It was a dream come true for me to visit an island of fishing villagers around Hong Kong's 261 islands. I had only lived at my sister's house in Lantau Island back in the late 1980s. That was before the new Tsing Ma Bridge was built to link the new Chek Lap Kok Airport after the closure of Kai Tak Airport in 1997. Those days I had to commute daily by speed boats from her home at Discovery Bay in Lantau Island to Hong Kong daily. Whenever it rained heavily, all the residents would be left stranded at the pier at Hong Kong Island as the seas were rough with choppy & dangerous waves.
The weather was really good and little warm. Their weather reports lied that it would rain everyday but it didn't as God was kind for me to enjoy the holidays. We took the MTR train until Central in Hong Kong. Walked briefly to the Pier 5 and passed the panoramic view of the high rise buildings. It started to get hot inside the crowded boat ferry and I was well prepared with a paper fan. I was truly the only 'aunty' with the paper fan in the whole 2 decked boat!!! Everyone jealously stared at this 'aunty' from Malaysia while sweating profusely as there was no air con in the cheapo boat we took. You need to pay more for the other luxury boat with air con which we boarded on the return journey.
The boat was huge and comfortable except that there was no air cond. The
journey from Pier 5 took 55 minutes to reach the pier at Cheung Chau.
We passed many islands along the way including Lantau Island, Tsing Yi,
Lamma Island and many others.
The big ferry boat berthed at the pier and it was fun all the way. There was a big crowd as it was a Sunday which happens to be the eve of their Annual Dragon Boat Race and Bak Chang Dumpling Festival. It was sunny hot and we bought frozen fruits to eat. It was so delicious to enjoy the frozen watermelon and pineapple! Try to make them at home.
It is a famous fishing village and you could see live fishes being sold at the markets. Lots of fresh seafood everywhere on this island. Can someone please tell me how to eat sun dried starfishes?? They are selling like hot cakes there.
We saw several dragon boats having their last minute practices before the finals the next day.
It is truly a very relaxing place away from the hustle bustle city life in Hong Kong. We love this island so much that we planned to stay there for 1-2 nights on our future trips.
This famous swimming & picnic spot in Cheung Chau has been filmed thousands of times in the TVB dramas & HKG movies. I had to do what the locals do and stripped my clothes off to jump inside the sea! All my HKG friends and relatives were stunned in disbelief to hear that I really went swimming there as they had never swam there all their lives!
We had lunch and dinner there with beer to celebrate. The food was very delicious and tasty. I am not able to write out what I ate and exactly how the juices oozed out of my mouth as I am no foodie blogger like others. I could only advise you to visit Cheung Chau for day trips.
Next post: The visit to the famous pirate Cheong Po Tsai's cave in Cheung Chau.
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