A Day at the Beach
Had a wonderfully day at the beach in Repulse Bay today, courtesy once again to Julie's wonderful hospitality. It was definitely a perfect day to go to the beach - warm sunshine, a light cool breeze, and as an added bonus, a relatively small crowd given that it was a Saturday afternoon. To think that this was supposed to be the typhoon season (Taiwan and Japan had been struck a matter of days before) merely added to my luck in the combination of such ideal elements.
The south side of Hong Kong island is a thoroughly different world almost, lacking much of the hustle and bustle of the main city areas, its claustrophic compression of people and buildings and vehicles into such a small space, the endless rush of a whirlwind of humanity. That is not to say that there were no people - just to say that the South side had a much more relaxed feel as evidenced by the people thronging the beaches, swimming languidly in the bay. Part of the reason for this is no doubt due to the fact that it is divided from the north of the island by a large chain of hills and is thus relatively more inaccessible (not even linked by the MTR line) than Kowloon on the opposite shore on the Hong Kong mainland. So it was wonderfully relaxing, lying on the sand in Repulse Bay and going for a swim out towards some floating platforms that lay drifting nearby. In a completely arbritary point, Repulse Bay is apparently named for the British warship of the same name, who along with her sister ship the Prince of Wales, was sunk off the Malayan coast in 1942.
Afterwards, we went to Stanley Market, famous for its souveniers and knick knacks and had a stroll around before dinner. It was nice enough, though a bit of a tourist trap, and I didn't get anything except a set of chopsticks which will provide very useful back in the UK. Then, we met up with Greta for dinner at a Thai restaurant in a wonderful old oriental style stone building nearby. When I commented that it seemed a bit odd to build something like this here, I was proven correct. Apparently, that building at originally stood in Central and was one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong, but redevelopment work meant that it stood marked for demolition. Protests led to the authorities agreeing to preserve the building - in a completely new location, thus its regenesis overlooking Stanley Bay. We ate along the side of the buildiing overlooking the bay, at a lovely Thai restaurant which was quite traditional. A fantastic experience watching the bay, and the lights on the hillside.
Afterwards, we went to a nearby pub for a drink. It is apparently one of the oldest pubs still present in Hong Kong, and one could see its origins serving the British sailors and expats who had escaped to the area for some rest and relaxation. In that respect, it's name - The Smuggler's Den, was aptly named. The pub also featured as decoration hundreds of dollar notes of various currencies and denominations, often with messages written on them. Needless to say, they were of a small enough value that patrons weren't tempted to make off with them!
To end the evening, went off to a karaoke social organized by Krizia for her Merril Lynch colleagues. I met lots of interesting people there, and it was wonderfully refreshing to know that ibankers are not only actually human, but really nice people to boot. Most of the night was spent listening to cantonese/chinese songs though, but I did impress myself with actually recognizing a few of them. All in all a wonderful Saturday evening.
The south side of Hong Kong island is a thoroughly different world almost, lacking much of the hustle and bustle of the main city areas, its claustrophic compression of people and buildings and vehicles into such a small space, the endless rush of a whirlwind of humanity. That is not to say that there were no people - just to say that the South side had a much more relaxed feel as evidenced by the people thronging the beaches, swimming languidly in the bay. Part of the reason for this is no doubt due to the fact that it is divided from the north of the island by a large chain of hills and is thus relatively more inaccessible (not even linked by the MTR line) than Kowloon on the opposite shore on the Hong Kong mainland. So it was wonderfully relaxing, lying on the sand in Repulse Bay and going for a swim out towards some floating platforms that lay drifting nearby. In a completely arbritary point, Repulse Bay is apparently named for the British warship of the same name, who along with her sister ship the Prince of Wales, was sunk off the Malayan coast in 1942.
Afterwards, we went to Stanley Market, famous for its souveniers and knick knacks and had a stroll around before dinner. It was nice enough, though a bit of a tourist trap, and I didn't get anything except a set of chopsticks which will provide very useful back in the UK. Then, we met up with Greta for dinner at a Thai restaurant in a wonderful old oriental style stone building nearby. When I commented that it seemed a bit odd to build something like this here, I was proven correct. Apparently, that building at originally stood in Central and was one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong, but redevelopment work meant that it stood marked for demolition. Protests led to the authorities agreeing to preserve the building - in a completely new location, thus its regenesis overlooking Stanley Bay. We ate along the side of the buildiing overlooking the bay, at a lovely Thai restaurant which was quite traditional. A fantastic experience watching the bay, and the lights on the hillside.
Afterwards, we went to a nearby pub for a drink. It is apparently one of the oldest pubs still present in Hong Kong, and one could see its origins serving the British sailors and expats who had escaped to the area for some rest and relaxation. In that respect, it's name - The Smuggler's Den, was aptly named. The pub also featured as decoration hundreds of dollar notes of various currencies and denominations, often with messages written on them. Needless to say, they were of a small enough value that patrons weren't tempted to make off with them!
To end the evening, went off to a karaoke social organized by Krizia for her Merril Lynch colleagues. I met lots of interesting people there, and it was wonderfully refreshing to know that ibankers are not only actually human, but really nice people to boot. Most of the night was spent listening to cantonese/chinese songs though, but I did impress myself with actually recognizing a few of them. All in all a wonderful Saturday evening.
posted by Caleb Liu | 6:41 AM
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