Hong Kong Summer! (Finally)

After a month of rain in June it felt like it would never stop. It finally has, and the weather has been hot and mostly clear. Last week we had the highest pollution ever recorded in HK, but that was a typhoon blew everything from Taiwan this way. Other than that mostly blue skies. As I look out the window now I am reminded of the next typhoon as it's been raining all day.

This is Tai Long Wan. The nicest place in Hong Kong, maybe all of China. The only way in is by boat or foot, and it's never crowded. The water and sand are amazing. The water is nicer than Cancun.
Not many boats were crowding this stretch as we hiked down.
One of the many flowers in full bloom along the hike.
To get to the tiny village you have to brave this pathetic looking footbridge, which didn't break by the way.
Hiroki managed to capture one of the small crabs that run along the sand.This was another area of Sai Kung we went to on a junk boat trip. Taking a boat is much nicer than hiking in, and at the end of the day when you're tired you can enjoy the sail back to HK Island.You are free to jump off the boat and swim. Not much danger of sharks as there are constantly boats and jet skis moving about.

Lamma Island

Last weekend I went to Lamma Island with a few co-workers. The plan for the day was to be lazy and sit in the sun. The +33 sun. Fun! We rented an umbrella on the main beach to keep from melting. Other than sitting on the main beach, which is hardly worth mentioning as a beach as it is ridiculously filthy, there are a few other things to do on Lamma.The main ''attraction" would have to be the big wind turbine. You can walk right up to it and feel it vibrate as it spins wildy out of control. Actually it stops when the wind is too strong. Also from the top of the hill where the turbine sits is a good view of the rear-side of HK Island. Please note the blue sky, it does not happen often. (usually only after 2 weeks of solid rain)Here is a list of things you can't do on Lamma. About all you're permitted to do is sit on your ass and be quiet. Oh feel free to clean up after all the dirty hippies though. (Lamma is known as Hippie Town by some HKers)Walking up the path to the turbine we saw this funny leaf which looked like it was floating/dancing in the air. Turns out it was caught in a huge spider web spun by one of the many gigantic spiders that inhabit this part of the island.

Lei Yue Mun - Seafood 'Bizarre'

Sunday we 'tried' to go for seafood at one of the popular local seafood places. Lei Yue Mun is right across the harbour from HK Island on the Far-East side of Kowloon. We took a short ferry ride over and then the fun began.

The look of the fishing village was pretty much what I expected, but it was a little more crowded than I thought it might be. Also it was very smelly, like fish - big surprise! The idea of Lei Yue Mun is that you go look at the large tanks of sea creatures and pick out what you want to eat. I had read that you didn't 'need' to do this, but it was popular. I don't know a whole lot about how to choose anything from the ocean, so I was thinking we could just order off a menu. Wrong! The place we went had menus, but no prices, and it didn't clearly explain the cooking fees if you did bring food. Our waiter spoke zero English when we asked about how we were supposed to bring our own fish. Feeling a little out of place and knowing I was going to get badly ripped off most likely, we decided to eat somewhere else. Although we didn't end up eating in Lei Yue Mun, the experience was interesting. Huge tanks line the sides of a very narrow alley-like pathway of seafood stalls. Again, not knowing how to buy fresh seafood, and given most people spoke no English didn't exactly make me too comfortable.

I'm sure regularly it's a great place to eat, but I'd only go again if my friend(s) spoke some Cantonese to help out. It was interesting that the seafood hawkers were only talking to me whilst ignoring the locals. That really made me feel like I would get totally ripped on the price. Oh well, next time, next time...

Lots and lots of fish. Some small, some massive. If you like creepy crawlies, this is the place for you.

Local transportation/housing.

Welcome to Ping Chau

Ping Chau is a small Island located in the far North-East regions of Hong Kong. It is actually closer to China, much much closer. So close, that they have immigration boats circling around to make sure people are not swimming away from China to escape. To ride the ferry back to mainland HK, two police officers checked everyone's ID. There is another island in Hong Kong called Peng Chau, so a 'Tung' has been added to make it Tung Ping Chau to avoid confusion. The island is a whopping 2km across, so it can be hiked rather easily. Without taking photos I don't see any reason why it would take more than an hour to walk around. We were there the whole day, so everyone took their time taking photos and exploring some of the interesting rock features around the island.

While we were waiting for the return ferry, members of our group decided to spontaneously start jumping. Maybe they got too much sun?

It's a very nice island, although it take at least 1.5 hours to get there. That's how long the ridiculous slow ferry took. A speedboat would maybe take 20 minutes. Also the ferry departs from University Station, which is about an hour away from HK Island East. We had to wake up quite early in order to catch the morning ferry. The water on TPC is very clean, aside from the side that faces China which is littered with trash everywhere. The south side is much much nicer. >more Photos

Don't do this in Tung Ping Chau.

So let me get this straight, as long as I'm authorized, it's perfectly fine to spear-fish while water-skiing being pulled behind a water scooter, and I have to make sure I'm not enjoying myself? I'd like to see that waiver form...

Ng Tung Chai Waterfall - Tai Mo Shan Park

There are many small waterfalls in HK, but Ng Tung Chai is supposed to be the biggest in the country park of Tai Mo Shan. It also gets some of the most rain in HK. After getting lost in the small village of Ng Tung Chai, we finally found the start of the trail up to the waterfalls. Maybe it's because I can't read Chinese, but I'm pretty sure the trail was not very well marked in the village. I was expecting it to be jam packed because it was Sunday, but the trail was quite dead. There are 4 waterfalls in all, and it took about 1.5 hours of hiking/stopping/photos/eating to get to the top. If you were just hiking up it would probably only take 30 minutes if you were quick. The 4th waterfall is also 'closed' due to a landslide, but the trail remains marked with a warning to proceed at one's own risk. Having hiked in the Rockies in a snowstorm or two, I'm pretty sure it would not have been to bad, but we didn't go past the 3rd as we were already sweating too much. The picture above is from the 2nd/Middle waterfall. Also I saw a nice green snake trying to hide. It freaked Mai out, but I remember reading somewhere that there are not any poisonous snakes in HK, except for pets who have been let out in the wild maybe. There were many small lizards, and birds everywhere who are very noisy. All in all a great place to hike, but it does take awhile to get there from HK Island. It was very hot and humid, but lots of shade. The rain makes the trail very slippery, but the waterfall gets bigger after a nice rainfall. Bring lots of water!

Directions: Find your way to Tai Po Market MTR station. From there, the bus 64K will take you to Ng Tung Chai. Most of the buses now have electronic displays of the upcoming stops in Cantonese and English so that is very helpful. I believe it was the 18th stop. Once off the bus, follow the small windy paved road (about 20m from the bus stop) up the hill to the town of Ng Tung Chai. The hiking trail is on the right hand side of the road walking up from the highway. It may be marked but not in English. The trail is paved up until a large temple/shrine. Past the shrine there is a map showing the two trails up to the waterfalls. It would be nice if this map was at the bottom of the hill! If you get lost, draw a picture of a waterfall and I'm sure someone will point you in the right direction.

Hong Kong Hikes

Lately I've had a bit of the hiking bug. There's so many places in Hong Kong worth exploring I feel as if I haven't even seen most of the New Territories. During the Easter holiday, we went hiking in Sai Kung, out towards the eastern shoreline to a place called Tai Long Wan. This is a picture just up the hill from Sai Wan Beach. I also posted more photos of the area on my photoblog as well.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to another area in the NTs, close to Tai Po. It's called Tai Mo Shan country park, and it's home to the tallest peak in Hong Kong. It's not big by mountain standards, but there is frost there quite often. I'm hoping we can find the place called Ng Tung Chai waterfalls. They're supposed to the best, and some of the only, waterfalls in HK.