Street food and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival

Friday was the start of the long weekend in HK, celebrating Buddha's Birthday. The islanders of Cheung Chau marked the occasion every year with the Bun Festival, which traditionally started out as a Taoist rituals to drive off the evil spirits from the island. Today in addition the Taoist ceremonies, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival also includes: a parade of marching bands, children on floats, lion dancer, drummers, and a Bun Scrambling Competition up a tower of buns.

Enjoyed a coffee and bacon and onion salé while waiting to board the ferry to Cheung Chau. (Photo: CathC)

Paying a little more to take the Fast Ferry was a good idea, since the trip over to the island only took half an hour--compared to an hour on the ordinary ferry. I was at the front of the boat and had a great view of the different outlying islands from Hong Kong.

It was a busy day for boats and ships on Victoria Harbour. You can see a hydrofoil and our ferry. (Photo: CathC)

Here`s an image of Lamma Island where the electrical plant is located (the three stacks). (Photo: CathC)

I stood at the edge of the street and watched the parade members file through to take their place at the start of the parade. I was really impressed by the detailed costumes they were wearing.

The kids appear to be standing ontop of these floats, but they are actually siting on a small wooden plank, as you can see from the dismantled float. (Photo: CathC)

(Photo:CathC)

Here's the playground area where all the members of the parade gather before their start. This is also where the Bun scambling competition takes place. The tower in the front is made with plastic buns which competitor grab and fill their baskets with as they climb to the top of the tower. The three towers in the back are the offerings to the Taoist dieties.

The main bun towers offering . (Photo: CathC)

These mini bun towers off to the side are offerings by individual groups and organizations of the Cheung Chau community. (Photo: CathC)

After watching the parade, I wandered around the island to try the various street foods. I was really happy with all the different types of street foods and stalls I came across--deep fried dried shrimp, sugar cake (白糖糕), sesame cake, mochi. The festival must have been a great day for the islanders they most of the stalls I came across had huge line ups of people. 

Dried seafood is a popular item brought back from Cheung Chau. Dried shrimp being sold and dried on the docks. (Photo: CathC)

The fish balls I ended up trying are much larger than then ones you normally find on the streets of HK and they also come with many different flavour--sweet, spicy, and of course curry. I also think these fish balls have better texture than the more commonly found ones. There are so many street stalls selling delicious smell treats that I didn`t even go to a restaurant for lunch but rather filled up on snacks.

One of my favourite ways of exploring a new place is by sampling their street food. (Photo: CathC)

The deep fried mochi was a smart idea. They were quickly made by just coating prepackaged mochi ice cream in an additional mochi layer then deep frying the whole thing. It was a really hot day so having a bite of hot mochi coating together with the cold ice cream was a fantastic snack. And what a better spot to enjoy my deep fried ice cream than by the beach. It`s no wonder Cheung Chau is such a popular resort area. The view from the beach is absolutely stunning. Next time I come back I will try to make my way to the outlook peak at the edge of the beach. I can image the view is even more stunning from there.

You can see Hong Kong island from the beaches of Cheung Chau. (Photo: CathC)

Dinner was at a restaurant that seemed to be pretty popular with the locals as well. The local seafood did not disappoint. The ginger and onion stir-fried crab were really sweet and fresh. The octopus pancake was surprisingly delicious as well!

This restaurant was very popular with both the locals and tourists, and had a very typical outdoor food stall (大排擋) atmosphere. (Photo: CathC)

The restaurant was so popular that even a local HK film crew came by to interview the  owner a few patrons as well. I think I was even in the background of some of the shots :) I had a good time in Cheung Chau and will visit again. The island has a nice local, small town charm and I'm sure it'll be a more relaxing weekend getaway when it's not a long weekend!