Cheung Chau Island

When we saw that the forecast today was sunny and +30, we thought we better take advantage and head to the beach! It gets cooler this week- *only* highs of 23, and rainy. When we went to Lamma Island last Saturday, we saw how easy it would be to get to other islands because the ferries all leave from the same place. So we decided to check out Cheung Chau Island since we knew there was a beach there, and thought it would be easy to find. It's even smaller than Lamma Island, and is similar to Lamma in that there are no cars or roads. Just lots of bicycles! The island used to be a refuge for pirates. It is also famous for a bun festival that takes place in the spring.

We really liked Cheung Chau. Dare I say better than Lamma? I don't know... maybe it's because it was so sunny and we were all in great moods (not always the case on these day trips, I must admit). It also seemed a bit more open, and slightly more touristy, but not in a bad way. In any case, it was a really good day. The girls slept on the 1/2 hour ferry ride there, so they had lots of stamina to make it through the day, and I think they had a fun day.

Annika and Mike enjoyed swimming, but there were strong waves (lots of people go to windsurf), so Leila and I stayed near the shore.

Leila would gather little treasures she'd find in the sand and then run to the water to wash her hands. She'd wait for the waves, and sometimes she got really wet!

So funny...Leila noticed a girl was burying her boyfriend in the sand and stood and watched for a long time. Eventually Annika quietly moved in and began to help. She figured they needed her efforts too, I guess. After a while, Leila got brave and helped pat down the sand too. We're wondering if we can do that to Uncle Lincoln in Bali???

Skies are not always this blue in Hong Kong! Such a charming little place...

I saw so much beauty everywhere I looked. I loved the bright colors- so much yellow everywhere!

Annika took the photos of me and Mike and the one of Leila (we just had our old little point-and-shoot along this time). She knows how to do a really cool photography trick where she gets Leila to jump up and down and then covers the flash with her fingers!

For supper, we had pad thai at the water's edge. I tell ya... does the view get any better than that?!

How fortunate we are to enjoy this lovely day in Cheung Chau!

PS. this post was also a bit of an experiment in photo collage. good? bad?

PPS. have we convinced anyone to come visit us yet?