Stanley Beach 赤柱 and Repulse Bay 淺水灣
I remember when I was little or even during the summer time when I came back to Hong Kong to visit my grandparents, I would wake up before the sun came up, bring a bucket and a shovel and get into the car with my grandpa for his daily morning swimming routine. His favorite spot was a more deserted area of Stanley Beach where he would meet his early morning swimming buddies and swim all the way out to the point where I can't even see him anymore. Same morning routine every morning at 5am for the past 50+ years. After his swim, he would take a quick shower and drive to the bakery to grab pineapple buns as breakfast for the people at home and the daily newspaper before heading home. Those were the days.
Stanley Beach will always have a place in my heart (mainly because there is only one winding road that looks like you're going through a forest and you have to go through this narrow bridge to get to the other side). To get to Stanley Beach via public transportation, we had to take the MTR to the very last stop on the Island Line-- Chai Wan and get on the 16X. This was the first time since I've been back to get on a mini bus and boyyyyy was it rough.
We made it! Without anyone falling off their seats.
Walking around Stanley Market is quite interesting. I don't recall walking around this part of Stanley, mainly because it's the tourist area. But this sign below caught my eye and when I read it.. well it basically says, enter this dark little alley for all this food. (╯°□°)╯
We also happened to stop by the Tin Hau Temple at Stanley. I took a picture of the history below: It's quite interesting.
After a ton of walking around, our bellies were begging for some milk tea and condense milk over toast. I actually OpenRice'd this place which happens to be one of the hidden gems of Stanley. They said this place had the best condense milk/toast and milk tea in the area as well as the Satay Beef sandwich. So of course, we had to try it. I'm glad I took a picture before we dug in because it was gone in no time. So good! The service was nonexistent.. but what do you expect!
Refueled and ready to go! Our next stop was Repulse Bay, which is where a lot of the movies are filmed in Hong Kong. We had no idea where we were going so we basically did it the old fashion way! Yep, asked strangers for directions. But we still ended up getting off at the wrong stop and had to walk our way (like 2-3 more stops) to Repulse Bay on a VERY NARROW sidewalk (not even) with cars whizzing by like it was nothing.
We made it! Alive! Again! It was such a pretty view.
The nearby road is currently under construction and apparently in (I'm guessing) late-2014, there will be shops opening around the area for tourists to visit and hang out. Like this picture below: Ben & Jason's and Duncan Donuts. Mmmm?
We actually stumbled into another? Tin Hau Temple in Repulse Bay, which is quite interesting as there is two temples around the same area. We actually entered through the back entrance and it was quite creepy since there was no one else around until a group of Korean tourists came along.
We ended up following the Korean tour guide, since he has to know where he is going! And he brought us to the real entrance of Tin Hau Temple. The Guan Yin statue is HUGE. The biggest statue of Guan Yin I have ever seen. So pretty and well kept.
We ended up following the Korean tour guide, since he has to know where he is going! And he brought us to the real entrance of Tin Hau Temple. The Guan Yin statue is HUGE. The biggest statue of Guan Yin I have ever seen. So pretty and well kept.
This little bridge is the Longevity Bridge. It is said that your life will be prolonged for three more days each time you cross it.
There are over 70 Tin Hau Temples all over Hong Kong. The reason why it is so popular because she is believed to be the Goddess of the Sea protecting the fishermen and sailors working on the ocean as well as residents in the coastal areas (which is basically all of Hong Kong).