Gold Coast and Cheung Chau Island

Last Friday night I went to Gold Coast with Lex, Anna G., Anna S., and Kat. Just a bus ride away on the K51, Gold Coast is a little seaside residence with a variety of restaurants and shops. We wandered around for a bit before deciding on a Thai/Indian restaurant for dinner. I ordered a huge bowl of veggies; it was delicious. I had been craving veggies for a while and this hit the spot.

 Anna S. and I at dinner

After dinner, we roamed around- we explored the Gold Coast hotel and then ended up walking along the beach for a while. It was so nice to hear the waves rolling in and out; it seems like it’s been forever since I’ve heard that. We also came across a BBQ pit area, where there was a bunch of people gathered around various fire pits cooking dinner.

 Gold Coast Hotel

On Saturday, Lex and I decided to explore Cheung Chau Island, located just off of Hong Kong Island. We grabbed breakfast at the canteen before heading out to the Central Pier, where we took a boat over to Cheung Chau. 

When we arrived at Cheung Chau, I was reminded of Lamma Island- lots of bikes and seafood, but Cheung Chau had its own personality. We roamed around the island (it’s only a square mile in size) for a while and got lost numerous times. We found Pak Tai Temple early on, and had our heart set on finding and exploring Cheung Po Tsai Cave but it was impossible for us to find. In the meantime though, we walked the ‘Mini Great Wall’ and got to see spectacular views of both Cheung Chau and the surrounding water. We walked along numerous beaches as well as seafood restaurants and shops. The seafood was similar to Lamma Island, in that it was all open-air/open market.

 Pak Tai Temple

 Part of the 'Mini Great Wall'

While we were walking around we kept seeing people eating this stick of fruit. It looked delicious and we went on a mission to find it and luckily we did. Although the fruit was frozen, it took a little bit of time for it to defrost, but it was delicious and held us over until we grabbed some Mexican food in Soho later on.

Hong Kong Park

Last Monday, Kat and I wandered over to Hong Kong Park, in hopes of crossing something off my “To Do/See” list as well as being productive on a day when we both don’t have classes. Hong Kong Park contains a greenhouse, an aviary, waterfalls, a viewing platform and many other things. We spent about 2 hours walking around and exploring; we lucked out because it wasn’t crowed at all, probably because it was a Monday, but it was nice to roam around without constantly running into or rather around people.

Our first stop was the greenhouse, but while walking there we stopped at a waterfall and took some pictures. When we got to the greenhouse there were three main parts: an ‘at room temperature’ room, a humid room, and a desert room, all providing different climates for different plants. {Kerri- you would have loved this place and all the plants}.

When we arrived and looked at the map we noticed there was an ‘Olympic Square.’ Although neither of us knew what it was, we wanted to check it out, so that’s where we headed next. It was basically just a small stadium that was constructed for the 2009 East Asia Games.

We were on our way to the aviary when we came across the viewing platform and decided to climb to the top. With only 105 stairs, it wasn’t a bad climb, but it was in a spiral, so it was a little odd (like the Fire Island Lighthouse climb, but a lot smaller). The view from the top provided a nice panoramic view of the surrounding area, which was mainly building, but we could see a snippet of the harbor as well as some mountains.

We finally reached the aviary after getting a little lost and climbing more steps, but it was well worth it. The aviary had over 600 exotic birds and an elevated walkway, which allowed us to see a variety of types. At one point Kat was standing near a sign and a bird came up and sat on the sign. It reminded me of Antarctica, when some animals would just decided to come up to the humans and see what we’re all about.

Birds eating some fruit...

Hong Kong Park is also home to the Museum of Tea Ware, which we ventured around in for a little while, mainly because the building had A.C. but it was very interesting to learn about the history of tea and tea ware.