Beaches

One of the most surprising things about Hong Kong are the beaches.  I had been under the false impression that Hong Kong was just a concrete jungle. Well there is plenty of concrete, steel, and glass here, but by using the excellent public transit system one can alight on a lovely, quiet,  tropical beach within 45 minutes.  We have explored three beaches out of the 150 that are around Hong Kong.  All are very well maintained, clean with nice shady trees nearby, changing areas, and plenty of life guards perched high on watch towers.  The water is clean, salty, and warm but great to swim in.  A large shark net protects us from the wolves of the sea.  Hong Kong has also lots of hiking trails through thick jungle.  Once the humidity fades away in October and it cools down to plus 25, ewww frigid, we'll start exploring some of the hundreds of km of trails that, again, are relatively close by.      


The peak is a must for anyone who comes to Hong Kong.  Once you get past the five floors of tourist traps and pay a small fee $4.00 Canadian you come onto an observation deck with an incredible view of Hong Kong and Kowloon.  We certainly were impressed, but we liked the back view the best.  The South China sea and some of the islands that make up this archipelago can be seen.  We also liked the public bus ride up to the peak.  Great views, a harrowing scary trip on narrow roads made it very interesting.  Finally we walked down from the peak through an interesting jungle.  Very cool