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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Bonkers in Honkers (Part 4)

Up at 9am to find breakfast. We decided to walk to the parade of shops/pubs/restaurants in Happy Valley beind the race track gievn taht it was such a pleasant (albeit slightly warm) and sunny morning. Unfortuantley the Jockey and the Stable which I had in mind would probably do breakfast were both still closed so we ended up at a pub which I recalled visiting ater the 7s one year - cannot now remember its name and had a full English breakfast.

Given that it was such a beautiful day we decided afterwards to take the bus to Stanley again and then head on over to Shek O beach. Having collected our trunks from the hotel we caught the No. 6 bus which took us over the top of the Island (again fabulously clear views as we travelled down Repulse Bay Road). We then picked up a cab from Stanley Plaza to take us around the penisular to Shek O. This is a lovely drive as you are moving along the other side of Tai Tam Bay from where we used to live and can see Red Hill, Pacific View and Stanley in all its glory.

We got to the beach at around noon and the "deckchair ladies" in their large hats sorted us out some shade and places to sit (HK$90 for a deckchair and an umbrella - and she will install it all for you!). Despite the blazing sunshine I have never seen these ladies wear anything other than long trousers/jeans and full length shirts - they must get extraordinarily hot!

Shek O beach is set in a bay with cliffs at either end and a wide sandy beach dotted with lifeguard platforms. The car park adjoins the beach (and is usually extremley chaotic) and there are various small kosks and restaurants on one dside of the car park selling food, soft drinks and beach toys. There is one road in to Shek O (past a very exclusive golf course) and there is a lovely art deco bus station just as you get into the village. On weekends its gets very crowded as it provides easier beach access than the neighbouring beach up the road at Big Wave Bay.

We had a very lazy afternoon sunbathing and swimming (the water a little cooler than Dubai) and J and I bought some chips and samosa from one of the little kiosks in the car park for lunch.

I left Dad and J on the beach later in the afternoon and headed back to the Hotel to get changed and then on to the tailors to pick up my new suit. I then headed over to the office to meet up with some of my former colleagues for a few drinks. I ended up going for drink with N at The Junk in Wanchai where we ran into one of the many old style consultants (MB) who appear to have been in Hong Kong forever.

I then headed back to Stanley where I met up with Dad and J at Spyagio on Main Street where I had one of Rolf's famous tenderlion steaks. Rolf is another character who seems to have been in HK forever. Originally from Austria he used to manage a large hotel before coming to Stanley and making Main Street his home (he used to operate the restaurant Main Street before moving to the end of the road taking the chef with him). We then went for a couple of beers in Smugglers - another part of the HK environment that never seems to change (- still as seedy as ever!) and then headed back to the Hotel for a final beer and then to bed.

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