Beaches: The heat became so stifling that the only enjoyable outdoor activity was a going to the beach and Hong Kong being an island there are numerous beaches spotted throughout the country. The first beach excursion landed the other teachers (Sara Beth, Tripp, Amy, Rebecca, and Tracy) and I at Stanley Beach about an hour away from our apartment. There was a great little market close to the beach with little souvenirs, clothes, fabric and other random things. The beach itself was very nice with a great view of the outlining islands. The ocean though was dirty and had a ton of trash along the shore! Hong Kong gets so much water traffic that the pollution and dumping effects the beaches and oceans tremendously! Even though, in typical Hong Kong fashion, workers were cleaning and picking up trash all day, the water was still littered with trash. After catching some sun and walking around the walking around the market, we prepared ourselves the the white knuckle bus ride back to town.
Another trip to the South China was to Man Ho Tin, an island that required a ferry ride to get there. The ferry ride was more of an old timey Chinese style boat (see picture) where you felt every wave and bump on the ride. Maggie had arranged a Chinese style BBQ at this island for all the teachers. In 100* weather we gathered around an open charcoal BBQ pit and started cooking. Most of the unidentified meat was delicious but I got a surprise when I bit into a squid ball!! After a lovely day on the beach, Maggie treated everyone to a local Hong Kong seafood dinner. Located next to the open air restaurant was tanks with all types of interesting fish, crab, lobster, other types of shellfish and even starfish! As Amy pointed out to me, these were not aquariums, these fish were about to be eaten! You could literally point to a specific fish, take it out of the tank, and then have fresh fish for dinner!
Dinner was interesting to say the least and the plate that gets the award was the chicken plate with the head displayed on the plate looking back at you as you eat.This was not the last time I had close encountered with chicken heads. This was a dinner that I was happy to experience and is very typical for Hong Kong locals, but I'm not planning on making this an every week affair.
