The sun is shining! Hallelujah! Although that means heat as well, so, you take what you can get – we’ll take sun and heat. We’re up, deck walked (no gym, we don’t have enough time, plus it is a great sail in through the harbor because we are docking at the good pier in Kowloon, right across the harbor from Hong Kong island proper)…
… coffee’d and back on our balcony for the welcome show of traditional Chinese dancing.
Needless to say we are ready to go at the gangway door before our scheduled 8am release time. We are hoping to get the 8:30 ferry to Lamma, which will be a push, but we think we can do it. Man makes plans and the Hong Kong Immigration people laugh. Holy cow. It literally takes 1 ½ hours for the Immigration folks to clear the ship. We think it is probably because not everyone turned in their landing cards as requested, because Amanda is calling specific cabins down to the Cabaret for face-to-face immigration. Sigh. How many people does it take to hold up an entire ship? We’re going to find out. (Spoiler – Ryzard later says it was the Hong Kong people who kept requesting spot checks on people and the ship finally had to put a stop to them – we’ll go with that…..but still…..).
Finally being released at 9:30, we make our way down through the huge port facility to find the Hong Kong tourist bureau waiting for us with a gifts: a fabulously cute bear luggage tag and maps. Doesn’t make up for a 90 minute delay, but it is still really nice! Then it is the 5 minute trek through the huge freaking mall before we finally find our way out to the Tsim Sha Tsui ferry terminal, grab some Hong Kong dollars from the ATM and hit the ferry dock. Here, we get our change from the ferry gate attendant, buy our tokens and hop on the upper deck of the ferry that will take us over to the Central pier for the Lamma ferry. We settle in for the quick ride across the harbor with excellent views not only of the Quest, but also across the water to Hong Kong.
We’ve done this before….sort of! We are actually recreating our 2008 visit here when we hiked Lamma island and had lunch in the fishing village of Sok Kwu Wan. Last time we were anchored in the harbor and tendered in, so the harbor ferry is new to us, but easy enough for us to figure out. The Lamma ferry we’ve done, so we know to go get change from the ticket booth then feed it into the ferry gate – and as happened last time, the gate attendant picks out the change we need to pay and puts it into the gate for us. Love it.
We end up getting the 10:10 ferry – and decide to keep our original plan to go to Yung Shue Wan and walk to Sok Kwu Wan, rather than going straight there for a super early lunch. It will be a little late for our usual lunch, and we do have White Night tonight, so we don’t want to fill up, but we’ll make do. The views of the city from this ferry are pretty spectacular as well, and we are happy sitting upstairs in the breeze watching the scenery slide by.
What I thought was a 45 minute journey ends up being about 30 and before we know it we are walking through the twisty turny roads of Yung Shue Wan, past restaurants and shops, out onto the paved “family” path that runs the length of the island. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island – except emergency vehicles and support vehicles, but don’t remember the amount of support vehicles from 15 years ago. There are tons of these ATV truck type things roaring up and down the paths. A little disturbing, but we get used to it pretty quickly and learn to jump out of the way when we hear them coming.
We pass through Wang Lang Village on the way to Hung Shing Yeh Beach where we recreate the phone call I made for work all those years ago. Ok, so it was simply a recreation because the phone booth is not the same booth, nor is it in the same location. This one is newer (of course!) and not on the beach. And over the course of 15 years the little beach has been built up a bit, with a much larger pathway, a large bridge-like structure and more restaurants. Progress.
Continuing on, we sort of forgot about the uphill slog this path takes. Phew. Glad we’re still in shape! The views are fantastic, just as we remember, and the huge power plant gets in the way of all the beauty, just as we remember! But regardless, it is a lovely walk through tropical plants and forests with great views across vistas.
Along the way we pass a bucket filled with these weird mop sort of tools. Turns out they are fire beaters! Wild to have something like that up here, completely unprotected or locked up, for the general public to use when necessary. We make it to the Pavilion (that has a sign on it calling it a rain shelter) at the crest of the trail and stop for a bit for pictures and a little rest.
Then it is off down the other side of the island, with more great forest and flora vistas until we finally get a glimpse of Sok Kwu Wan in the distance. We pass the Kamikaze grotto – which we definitely do not remember from our first visit – which is where the Japanese stored arms and ammunitions during WWII, and where they were going to hide their suicide speedboats, but the war ended before they completed their mission, leaving behind these grottoes or caves, dotting the island. Pretty topical since we were just at the Kamikaze museum and Ed is reading a book all about the Kamikazes.
Continuing down into the town, we visit the Tin Hau Temple, built more than 160 years ago, then into the little village proper – which is really just a collection of restaurants along the waterfront.
We peruse the options, but most have these huge set menus which are just too much food – and too expensive! As we continue to make our way down the line of places, one of the hawkers comes up and says Ala Carte? Yep – this is our guy. We grab a table on the water and sit back for a fab meal. We have a lovely young waiter/waitress (we’re still debating which pronoun he/she goes by so for here we are sticking with she for simplicity sake) who shows us how to wash our dishes in the tea she brings, then proceeds to just do it for us! She explains that this is a traditional thing to do, but she is the younger generation and they don’t do it any longer! She’s too cute.
Perusing the menu, I’m interested in the Garoupa fish, but she can’t really explain it even though she speaks perfect English. Turns out is in the Grouper family and I probably would have been fine with it, but to be on the safe side, I defer to sautéed shrimp with celery and Ed gets fried squid – the restaurant specialty which is battered with salt and pepper in the mix.
As we are waiting for our food, we look at the blog from 2008 and turns out this is the same restaurant where we ate 15 years ago!!!! Must have been fate! We think this might even be the same table! When our sweet new friend returns to the table, we show her the photo from 2008 and she is floored and so excited. She tells us that those are their old table clothes – they just changed them! And that this is her grandmother’s restaurant and she is so pleased that we are “regulars” – her word! Not ours. Too sweet.
When the food comes, it is just as good as the first time! The shrimp are massive and perfectly cooked in a nice light but spicy sauce . The squid perfectly fried and seasoned. We end up actually ordering another beer (oddly from Korea!) to continue to enjoy the food and the atmosphere. The first waiter guy – who had hawked us out front had told us it was his family restaurant as well, run since 1978 – comes over and thanks us for coming back as well! It’s so sweet.
Our waitress checks us out and while totaling up our tab, quizzes us about the cruise. Where are we going, what do we do on the ship. She’s always been interested in what happens aboard. She came back here to help with the family restaurant because of the pandemic, previously holding a job in Central where she spoke English all the time. Oh, and her mom is Filipino so she can understand a little tagalog. So we Salamat her and take our leave. It’s SE Asia, we know, but what a small world…or just a melting pot!
We still have an hour before our ferry back to Central and try to walk our lunch off, but the path from here is really steep and we decide not to bother. Lazy. I know, what can we say? Instead we hang out on the seafront enjoying a lovely breeze and pleasant weather and just the general island atmosphere until our 2:35 ferry arrives.
The ride back is uneventful, quick and again full of great views across the water.
We pay for our ride back at the ferry gate in Central – where I have exact change and the gate keeper takes paper bills, so all is well and we are back on the harbor ferry and on the Kowloon side of the city in a jiffy.
Back aboard, we even have time for the gym before strategically placing ourselves at a table on deck for white night. Just to be safe, we are outside at 4:45 where we find a fantastic 2-top on the top deck at the side where we can be as solitary as we desire! I go in and grab some drinks and we sit up there and watch the deck being transformed into the eating and dancing venue it will become. Not taking any chances, we take turns running downstairs for our showers and change of clothes, and are both situated and ready to go by 5:45 – a full 15 minutes before the buffet opens.
So, here is the weird thing: we didn’t need to rush or worry! This is the strangest White Night we have ever attended. There is virtually no one here at the beginning. We know this is an overnight in Hong Kong, and maybe that is the difference, but every other White Night we have had has been a scramble for seats unless you show up super early. It is just bizarre. There isn’t even a line for the food when the buffet opens. At 7:40 there are still tons of empty tables!!! Okie dokie. Times they are a’changing I guess! Makes it easier for us to go and grab what we want and then hang out the rest of the evening and enjoy watching everything going on around us!
And that’s just what we do – watching the party, snapping pictures of the city buildings being all lit up for night – including the Sky 100 building which has a light show all its own playing. Enjoying the local dancers that are brought on in their Lion costumes and generally basking in the nice weather from our excellent vantage point up on deck 10.
We were worried we’d miss the Symphony of Lights which Hong Kong puts on every night at 8pm – we had originally planned to walk down to the promenade to see it, but the way the ship is positioned, we are in a prime viewing spot and at a little before 8, we head up to Deck 11 to watch the rather non-spectacular show. It was pretty – laser lights flashing – and we don’t know what we were expecting, but it was sort of disappointing. Maybe because of the fog? Who knows, we still took tons of pictures and videos.
And hey, we saw it and we didn’t have to even leave the ship!
Back down in the cabin, we watch some programs and, because we ate so darn early, get into the snacks, breaking out the Okonomiyaki crackers which taste just like Okonomiyaki!! So very good.
And then it is lights out and an easy, wandering day tomorrow.
Andiamo 