficient and there are rarely problems.

It was clean and very suburban, we crossed the park to the waterfront walk.

Chai Wan Park

Chai Wan Waterfront a.k.a Heng Fa Chun

Some more suggestions

View from waterfront to The New Territories

We walked as far as we could, but had to get back on the MTR to get around the point or Kok (just testing your comprehension).

More ideas..

We walked from the MTR to Aldrich bay promenade and down to Quarry Bay. It was a great area, clean, good sea air and views across the New Territories, wealthy suburban, reminded me a bit of California with it’s open fronted restaurants along the waterside. I saw a black Lamborghini coming out of ‘The Grand Promenade residence’, which didn't seem out of place.

Sampan in the harbour

Some history on Shau Kei Wan

The dockyard in the 1920s

Cosmopolitan Shau Kei Wan

California - OK you've got to use your imagination

The promenade

Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery

Walking towards Tai Koo shopping galeries

We’ll definitely come back to this areas for Sunday walks when we start work, not sure we’ll be able to afford to live there though - mind you the lottery is 3 days a week here, Tues, Thurs and Saturdays..
Wednesday 27th January we again ate at the 'Quarterdeck' before taking the MTR up to the end of the red line to Tseun Wan, Kowloon side, to complete our 3rd seaside walk of the week. Before we moved to HK we were considering living in a service flat in Tseun Wan so we were keen to see what we would have let ourselves in for.

Typical MTR station albeit not in the rush hour!

Getting off the MTR Tsuen Wan felt clean, but quite alien – lots of shopping centres linked with elevated walkways (a bit like Central but no Harvey Nicks). We picked our way through the streets and market to the harbour front and walked along the sea front in the 21c sunshine.

Wet market in Tseun Wan

Parks everywhere in HK and Kowloon

View from Tseun Wan towards Lantau island and the Tsing Yi bridge

Abandon all hope ye who enter here..

We spend a reasonable amount of time in Tung Chung on Lantau near the airport and not far from the other end of this bridge - for cinema, shopping and lunching with my brother and his family.

Plaza at Tung Chung from the food hall

My Korean beef noodles - £3

The Tung Chung food court is brilliant - free seating everywhere and outlets selling dishes from Asian cities and countries - you have Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Shanghainese, Thai, Japanese, Malaysian and many more and the food is excellent quality.

Ben, Steve, Isabella, Stef and Olivia at Taste supermarket

Clouds rolling over one of Lantau's peaks

Luk Tei Tong (our village) is home to a Buddhist temple and in the run up to the Chinese New Year on 14th February, they have been constantly banging drums, clashing symbols and letting off fire crackers. I suspect to ward off the evil spirits of the year. And I mean constantly – sometimes finishing after midnight – it’s hard to drown out with your own music! So we’ll be pleased to spend 9 days in China from Wednesday returning for only 48 more hours of it.
Our final walk of the week was another local one around Mui Wo's villages:-