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My first escape came in the form of a Sunday morning phone call from a few of my British girlfriends. They were heading to Stanley to lie on the beach and then grab a few drinks at the beach bars. Despite warnings that the beaches were “kinda gross”, I quickly threw some sunscreen, a towel and some magazines in a bag, put on my swim suit and dress and raced down to the central bus terminal to catch the 6X (an express line that takes you over to the south side of the island). We spent the afternoon alternately sunbathing and swimming out to the giant rafts a few hundred feet out. It was hot and there were a million people, but it felt like a min-vacation! The water itself was salty as hell (welcome to the South China Sea I suppose) and it was definitely a bit murky, but not horrible. (I did take a pretty thorough shower when I got home) When we got too hot we walked back up the hill and found a bar where we sat down, had some beer and chips and just chilled out. I went home with a little color, a little buzz, and a little content smile on my face.
On other South side trip landed me at Repulse Bay. Waterskiing on the South China Sea was just a really cool moment for me. The day ended with a charming fresh seafood meal and a pitcher of Pim’s and Lemonade on the terrace of a restaurant that overlooked the Sea. Sigh.
Repulse Bay
Another Stanley outing didn’t quite leave me with the same feeling. It was a Wednesday, a national holiday and hot as hell. I had sadly turned Tuesday into one long night and underestimated how hungover I was when I energetically hopped out of bed, got dressed and met some friends at the Peak Café for lunch. We headed over to Stanley to watch the annual Dragon Boat Races. This event under any other circumstances would have been so fun; the people, the music, the noise, the general revelry. Unfortunately my hangover kicked in and as my friends told me, I looked “grey”. Not really my color. The low point came when I was sitting on a doorstep, my group was standing and drinking a beer, and a homeless guy, who was asking everything that moved for spare change, took one look my way and then turned the other direction – yes the homeless guy didn’t even bother to ask me for money. What a sad moment! As my friends who actually stuck around for all the festivities told me later, there was a fireworks display, music, crowds late into the night on the boardwalk. Next year……
My favorite escape however, came in the form of a rooftop barbecue at a co-worker’s place. He lives in Shek-O, another little “beach town” on the South side of the island. When you get to this place you feel like you’re in some strange Asian hybrid of Greece and Bermuda. Winding streets with buildings built one on top of the other, some ancient, some newer, some with fresh coats of bright paint, little restaurants, bars and stores at the base of these buildings, crumbling streets, the occasional guy on a bike, hard to find front doors hidden down pathways, behind old twisted and knotted trees. Charming is the only word to use. My co-workers apartment was a matchbox, but the minute you climbed the treacherous steps to the roof and looked left towards the sea, back at the mountain and right at the far side of the HK harbor, you realize living space was completely unnecessary. We managed to walk around, swim in the ocean, listen to some reggae, eat, and drink under a crystal clear sky and in a scorching 100+ day.
