Advertisement
Published: February 7th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Happy Lunar New Year readers! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday... wherever you are. Well, holiday season just ended here in Hong Kong, and boy am I glad that I have a 2 week-break before work starts again! Just the perfect opportunity to do something that I've never-EVER done ever since my settlement here in Hong Kong about 3 years ago.
Now for a little intro... *ahem*
Now we all know that Hong Kong is famously known as the city with that majestic skyline overlooking the Victoria Harbour. As biased as I may sound, I agree; Hong Kong has the best skyline in the world, as also said by many people. But, the majestic skyline's popularity is so high, some places in Hong Kong are often overlooked by tourists. Hong Kong might only be a small station, but it's not just an ultra-modern city. You might not know this, but Hong Kong actually boasts some of the most unique islands in the whole world, and guess what? Alot of tourists (and even the locals!) do not know about these places (but now you will know!). And so, this is what brought me the idea into this mini-Hong
Kong island-hopping adventure of mine. 😊
I have already planned my itinerary which will all happen within 2 weeks, and I'll be visiting 4 local islands; 2 of them which are probably already well-known to tourists, and the other 2... well, you'll just see for yourself. First up on my itinerary is
Cheung Chau Island, and can I just tell you that the real reason why I really wanted to do this is in the first place is because of the Hong Kong leg in the reality show "The Amazing Race: Season 17"? That episode gave me the inspiration to visit those kind of unique places out here in Hong Kong that are yet to be discovered by travelers.
I started my day by waking up at 7:15 in the morning, since I wanted to catch the 9:00 ordinary ferry to Cheung Chau. Why that early? Hmm, let's see. I live in Tung Chung, the MTR ride from Tung Chung to Central takes approximately 30 minutes, and I was very unsure of where to go! It took me less than 30 minutes before I found the ferry piers once I arrived at the IFC mall, and I made
a sigh of relief when I realized that I still had a few minutes before the boat leaves!
It was an hour ride from Central to Cheung Chau, unlike the Fast Ferry which only takes about 30 minutes. But nevertheless, the journey was spectacular. While cruising, I often looked out the window & I was amazed by all the boats (yes, boats!) that I saw. The boats varied very differently from each other; vessels, cargo ships, sampans, hydrofoils, and even tiny fishing boats. You name it, I guarantee that you will see a huge variety of boats while cruising, and they are definitely a spectacular sight.
Upon arrival in Cheung Chau, it was a very busy morning. People were working, cooking food at stalls, shopping, and many other things; it was definitely a very hectic & noisy morning. This is also the first time that I'm traveling without any maps, pamphlets, etc., so I had to rely on directions & information displayed throughout the island. I had no idea at all on where to go once I arrived, so I decided to go with the Peak Road route, as it was suggested by the tourist map itself.
Making my way along the tall houses that surround the streets, I made my way through
Tung Wan & Kwun Yam beach, located on the eastward side of the island. The whole beach area was a pretty quiet area, with only a few people in sight hanging around on the beach. It was pretty ironic, considering that I just went from a very noisy & busy side of the island, into a relaxed & quiet side of the island. Seriously, you can barely hear any noise, except for the waves crashing onto the sand & rocks.
I went up a hill to make my way to a
"Mini Great Wall" and some various attractions which involved some rock formations. The trail was very quiet, and the fact that there weren't people around as I was walking made me feel a little bit paranoid. The Mini Great Wall just turns out to be a part of the trail, except with carved rock ledges that match the trail's color. I've never been to the real Great Wall of China, but the whole trail definitely wore me out! When I reached the dead end of the trail, there was an another trail
down by the hill which leads to a trail by the sea. All I saw there was a bunch of rocks with no unique features at all, but at least the view of Tung Wan & Kwun Yam beach from that point was breathtaking. It was then I described Cheung Chau as the "Mediterranean Island of Hong Kong".
Ambitious, no? I wanted to see some of the rock formations designated in the map (particularly Vase & Human Head rock). Unfortunately, I did not spot them at all, and instead I got lost in a path with haunted houses all around the trail. Well... not really haunted. Some of the houses I passed by looked more like it was abandoned, but some of it had a creepy facade that made me feel nervous & paranoid... thus calling those houses "haunted". Giving up on searching for those rock formations, I continued my trek on the Cheung Chau Peak Road West towards
Cheung Po Tsai Cave, the known top attraction of this island.
I guess it's also worth mentioning that I passed by the
Cheung Chau Cemetery as I was walking towards the trail. If you think I got scared, I
didn't. In fact, the whole place actually made me feel relaxed. And also... I'm not honestly sure how I can say this, but as I was walking around the cemetery, I suddenly felt like I wasn't tired anymore; as if my fatigue magically disappeared. Yeah, I can be crazy sometimes, but trust me, IT'S TRUE!
After minutes of walking, I finally reached the path towards Cheung Po Tsai Cave, and surprisingly enough there were tourists! Oh how I missed the tranquility of my early morning trek already. There was nothing really special about the cave, except the fact that the cave was named after the pirate Cheung Po Tsai, and he used the cave to store his treasure. Nope, no treasure there. Too bad, but at least the rock formations around the cave seemed very unique. There is also a famous rock formation near Cheung Po Tsai Cave called
"Reclining Rock" by the coastline, which was also pretty amazing. On top of that, the rocky coastline was overall an amazing sight.
I didn't have time to try out the local delicacies since I'm traveling on budget as much as possible, but look how it turned out. On this
day, I only spent $23 on my ferry fares alone!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.09s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0368s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Ricky
non-member comment
Hey!
Hey Lana! Its Ricky from HKPU! ^ ^ I really enjoy reading your pictures & blogs la, and I've never been to Cheung Chau before! I also saw it on Amazing Race,just like you said. Looks very beautfiul there. Thanks for sharing!~ ^ ^