Cheung Chau Island - March 20

March 20 – I got out early today and looked at a few of the hotels on my list. One was booked, another turned out to be way more expensive than they had advertised on the web site. The one that looked good is a place that is run by the Salvation Army. The rooms are under $100 & I took a look and they are decent. It wasn’t anything fancy or elegant, but clean and respectable. I would stay there if on a budget. So that was good to know that there is something at that price range.

It was a really nice day so I decided to treat myself to an excursion in the afternoon. There are still a few islands that I’ve not visited & want to see if they are worth taking visitors to see. I got the 2:30 ferry to the island of Cheung Chau. This is a small island not too far away from HK Island. According to my guide book it is the most heavily populated island on HK, considering it’s size. I purchased a first class ticket (only about $1 more) and you get to sit outside on the deck. I sat down & a young woman sat next to me. I had noticed her at the dock & thought that she looked like a tourist. She asked me if I knew anything about the island.

As it turns out she was a tourist. Her husband is here on business & she decided to take a weeks vacation & join him. They live in Germany, but are both from Argentina. She is 28 and was delightful. Obviously her English was very good. I told her about myself and that I was just going to wander the island & invited her to join me. She was just spending the week wandering around HK on her own & said she’d love the company. I brought my guide book with me that shows a route to take around the island to see the major sights. There are not many. We walked along the water front which was mostly tourists shops & restaurants. Definitely not the nicest waterfront I’ve been to. There are no cars here, which is nice, but there were souped up gold carts zipping all over. By souped up, I mean to be used as construction vehicles & such. They were constantly honking at you to get by. It was really annoying, but then they probably think tourists are equally, if not more annoying, so we’re even.

Next up was a temple that was very nice. We went inside & I explained to Caroleena about the incense and the fortune sticks. There was a very helpful couple in the temple & the man spoke excellent English. He gave us the history of the temple & said if we wanted he would read our fortune. His price was reasonable so Caroleena went for it. He did a great job telling the fortune (I feel like I’ve become something of an expert on this). It is really good entertainment, so you like them to make it a good story.

The path then lead us across to the other side of the island and a very nice beach (the island is about 100 yards wide at this point ). There is a nice walk along the beach, which has lots of surf, & swim shops that were closed it being winter. At the end of the beach is the thing the island is most known for (well besides the beach & sea food restaurants), and that is their rock carvings. These were found in the 1970’s, but are believed to be over 3000 years old. Not much to look at, but impressive they are that old. We continued up the path along a steep trail. We tried an overgrown path off the main road, but didn’t get very far. We laughed that we like to take the path less trodden, but that our husbands would probably have a fit if they knew that we did this so often. We decided it is just because the love us so much (group awhhhhh).

The main road/path wandered by another temple, nothing impressive, a huge sports complex, many many apartments & a gigantic cemetery. There is a section that goes through CARE Town, called this because funds from CARE helped build the community. It was mostly little shacks with old folks sitting out front smiling at you as you went by. There was one woman cleaning tiny shrimp & setting the out on drying racks. She thought is very funny that I wanted to take her picture. The far end of the island was not as populated, but still by no means deserted. We wanted to get the to very end of the island where there was supposed to be a cave that at one time was occupied by a famous pirate captain. We made it there, but there was no real cave. There were signs all around (in Chinese) lots of huge rocks that you could sort of hide under, but not cave. It was definitely a let down. But it had been a nice walk and the scenery was good.

We went back a short way to another village on the water & out onto the pier. There was a small water taxi that was just leaving to go back to the main harbor. We hopped aboard. I think the fare was $3 (US40cents). We made it back to harbor just in time to catch the ferry back to HK Island. When we returned we decided to go visit the tallest building in HK; the IFC building. We had both heard there was a public observation deck & it was a clear day. Unfortunately by the time we got there, 6:30, it was closed. The man informed us of the hours & that it is on the 55th floor. Another trip.

We found a bookstore at the mall so Caroleena could get a newer HK Guide book. A friend had loaned her one that was from 1990. I helped her find the office where she was to meet her husband at 7pm. I left her with many suggestions for the remainder of her week in HK & offered to be her tour guide if she was interested. We parted company and I think both felt it was a good day & we’d made a new friend.