Big Wave Day at Big Wave Bay October 14, 2006

We had been talking about getting out to Shek O or Big Wave Bay to check out the beaches for a week or two. They are two beaches that are a bit more remote on Hong Kong Island and have a reputation of being a bit cleaner. So the timing was perfect when we got the email invite for breakfast at Big Wave Bay Saturday morning. There is nothing as nice as finding a new area in Hong Kong with people who have been there before.

We meet up with our friends and went to the taxi stand. The two families jumped in two cabs and it was the first time I could say, “follow that cab” and really mean it! Cab riding is worth a whole blog entry by itself. There are no back seat or car seat rules for kids. It scary and freeing at the same time. But that’s for a later time. Our cab driver was very nice and actually spoke some English. He was able to point out some of the sights on the way. We wound up around the peninsula that we see from our apartment. At the end of the road we got to a parking lot. The cab left us and we walked down a road filled with surfboard rentals and soft drinks stands.

At the bottom of the hill the beach opened up into a pretty bay with rock outcroppings and green hills on both sides. A small river ran down the side. We pulled tables together at a shack that turned out to be a nice café. Walking up to the counter I had no idea we would be eating pancakes with fresh strawberries and café lattes. There were three families together. But the expat community is small. Soon Steven ran into two co-workers and Austin and Ally ran into a friend and his family.

The area is a Hong Kong paradise for escaping the feel of Hong Kong’s concrete metropolis. There are rock tide pools with small fish and waves just barely big enough to surf. We played for several hours catching waves and digging in the sand. I caught a great video of Dad and Austin boogie boarding together. We’ll post it online soon. The boys also started to make a sand castle with a moat, but the girls soon invaded and through some kind of strange beach imminent domain law, re-zoned the territory as “Fairy Island”.

Of course, it is still Hong Kong and still China. There was trash everywhere. I tried to pretend I didn’t see the dirty diaper on the beach. It would have ruined my day. But I couldn’t resist taking a photo of a modern art project some expat kids were making with their trash treasures. It included old gloves and a dead fish.

We wore ourselves out playing in the waves and building sand castles. Not to mention we were all getting a little pink. So we packed up. After cleaning up in the showers, we took a short hike to an ancient rock carving. It’s over 3000 years old from the Bronze Age. I don’t know what were expecting, but I have to admit it was a tad bit disappointing. Maybe it was the McDonalds wrappers and juice boxes strewn around the site that took away from the wow factor or the broken railing near it. But it did make me look back at the bay and wonder how it looked 3000 years ago. I am sure the water was clear and sparkling and the skies blue and haze free.

The kids were hot. The kids were tired. We were near core meltdown. We hiked back up the hill to find a cab. While it was easy to get a cab near our busy apartment, there wasn’t a cab in sight in this remote beach area. Finally a minibus to Shek O came. So we decided to pile on that hoping to find more cabs in Shek O (another beach down about a 5 minute drive away). We got to Shek O, which is definitely bigger and more bustling, but still no cabs. Some parents watched the kids while the others ran around the town in search of the allusive red cars. After searching for a while here, we found one and said, “screw it,” let’s just all pile in. So we piled 9 people into a cab and headed home. Of course, seeing hungry tired kids in the car we decided to head directly to the club for a quick meal.

Big Wave Bay will be on our list to do again. It was a hidden golden nugget of Hong Kong. We got home with just enough time to shower and go to a classmate’s 5th birthday party. Only to rush home for Steven and I had dinner out with another couple. Sometimes it feels like we need a day to relax after our weekends!