Trip to one of the outlying islands today cos it’s a lovely sunny day. MTR to HK station – a long walk via travelators from Central MTR. Good thing Chris had Abi in the backpack cos it allowed us to walk quite quickly through the ends of the morning work crowds. No signs for the ferry pier (no.4) until the final escalator at the IFC Mall. Chris is good at navigation thank heavens. Rushed to make the 10am catamaran to Lamma Island. Lots of ferries docked but they didn’t stay to pick us up. Our ferry actually loaded lots of groceries as well as 3 dogs out for a walk with their owners. Abi was sauntering up and down the waiting area along the tactile indicators.
Quite a bouncy sea as we sailed around the NW tip of HK island past Kennedy Town. The haze was getting thicker as we ploughed through the shipping traffic. Islands are lovely and green, some rocky bits, some squatter huts. Abi jumped around the catamaran and gave her parents palpitations as her head approached metal bits. Sok Kwu Wan is a small village with lots of fish farms along the approach to the jetty, and a cement works on the opposite shore. Small dinghies and fishing boats are their main form of transport between towns (no cars, just tractor-trucks that share the narrow paths with pedestrians at breakneck speed). Main street was quite deserted as we walked through the line of open air seafood restaurants with their glass tanks and the supermarket shops. Slathered sunscreen on everyone cos it is really hot now. Abi didn’t mind being in the pack once Chris started walking. Soon she was asleep!! Started at a Tin Hau Temple that had a massive concrete plaza in front – yukky and hot. But then we came across lots of nice shady parts on the walk around the bay. It got steeper as we headed up the hillside: concrete paths hard on the feet. Arriving at a pavilion overlooking Sok Kwu Wan we had a lovely view to HK (tried to crop out the cement plant) and enjoyed the sea breeze with 6 women chatting away. The usual comments about cute Abi in the backpack. She woke and managed to enjoy the vista before we headed up and up the hillside. Biscuits – the start of a day of snacking. Good thing we bought some towels in anticipation of swimming, cos they covered Abi’s exposed legs nicely until she decided she needed some snuggling cloths. Had to use my trusty umbrella instead to shade her delicate skin. Chris keeps on ploughing ahead the baby backpack must be very hot to wear.
Took the next detour to a pavilion overlooking Hung Shing Yeh Beach – lovely except for the enormous power station across the bay. About a dozen container ships in the sea. Beach below is quite shallow due to the granite rock substrata, but appears clean. Haze is so thick that we can just make out Cheung Chau Island towards the horizon and the outline of Lantau Island beyond that barely registered. Vegetation is dense some acacia plants. The power company sponsored the pavilion that we stopped at! Great view hey. Abi seemed hungry so we stopped for her lunch but she only dabbled at the cheese spread and kept eating animal crackers only.
The walk around this bay was hot, had no vegetation shelter at all and was on the west side of the mountain – only mad tourists walked here under the midday sun. An enterprising local had set up a cold drinks stall under 2 umbrellas at the end of this stretch. The path continued to wind around and down and up and down. Some rocks had been painted in tiger stripes – to warn that they were dangerous? The path had no real shelter until we approached a village before the destination town of Yung Shue Wan. The main road/path passed very close to the houses/villas, market garden land, and banana plantations. Every now and then there would be a cold drinks vending machine – going rate $HK6 for a can / tetra pack and with sheltered seats and tables nearby. Imagine the weekend crowds filling these areas. I’m so glad Chris is carrying Abi cos my hip muscles are aching from pushing myself up the hills.
Finally, the strings of shops joined up and we had reached Yung Shue Wan. Crazy tractor truck drivers and cyclists would just zoom past without bells or any notification as we walked along the narrow path. Some locals were covered up against the sun, tourists sometimes had umbrellas. Suddenly very hungry. Resisted the urge for an ice cream cos Chris is terrified of food poisoning. Stopped by a café with western style food as opposed to the obligatory seafood (less food poisoning risk?). Spruiker quickly switched to English for us and we decided the prices were reasonable). Sat out the back facing the bay and ferry jetty. Quite pretty with villas stretching up the hillside in a typical Mediterranean style. Lots of curved metal framed awning structures on top of the villa terraces. Then there would be a squatter shack amongst the thick banana trees and vines.
There was a 1 metre wide sandy beach in front of the sea wall under the café eating areas. Some guy was net fishing on the beachlet guided by his friend on the sea wall. We wondered about next door’s café which was crowded and ours which had just us. Never mind, at least the service was quick. Abi tried the rice vermicelli noodles from Priscilla’s beef satay soup and also the mediocre chips from Chris’ fish and chips. We all enjoyed the ice cold drinks as we watched little fishing boats and the locals dashing about with flags waving all along the distant jetty.
Walked to the ferry jetty with a stopover at a rest park so Abi could walk a bit after sitting all day. She wanted to climb on the timber seating, then was transfixed by the lapping water on the stony beach below. Managed to steer her past the line of seafood restaurants with huge covered outdoor eating areas. Scampi were huge prawn things, lots of large colourful fish and crabs and lobsters and stonefish. Saw pans of salted fish tied to the side of the balustrade drying in the sun. Lots of bicycles chained up along the jetty – commuters to Hong Kong probably. One baby stroller, one bike with rattan child seat at front!
The air-conditioned ferry to Aberdeen has quite a lot of people on it compared with the morning ferry from Central. Abi was temporarily calmed by the Spider book but otherwise wanted to be everywhere on the ferry at once. Picked up some westerners at the tip of Lamma Island (Pak Kok San Tsuen?) including a topless man with man-boobs bigger than some women’s. Luckily he put on a shirt once he was on board. Uggh! Tickets are sold on board instead of the octopus system for this remote stop. Abi managed to elicit a smile from the gruff ferry man, and then she beamed back at him as he sold ferry tickets.
On approach from the sea, Aberdeen has a line of high rise like the rest of HK. The harbour was crowded with old style timber fishing boats and manufacturing boats etc. Some crazy people were trying to fish in a dingy amongst the traffic. Couldn’t see the Jumbo Restaurants cos they were in the next harbour (the shuttle boats were in this harbour). Disembarked and walked to the bus terminal for the no.38 back to Fortress Hill. Quite a fast trip through the Aberdeen tunnel back to familiar HK and Causeway Bay. Abi wriggled throughout on the front top seat while eating biscuits in contravention of the no eating rule.
Bought some buns before staggering up to the apartment – my feet hurt! Abi doesn’t like sweetened bread. We hit the house and she immediately launched into play doh stamping and megabloks. Where does her energy come from? Only ate some ya pear and biscuits for afternoon tea. Tried dinner at Maxims – usual mess of rice etc. She didn’t like Priscilla’s very salty chicken wings but enjoyed the fungus soup as part of the meal set.
Walked home via the Seven Seas shopping arcade – finally seeing the inside after walking past the car park at the front for so many times! Interesting small boutiques – hmmm!
Chris isn’t too tired after carrying Abi all day plus the supplies backpack for part of the day. He is off to the library after dinner to get a copy of some map for more hikes. Oh boy. Also bought some Petit Miam baby yoghurt and fromage frais imported from Oz. $HK30 for 4 petit miam vs $HK10 for 2 local sugar sweetened plain yoghurts. Hope Abi eats these.
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