This morning we checked out of our hostel with the intention of making it over to the backside of hong kong island, namely Stanley and Aberdeen. We hopped on the MTR and passed under the ocean to hong kong island central station. Once we got off, I realized something really really dumb: I had lost my MTR ticket. Somehow it had slipped out of my back pocket. After you ride, you must return your ticket to exit. We went to information and they said they typically charge 50 HKD for that, but they'll let it slide this time, thank goodness. We lugged our luggage through the underground tunnels to the airport MTR station to lock our luggage for the day. Then we found exchange square to catch our bus.
We took bus 6x, headed for Stanley. You see a whole different side of hong kong. The back side of the island is green, with clear ocean and yellow sand beaches. There are people sailing and kite surfing, and even some swimmers. It felt like a whole different city, when it really is only a half hour away from it all. We walked through the stanley market to pick up some last souvenirs, the we went looking for some lunch.
The food here is really westernized, with some basic Chinese for those purists. We settled at one of the many waterfront burger joints, choosing it because apparently it had the self-proclaimed 'best burgers' of them all. Mom went for the soup and dumplings to be nicer on her stomach, but I went the burger route. It was actually delicious, their western food was better then their Chinese in Stanley, and the views and sun couldn't be beat.
We returned to the bus terminal and found a mini bus for Aberdeen. These busses only seem to have 2 settings: fast or really fast. They just whipped around these hairpin turns. But we made it safe and sound to Aberdeen, a small fishing city about 20 minutes from Stanley. The harbor was beautiful, with hundreds of boats moored and even some massive yachts. We took a free boat ride to a floating restaurant we didn't actually intend on eating at, jumbo kingdom. We took in the views, then made our way back to the Aberdeen bus station for the bus back to central hong kong.
We retrieved our pain-in-the-butt luggage and walked 5 minutes to the ferry terminal. This time we bypassed the star ferry pier and went to pier 6 for the ferry to mui wo. Mui wo is on Lantau island, one of hong kong's many islands, and it happens to hold the airport on it's edge.
The ferry took just over a half hour, and it had some great views. Lots of green islands and beaches. We arrived in mui wo and hopped on the bus to tai o, another village on Lantau island. The bus took about 45 minutes and it was a pretty stunning ride. The island is mountainous, green, and lush. It has untouched sandy beaches. We took it all in as we made our way to tai o.
Tai o is an adorable Chinese fishing village, keeping to traditions like we saw on mainland china. They are very adapted to the sea; a very large portion of the houses are elevated on stilts and built over the water, with their little fishing boats moored to the stilts. The houses were tiny, ramshackle, and way too cute. We made our way to, not a hostel, but a B&B! We decided to treat ourselves on our last night. We dropped off our bags and walked along the main market alley to find some dinner. We went to a pretty packed Chinese restaurant that had an English menu. We shared an amazing meal; stir-fried vegetables in a mild, teriyaki-like sauce, poured over fine fried noodles. It was so delicious. As we were finishing up, we watched an employee catch a fish in their fish tank outside and bring it in to cook for someones meal. Yum?
We walked around a bit after, enjoying all the stalls along the alley. A lot sold either live fish in tanks, or dried fish hanging up. I wish I liked fish more, I'm sure it's amazing here. We wound down some tiny roads, when an older Chinese man with very good English struck up a conversation with us. He told us some about the culture around here, and the way of life. He led us to a path that brings you to a wooden boardwalk that walks through all the stilt houses, connecting them. It was a neat walk, we hadn't realized how many stilt houses there really were, and that you could see them so up-close, yet unobtrusively. He gave us some dried kumquats to try, apparently a specialty of the area. Then he tried to see if we wanted to buy some post cards. We just had to laugh. Classic china.
We made our way back to our B&B, and organized our stuff for tomorrow. I just can't even describe how fast these days have flown by.