Hong Kong is not only a city. It’s a archipelago too. One day I gave myself a mini break and decided to make a trip out to an island to find a beach. I went to the quay and found myself a ferry that would take me to the island of Lantau where I had read about a nice beach. It was so refreshing to be on the water and to see the city from this vantage point. And it was nice to leave the bustling and noisy masses of cars, buildings and people behind me for a while.

On Lantau Island I found a bus that took me to the pristine beaches of Cheung Sha. It was quite amazing that only a short ferry and bus ride away was this beautiful beach nearly devoid of people. Only me, myself and the warm waves of the South China Sea. Pure bliss!

Of course Hong Kong is about food!  One favourite restaurant was Crystal Jade. Oh the number of delicious dishes I had here! The Dim Sun was spectacularly good here and the lovely bowls of noodle soup I had here were many and all of them yummy.

Another one was Sama that I found thanks to Eyal. It served Japanese curries, something that I haven’t encountered before. And it also has a fun way to order meals. First one has to choose the strength of the dish and then the other main ingredients. The strengths ranges from mild which is 1-6 called Baby Bear, medium 6-15 is called Adult Bear and then there are dishes which are seriously strong called Crazy Bear ranging from 16-30. I had a Baby Bear nr 3 and that was plenty strong for me! The folks who had the level 30 dishes have photos of themselves on display on one wall. I don’t know if this means they have survived. Or haven’t…

Nosh on Tai Ping Shan Street is a good place for a brunch and if you want to people gaze.

For a good dose of local flavour I took the tram to the wet market on Wan Chai Street. The wet markets are characterised by selling live seafood which is quite unique. It’s always fascinating to watch the vendors and their skilful handling of the sharp tools of their trade that testify of many years of experience of using them.

The surrounding streets around Wan Chai Street had markets stalls that seemed to be selling just about everything.

Kowloon has a flavour of it’s own. It felt distinctly more Chinese for some reason. Perhaps because it’s actually situated on mainland China?

In Kowloon I had a photo shoot in Sean’s small studio apartment. What fascinated me here was the placing of the bed. It rested partly on the windowsill, many flights up of this high-rise building! These buildings often have broad windowsills and this is a way of making use of much needed floor space. For me with my fear of  heights this was slightly scary.

Facing Hong Kong Island on the Kowloon side waiting for the Star Ferry to take me back I watch it light up as dusk settles. Good bye “Pearl of the Orient”! It has been fantastic!

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer