Cheung Chau

Squid in front; seafood hotpot in back

After I picked Paul up at school we MTRed it down to the Central Piers to decide what we would do with the rest of our afternoon.  We wanted to go somewhere new, but hadn't really done much research into what's out there, so the decision was up to the ferry schedule.  Whichever leaves next, we're on! Turns out it was the ferry to Cheung Chau from pier 5.  There was a decent crowd so we were feeling pretty confident that it wouldn't be a total disaster.  And it wasn't!  CC is totally charming and I can't believe we'd never even heard of it before!  Immediately off the 45 minute ferry is a bustling street with restaurants, hotel hawkers, little shops and street food.  And bikes.  Lot of people on bikes.  We walked a bit and settled on a cute little restaurant right on the water overlooking the fishermen coming in with their daily catch.  After being served tea we ordered garlic squid and a mixed seafood hot pot.  Both were yummmy!  Chinese food is kind of growing on me.  Especially when it involves seafood and it's not over the top greasy.  Then we wandered onward.  Every 2 feet I would Paul and drag him into yet another jewelry, clothing, or home goods store.  Everything was so cute and so different than stuff you can find on the island.

Walked a little further, which turned out the be the other side of the island, and we found the beach!  Being a grey and misty kind of day, it wasn't ideal for beach, but you could tell this would be chock full of people had the sun been out.  The beach was definitely one of the prettier ones I've seen here, although because it was kind of an alcove it sort of collected a bunch of trash.  Maybe by summer it'll be cleaned up.  Hm.  As we walked down the beach we saw one of the tourist attractions- Ancient Stone.  It's a big rock with a circle carved in it behind glass, so high off the sidewalk you can't really see it.  Oh and it's at the base of a hotel.  Very odd.  Walk a little further though and you find the real gem of the beach- the Wind Surfing Club.  You can rent kayaks and wind surfing boats AND there's an attached restaurant and bar.  Paul and I sat seaside at this deserted bar sipping cocktails (Paul a beer) at sunset (even though you couldn't see the sun).  Twas quite lovely.  But was getting late and we had a party to attend.

I can't wait to come back here once the weather's nice.  It would be a great place to explore more, eat yummy seafood, and get your tan and swim on.  Hopefully it won't be a zoo all summer!

View from the restaurant

Paul and I got on our sauciest best, as per the theme, and went over to Catherine's for a rooftop party.  Are you guys having rooftop parties in Feb?  I love HK.  It proved to get a little too cold for all us girls in skirts/dresses, so we eventually moved it inside, but man, Catherine has a gorgeous view!!  It's in the heart of Wan Chai and over looks basically the whole city.  Pretty spectacular at night to see all the lights going off.  But being the old people we are, 1 am rolled around and we decided to trek home.  A short cab and we were back sound asleep after a very exciting day.

So yeah, add it to the list for visitors; Cheung Chau.  Happy Monday and beginning of Social Media Week.  Guess who has a press pass.  That's right; this kid!

Big Open Beach.  Asa!