Wednesday 26th March, 2014
Last month, I was lucky enough to have even more visitors from the other side of the world, in the form of Em and Harry!
Although the title of this post is Day One, this only refers to my first day off work to play their tour-guide. They had actually been here for 4 days already, expertly tour-guided by Jess to Victoria Harbour, the Nan Lian Gardens and Wong Tai Sin Temple over the weekend.
While Jess and I were at work, they also ventured over to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery and Ocean Park.
So I figured, since they’ve already seen so much of HK’s city life, I’d take them to see another side of Hong Kong, starting with Lamma Island!
This is the third largest island in Hong Kong, located to the Southwest of Hong Kong Island.
With a reputation for alternative, laid back lifestyles; it is popular with expatriates, younger generations, artists and musicians.
The harbour is lined with seafood restaurants and as you delve into the island a little further, you’ll be greeted by quirky shops, pubs and multicultural restaurants, blending Western and Chinese Island life.
I imagine Em and Harry had gotten a little bored of Asian food already, as they were just as excited as I was when I spotted The Banyan Bay Cafe, serving up some epic lookin’ fry ups!
Harry tucking into her smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast!
While Em and I both ordered fry-ups; I’d been craving a decent one since I’ve been here!
Hands down the best fry-up that I’ve had in HK and I’ve been here for over a year, so that’s saying something! 😉
Also Harry and I would full-heartedly recommend their mango juice – it’s SO GOOD!
Leaving with happy tummies, we headed over to the Tin Hau Temple.
These are typical places of worship in Hong Kong’s coastal communities because Tin Hau is believed to be the goddess of the sea, thus protecting fishermen and ensuring full nets.
Moving on, we wandered in and out of shops selling handicrafts from Southeast Asia, quirky boutiques and organic food shops!
I also saw a little girl waving an awesome bubble wand in front of us…so obviously I bought one as soon as I found a shop selling them!
Best $12 I’ve ever spent 😉
I’m not gunna lie, I got a little bit over-excited…
We continued to leave our bubble trail all the way to the beach!
I’m awesome.
These guys are alright too.
HOW ADORABLE! ^.^
Harry’s facial expression in this series of photos is hilarious! It goes from disgust/confusion…
to laughter…
to joining in with the party…in her own special way 🙂
This is one of my favourite photos from their trip; I’ve never seen Em pretending to be a T-Rex before!
After a lot of paddling around in the sea, lounging around in the sun and getting a great sand exfoliation from Harry…
…we set off on the walk over to the other side of the island, Sok Kwu Wan!
We got some great shots of the power-plant on the way too! 😉
#POWERPLANTSELFIE
Warning: Inception vibes about to go down…thanks to Harry and Em for letting me nab their photos!
Bubble party by the power-plant!
The natural views were beautiful in the sunshine!
Just in case you forgot what we look like 😉
We passed through a little rural spot…
…and found a house decorated with a giant, creepy pig!
Our next stop was the peaceful Lo So Shing Beach, hidden away beyond the greenery.
Em and Harry wanted a photo of them jumping, which is actually really difficult to capture, so I’ll spare you guys the dozens of outtakes!
Harry also had some more ‘cool’ ideas for us the try out…
This also happened.
After making the most of the empty beach, we made our way back onto the trail.
When we finally got over to Sok Kwu Wan, we were greeted by another Tin Hau Temple!
Check out this little fella playing guard dog!
I was pretty excited to check out this side of the island as I’ve never visited before!
The area was lined with seafood restaurants and live seafood – my kinda place 😀
As we decided to call it a day and head back the city, we realized that we hadn’t thought to check the ferry timetable before we set off…
Although the ferry that we were supposed to get wouldn’t be arriving for another hour or so, we luckily found another ferry heading to Aberdeen that was due to leave in 10 minutes!
Rockin’ out some Asian poses 😉
This actually worked out much better for us, as the lack of windows provided us with better photo opportunities, along with a lovely sea breeze!
Unsuccessfully teaching Em another classic Asian pose.
No-one’s impressed.
Harry looked much more photogenic.
Well, for about a second anyway!
So long, Lamma Island, thanks for having us! 😀
As we made our way back into the city, we met Jess for dinner in Wan Chai, courtesy of Em and Harry who had kindly offered to treat us in return for staying at our flats!
Free food and quality time with pretty girls – can’t complain! 😀
Jess also took us to Carnegies for free ‘champagne’ on Ladies’ Night, but unfortunately we’d all been photo’d out for the day so didn’t get any shots in there. Just imagine a small, dark room filled with music posters all over the walls and the four of us around a table with our plastic champagne flutes!
I also wanted to say a very BIG THANK YOU to Em for letting me nab some of her lovely photos! 😀
So that concludes Day 1, stay tuned for Day 2 😉
xxx
Love seeing all those photo’s! Seemed like a great trip!
Melane | Oh Sweet Remedy
It was so much fun, we were so lucky with the weather too! 😀 Thanks for your lovely comment xxx
Lovely photo’s 🙂 It looks like you had so much fun.
We really did, though I look a bit mad in 99% of the photos, haha! :p Cheers for the sweet comment! xxx