Cheung Chau

Several weekends ago, a local friend, Shirley, took several of us to an outlying island called Cheung Chau. It took about a beautiful 1 hour ferry ride to get to the island. and then we got to explore!

The first thing we did, at Shirley's suggestion, was to try a local snack of fish balls in a sauce. They were....interesting. Not bad per say, but not what I expected. It was like someone blended a bunch of fish meat, then packed it into a ball, boiled it and dunked it in a sauce o your choice ( i got satay and its kind of like a watery, spicy bbq sauce). I'm glad I tried it, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. One food that we had there that I really do want again was this egg waffle thing. I'm pretty sure it was just a sweeter, buttered waffle in a form that looked like massive bubble wrap but whatever it was,it was delicious. Another good meal (I promise eating wasn't the only thing I did) was dinner, when the six of us shared some grouper in corn sauce, sweet and sour chicken and calamari that was all very delicious as well!

Other than trying food we could only get at the island, we explored some of the beautiful features. This island is known for having been a trade point for several pirates. So, after renting bikes to get around the island faster, we made our way to these caves that the pirates used to smuggle goods through. On the way up there were some beautiful views:

The cave itself was short (thank goodness) because it was a small cave that had one point where you needed to turn to your side, suck in and shuffle your way through. That part nearly gave me a panic attack, but thanks to friends (and literally light at the end of the tunnel) I made it through with only a minor scratch! It was cool, and I could do it again because I know what to expect (but I'm pretty sure I'm never going to). After the cave we took a detour to a beautiful ocean front path before heading back to town:

In town we made our way through the local streets and its shops. They sold everything from shoes and bags to glass figurines, shells and friendship bracelets. It was like the Florida Keys meets Hong Kong.While we were shopping, we managed to catch an incredible view of the sunset before we made our way to dinner and the ferry home.

Despite being a shorter day (we were only on the island for a several hours) we were all tired. So, back at the dorm, we all showered and then got together for a relaxing movie (cheetah girls baby!!) before calling it a night with this on this incredible day.