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.

Lamma Island

On Saturday I spent the day exploring Lamma Island with Anna, Kat and Lex. Just off the coast of Hong Kong Island, Lamma Island is a small island famous for its open-air seafood restaurants and quiet lifestyle. Lamma Island reminded a lot me of Fire Island (in NY) because there are no cars allowed; there were a lot of bikes at the pier when we first arrived but didn’t see too many people riding them on the island. Despite the lack of cars, we were still dodging people wherever we walked.

We took a boat from Central to Yung Shue Wan, Lamma’s main town. It’s a small little town with tiny streets and shops that sell the usual souvenirs and small restaurants. Arrivng in Yung Shue Wan, we wandered around the streets for a little while before settling into the Bookworm Café for lunch.

Bookworm Café is a little organic/vegetarian/vegan restaurant that Kat and I had read about in our respective guidebooks. It seemed rather interesting so we decided to check it out. The food ended up being delicious and the restaurant itself was great; it was in rather tight quarters but the walls were lined with bookshelves and quotes. It had that café feel to it.

After lunch we started the hour and a half hike to the other end of the island, Sok Kwu Wan. The hike showed us the different highlights of Lamma Island, including Hung Shing Yeh Beach and a few small villages and a jungle/forest. The hike was very hilly and I wish I wore sneakers instead of flip flops- I still don’t know what I was thinking when I got dressed that morning.

Kat, Anna, Myself and Lex at the top of the mountain

When we finally reached Sok Kwu Wan, a small temple greeted us, Tin Hau temple, and then we proceeded to walk along the open-air seafood restaurants boardwalk. There were a bunch of different restaurants, all offering the same thing for different prices while proudly showing off their selection of fresh fish.

First sights of Sok Kwu Wan

I was able to capture this one lady getting some fish right out of the tank for a meal. 

She had a little trouble getting the fish out of the tank but once she did it put it in the bucket 

and proceeded to weight it.

We hung out for a little while before settling into The Lamma Mandarin Seafood Restaurnt. We split a 4-person meal and feasted on prawn (shrimp), lobster, scallops, squid, fried rice and veggies. This was probably the most seafood I’ve ever eaten and will be the last for a little while. To eat the shrimp you had to crack the shell (?) because they still had their heads/bodies on; it took a little getting used to. And the lobster, well we thought it was crab at first, barely had any meat on it, but it was rather good. And the squid, well, I’ll just say I’m not a squid fan. I don’t think I ever was.

After dinner we were able to catch the ferry back to Central and wandered around City Super, a grocery store before heading back to campus.