Wednesday 24 April 2013

Mui Wo, a dip in the South China Sea, and a sleeping Buddha (or Mommy, can we please stay here?)

So I'm back in Mui Wo. Another case of checking ferry departure times at the Central Ferry Piers and being of the opinion that time waiting for a ferry can be time wasted!  The one for Mui Wo left first ;-)

 
Why did I not see this beach last time I was here?  Right, I was chatting with bigoted BRITISH Expats at a TURKISH restaurant in China, eating Sole from NEW ZEALAND outside a restaurant that had a view of the Bus terminal, while the Chinese Seafood Place in the Cooked-Food Market has a 180-degree OCEANVIEW terrace as I discover to my horror and to my shame (See:I was rewarded by Karma for my stupidity in the perfect fashion ;-). I missed this restaurant!

Someone with European features but a kind of Samurai hairdo is sitting there already, skillfully attacking some yummy-looking Chinese dish with chopsticks. When he notices me, he starts pointing at his plate or table and keeps nodding vigorously.  To this display I just say " So THIS IS THE SPOT.  I already ate, obviously at the wrong place, because THIS IS THE SPOT to eat". Either he is a slow chewer or a mute, since he keeps nodding even now a grin had appeared on his face.  After "Next time !!!" from me and still not a word from him, I turn around and start looking for a way to the beach.

 
Ancient Dragon Boat



By now I almost know the best routine for the quick casual swim:  Strip to my undies, make a big pile of backpack and clothes and leave it on the beach, bite into my wallet and go frolic (All things in your wallet still work when they are wet or have teeth marks, but without it you're screwed ;-)  When wet and cool enough one can just grab one's stuff and walk to the changing rooms (every beach with a  roped-off swimming area seems to have those), where the wet undies end up in the backpack.  I never brought spare ones or a towel and never missed either. The view my clothes had from the beach with a chubby white German magically removed from the picture:

That was nice!  One last look back,
and I start making my way back towards the ferry terminal through the village. Some impressions of Mui Wo Village:
OLD


















Friggin' IDIOT EXPATS refuse to eat LOCAL food!
Another OLD


















No Rip-Off Car-Repair shops ;-)

Mui Wo Market

















Chris-safe fish-drying



Fish has to be dried somewhere.  Space is at a premium in Hong Kong, so why not use the sidewalks (The small number of cats in HK comes in handy in this). Of course, they did not count on a clumsy German who keeps staring up at the sky while walking and starts wondering how that friggin' headless fish got stuck to the bottom of his sandals!  These people here in Mui Wo must have heard of me and my clumsy feet:














This trip has been great already, but I now remember the reason why I decided to take the ferry to Mui Wo again: Buddha lives on this island. Last time I took the truly impressive glass-bottomed Skyride from the other end of the island to visit Buddha but even though the Skyride is a MUST DO, once is enough.  There is one taxi cab waiting close to the ferry terminal and for a price of HK$140 he takes me on the half-hour car ride to Buddha. The route is absolutely amazing. It varies from deserted ocean beaches to cliffed mountains and the road sign that warned of wandering cows is too too applicable as I find out when staring into too many cow faces.
But by now I'm too tired to ask him to stop for the purpose of having tourist moments, which is also the reason I ask him to wait "For an hour maybe" at the car park close to Buddha.
Taxi cabs in Hong Kong/Mui Wo have a HK$ 20/15 base rate which gets you 2 kms. After that it is HK$ 1.5/1.5 per 200 meters up to a total amount of 70/130 HK$. Above that amount any 200 meters or 1 minute wait will cost you 1.2/1.3 HK$   So the possible wait of 60 minutes would have cost me CAD$ 10.

Quick Buddha summary:  Buddha goes to sleep (The Gate closes) at 5:30 pm and it is 5:40pm by now.  A gruff guard eventually steps aside from the gap he is guarding to let me take this picture. As tired as I was and as much as my feet hurt already: I really would have liked to walk up those stairs again!
Maybe tomorrow ;-)
















After a 'Fast Ferry' ride back I ignore the pleas from my feet to take a HK$20 cab back to the hotel and start the 30 minute walk along the water. Good thing too ;-)
The soul-less ICC seen from close to the Macau Ferry Terminal

Moon over Hong Kong

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