Cousin Time

On the 2nd day of Ryan and Alecia's trip, I took them back to Sai Kung, the same park Drew and I had visited a few weeks earlier. The beach is just too picturesque not to visit. We took public transit this time to get out there. I think from the time we left our house til when we got to the trailhead was about an hour and forty minutes, so it certainly isn't the closest place around. But, that's what makes it less crowded and beautiful. Ryan and Alecia killed the hike, despite it being again very hot. Those two never complained for a second! During the hike, you pass through this tiny village that owns a herd of cows. The cows free range wherever they like to go. Last time, they were off the trail, so we never had a problem. This time though, a mom was on the road with her tiny baby calf behind her. If there is one thing I learned from hiking in CO, it's that you never try to get between an animal and her baby. So, needless to say, we had to do a bit of bushwhacking to get around this stompy mama cow. Moooo.... Where is dad to make his classic cow impressions when you need him? These aren't the actual cows, but you get the idea. The mom did have short horns like that though.

Once we got to the beach, we went over the the restaurants to grab lunch. I was nervous about this part, as I wasn't sure if they would be open, seeing as it was a weekday. Luckily, one out of three was open, so we didn't have to rely on my plan B of granola bars. But, I had a plan B this time! See, I'm learning! Sweet and sour fish. Mmm mmm good.

We spent a few hours in the water, bobbing around and relaxing. Again, super warm water, and nonexistent waves, so it's like sitting in a beautiful bathtub.

To get back, instead of hiking out, we took an awesome boat ride from the beach back to the main Sai Kung pier. It was about a 40 min ride, and it was a blast. It was super choppy at the beginning, but our driver didn't care. We pounded through everything, throwing us all over the place. We also passed some amazing rock walls, coves, and islands we'd have never seen otherwise. It was a great journey, and well worth the money. 

That evening, we had a dinner party at our place with some of our friends here. There were about 8 of us all together. One friend named Andrew made a kick ass Cambodian dish, while another, Pavel, made a fantastic sausage and pepper risotto. And he nailed it! A risotto! 

The next morning we slept in a bit, then made our way to the south side of the island to see the expat side of things. We went to the Stanley market, where again Ryan and Alecia haggled like pros. Then, we went and grabbed lunch at a pizza place along the main water front. Not going to lie, it was nice to have a bit of Western food for a change. 

We slowly made our way back to the other side of island, stopping for views, more markets etc in Stanley. For dinner, we went to a favorite sushi place called Genki sushi. Its nice because its high quality stuff, but its not expensive and its relatively fast. We loved the soft shell crab hand rolls.

That night, we went to another one of my favorite places, the Happy Valley horse race track. Normally, you can walk right into the track. This time, however, it was packed because it was the last race of the season. As such, we actually had to wait outside for about 45 min until we could get inside. It also started to pour, but luckily we were in a covered area and didn't get soaked, unlike a lot of people. Ryan and Alecia really embraced the spirit of the track, including the betting and socializing with other westerners, and seemed to have a lot of fun. I think Ryan actually won a few times, but I did not. When you pick a horse placed solely on the name, that's bound to happen. Granted the name was Griffindor.....