Temperatures took a fairly sudden turn for the cold in the past few weeks here. Foley remarked how 'soft' he's gotten when he required a sweater to go out for his morning coffee this week when it was 17 degrees outside. Generally temperatures are still around the low 20's, but when they dip below 20, we bundle up.
I had been meaning to do a blog post on summer fun in Hong Kong... coming up to Christmas seems like I've left it a wee bit late, but I still think these stories are worth sharing.
My top 3 favourite things to do in HK in the summer:
[disclaimer: NOTHING is much fun in mid-summer 40-45+ degree heat... It's like the opposite to Canada... There most people hibernate for the winter, hanging out in the central heat and by fireplaces. In HK people hibernate inside in the summers, getting out of the heat and into AC as much as possible to movie theatres, malls and in our homes. However, these activities were some of the most fun I had while sweating buckets this past summer.]
#3 - Beaches, beaches, beaches!
Although my standards for cleanliness seem to have laxed, a lot, I appreciate the great number of accessible beaches in HK. If you want convenience, a 20 minute taxi ride to the south side of the island will get you to several beaches (only 2 are truly clean enough for me to swim at). If you have more time to dedicate to getting there, the outlying islands and New Territories of HK offer even cleaner, less busy and more beautiful beaches. All public beaches have shark nets in specific roped off swimming areas for extra security and peace of mind. (Jaws played a lot on HBO this summer). Most often I went to a beach called Shek O, with my American friend, Meaghan, where we read books and napped between dips. Lovely.
#2 - Glamping with Friends
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| Safari campers... a very comfortable sleep |
Glamping is glamour camping... it's camping made easy for city-folk. My favourite camping experience here (my only one) was at a site on Lantau Island. With a few girlfriends we booked a 'safari camper' which is a semi-permanent structure pre-set up for you, complete with air-beds, bedding, air conditioner, table and chairs. We only had to show up with food and drinks for the night. The sites also offer tee-pees for rent (they were booked up or we would have checked those out), water sport equipment for rental and they come by to light your campfire for you (as long as you prebook that too). The beach there was absolutely beautiful and almost completely empty (a rare treat in this megacity). One interesting element of Lantau Island are the wild cows that roam around everywhere. It's hilarious, but when walking around at night, you need to beware of cow patties, and not to startle them. The campsite even had fencing to keep the cows out of the manicured grassy areas.
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| Bethie with the vino |
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| Gillian and Rina at our camp table (filled with drinks.. hehe) |
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| Rina with the air conditioner |
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| Teepees for sleeping |
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| Rina and I being silly in the tent |
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| Just a random wild cow, roaming the streets (photo by Beth Haines) |
#1 - My Trunk on a Junk
A common and awesome HK tradition is to go out on junk boats in the summer. The boats can be booked for groups around 20-or so people and generally you book them through a bar/restaurant that provides all the food and drinks for all the people on the junk, at a very reasonable price for the day (about ($60-70 CDN total). It's wonderful because the junk boats go to areas around HK where the water is cleaner, then they drop anchor and you swim from the boat. It's a great way to beat the intense heat of summer. I spent most of the summer with morning/all day sickness, so we only went on one day junk, but there were lots of opportunities for more junk trips, and next summer we will certainly take advantage.
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| Swimming off the back of the boat |
Alternatively, you can also book 'night junks', which generally tour around Victoria Harbour where you can watch the nightly laser light show while drifting by the downtown skyline, enjoying music, food and drinks. This was the way we spent my friend Rina's birthday, and it was an awesome and truly Hong Kong way to celebrate her day! Super fun.
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| Stunning HK in the afternoon sunshine |
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| Rina & Dustin on Rina's night junk party |
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| Pat & Gillian |
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| The beautiful HK skyline |
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| Rhys and Natasha |
Although my standards for cleanliness seem to have laxed, a lot, I appreciate the great number of accessible beaches in HK. If you want convenience, a 20 minute taxi ride to the south side of the island will get you to several beaches (only 2 are truly clean enough for me to swim at). If you have more time to dedicate to getting there, the outlying islands and New Territories of HK offer even cleaner, less busy and more beautiful beaches. All public beaches have shark nets in specific roped off swimming areas for extra security and peace of mind. (Jaws played a lot on HBO this summer). Most often I went to a beach called Shek O, with my American friend, Meaghan, where we read books and napped between dips. Lovely.
A common and awesome HK tradition is to go out on junk boats in the summer. The boats can be booked for groups around 20-or so people and generally you book them through a bar/restaurant that provides all the food and drinks for all the people on the junk, at a very reasonable price for the day (about ($60-70 CDN total). It's wonderful because the junk boats go to areas around HK where the water is cleaner, then they drop anchor and you swim from the boat. It's a great way to beat the intense heat of summer. I spent most of the summer with morning/all day sickness, so we only went on one day junk, but there were lots of opportunities for more junk trips, and next summer we will certainly take advantage.
Alternatively, you can also book 'night junks', which generally tour around Victoria Harbour where you can watch the nightly laser light show while drifting by the downtown skyline, enjoying music, food and drinks. This was the way we spent my friend Rina's birthday, and it was an awesome and truly Hong Kong way to celebrate her day! Super fun.
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