Lantau

This past weekend, after my intense bout of Harry Potter reading, I and my fellow summer associates were invited to visit the home of Sam, a personal assistant at Cleary who has a home on Lantau. Few people live on Lantau, because of the 30-minute commute and the "rustic" nature of the island, but it's largely undeveloped and beautiful, and so a popular weekend destination. We were lucky enough to get the best of both worlds - a bicycle tour of the most beautiful sights and an afternoon relaxing and playing pool at Sam's wonderful home.

Sam and her husband Dave met us at the ferry, where we rushed off the ferry with hundreds of other leisure-seekers. Lantau is mainly a bike island, especially in the town of Mui Wo - in fact, we were greeted first with the sight of hundreds of bikes parked at the peer. After a couple of drinks at the China Bear to start off the afternoon, we went and rented our own. It'd been quite awhile since I'd ridden a bike, but I acquitted myself fairly well - no new scars to add to the collection!

We first had lunch at a local outdoor Chinese restaurant - dish after dish of delicious, authentic noodles and vegetables and seafood. I've been on something of an eggplant binge since I've been in Hong Kong, and order it at every restaurant possible. Fortunately, this place didn't disappoint! The restaurant was also filled with cats, who seemed clean, well-fed, and not at all destined to show up in our fried rice.

(Just to be safe, I avoided the chicken.)

Next, we biked over to Sam and Dave's place. It was a lovely 15 minute ride through a local village center, along concrete paths, and to the very end of the road. In fact, the house is only accessible by foot or bike, which is especially amazing when trying to imagine how the pool table made it up! Unlike a lot of people on Hong Kong Island, Sam and Dave have a large garden filled with beautiful flowers, grass, and papaya trees. The house was older, and had been redecorated some since Sam and Dave moved in ... however, the tiny and amazing tilework was authentic Hong Kong. Dave had made a lot of the doors and furniture himself, Sam did some painting, and altogether they created a welcoming home!

We played a few games of Killer (basically, the pool game of Horse), which I quickly and effectively lost, and spent some time smothering their poor dog, Fluffy. After relaxing a bit from the oppressive heat, however, it was time to be the tourists that we are! So we packed up some water and beer, hopped back on our bikes, and rode back through town.

Our next stop was a beautiful waterfall. Sam and Dave grumbled about its recent inclusion on tourist maps and in guidebooks, and I must admit there were more people there than I'd like, but we clambered over wet, moss-covered boulders to a waterfall in the back, where wiser people dared not tread, and were mainly left alone. Hong Kong is VERY hot, and this was the first any of us have been able to play around in the water all summer - water fights and waterfall showers ensued, of course, and we all had a great time.

Finally, though, it was time to climb out ... I managed to slip and fall on the way, but as I was already soaking wet, it was far from problematic. Next was a "silver mine," which Sam warned us wasn't much to look at (it wasn't), but first a 10 or 15 minute hike up a mountain path. By the time we reached the mine, my calves were aching, but Sam claims that some people make that walk EVERY DAY! (We did pass houses even past the silver mine, so I guess she must be telling the truth.)

The best part of the day wasn't the specific sights we saw - like I said, the silver mine wasn't all that spectacular - but the experience of getting out in nature again. Hong Kong Island is so shiny and sterile, and while I love it, I often miss the green - but Lantau is nothing BUT green! We saw animals, huge banana spiders (not my favorite, but so cool looking), and plants galore ... and it was amazing to breathe fresh air for a change, even if it was still at 85% humidity or some such nonsense.

After hiking for awhile for an awesome view of the harbor, we decided that the sun and the walking had gotten the best of us, and went back down the side of the mountain. One last bike ride, and we were back in town, for a lovely Italian dinner, some fabulous conversation, and then the fast ferry back to the Island. An exhausting, exhilarating day, and an awesome opportunity to see the other side of Hong Kong.