Hi,
I did not get round to posting any more reports while i was away,as we were so busy all the time(and we said we were going to relax a little more this time!!!).
As i said before,my Daughter moved to HK in april ,to teach ,so i thought that as i had 4 weeks off (i am a mature student)i would pop over to one of my favourite places to visit her.
Having lived there for 4 months now, laura now knows alot of the places not often visited by tourists.Where she lives in Quarry bay,HK island, is occupied solely by the local people,and it seemed very strange as we were constantly stared at. As i have been to Hk several times before,and laura and myself were in Hk for 10 days last sept,we did'nt really go to the main tourist attractions,apart from the markets (of course!!!)
Places we went to ......... Tai tam country park,this is a beautiful huge country park,situated right behind my daughters flat,we walked all through the park, past the resevoir down to stanley, it took us about 2 hours,and was extremly hot,but we saw lot's of wildlife,giant spiders,turtles, lizards.
Stanley beach and market......... We went to Stanley main beach a couple of times,nice beach,although the sea is very rocky in parts.one of the things i am very impressed with in Hk, is the standard of beach facilities. Changing rooms and toilets ,both male and female,several life guard observation posts on the beach,as well as at least one in the water, regular loud speaker notices advising people to take care in the water, and informing us on the state of the sea, a temperature and time clock,as well as the usual drink/icecream shops. These facilities were to be found on just about all the beaches we went to. we had a good look around the market, i had an order from my Mum for several silk blouses with animal embroidered pictures on like i had bought her last year ,i managed to bargain,and got a really good price.Behind the market the walkway by the sea is now finished ,its a lovely little walk,with good views, seats,and a few shops and cafes.
Shek O .......... This is a lovely beach, very scenic,got the mtr,then a bus ,as it is a little way out .We were there during school hols,so it was very busy,mainly after 4pm,when all the local children seem to descend on the beach. i loved it here, the water was clear and blue, and you could walk quite a way out before it got very deep.
Cheung Chau Island........ We had a really fun day here,it was so hot, we got the fast ferry from central piers, took about 35 mins. there are quite a few shops here,and we had a quick look around ,and bought some hats before heading to the other side of the island to the beach. We went to the watersports centre and hired a double kayak(we did kayaking last time we were in Hk ) the sea was quite choppy,but we managed to get around the headland,where we found a beautiful little beach all to ourselves. after relaxing for a while we made our way back,singing nautical songs!!!.
before catching the ferry back we had a lovely meal at one of the many harbourside restaurants.we sat upstairs outside on the homeward trip,it was getting dark, and we had a great view of all Hongkong lights as we approached the island.
lantau island........... once again we got the ferry from central piers.last time we came to Hk we went to the budda and walked down from the cablecar,so this time we decided just to visit the south of the island,we tried to find the waterfall and temple, but gave up after getting lost several times, we went to silvermine beach, and had a small meal in the beachside cafes. we were not so keen on this part of the island,the water was quite dirty,and the beach was very muddy in parts..
i will continue later, just off to the gym( need to do some exercise after all the wonderful HK food we ate )